Poll: Do you use Calcium Reactor or Dosing Pumps?

[Av8Bluewater]

I'm always a bit mystified when people say a calcium reactor can be difficult and/or finicky. I think there must be big differences between carx equipment.
I have the Reef Octopus CR5000D with the aquarium plants electronic regulator. I refill the media a couple times a year (more like top it off). Get a refill of CO2 (5lb) once a year and that's about it. I check the drip almost daily. .. which involves basically looking at it to make sure the drip looks about right. Occasionally I'll measure the output.
Mixing mag, alk and calcium on a regular basis is a pain in the butt. With dosing pumps you have to adjust the dose as corals grow and go through unhappy /happy phases.. with the carx basically the same thing but all I do is adjust the drip. So.. I'm not really sure how dosing could be better or easier unless you had outdated finicky regulator. And of course carx should have over PH cutoff set with a controller.

 

[robby2782]

I'm always a bit mystified when people say a calcium reactor can be difficult and/or finicky. I think there must be big differences between carx equipment.
I have the Reef Octopus CR5000D with the aquarium plants electronic regulator. I refill the media a couple times a year (more like top it off). Get a refill of CO2 (5lb) once a year and that's about it. I check the drip almost daily. .. which involves basically looking at it to make sure the drip looks about right. Occasionally I'll measure the output.
Mixing mag, alk and calcium on a regular basis is a pain in the butt. With dosing pumps you have to adjust the dose as corals grow and go through unhappy /happy phases.. with the carx basically the same thing but all I do is adjust the drip. So.. I'm not really sure how dosing could be better or easier unless you had outdated finicky regulator. And of course carx should have over PH cutoff set with a controller.

I agree. I think it must be the way people set them up.

 

[Trey]

I'm always a bit mystified when people say a calcium reactor can be difficult and/or finicky. I think there must be big differences between carx equipment.
I have the Reef Octopus CR5000D with the aquarium plants electronic regulator. I refill the media a couple times a year (more like top it off). Get a refill of CO2 (5lb) once a year and that's about it. I check the drip almost daily. .. which involves basically looking at it to make sure the drip looks about right. Occasionally I'll measure the output.
Mixing mag, alk and calcium on a regular basis is a pain in the butt. With dosing pumps you have to adjust the dose as corals grow and go through unhappy /happy phases.. with the carx basically the same thing but all I do is adjust the drip. So.. I'm not really sure how dosing could be better or easier unless you had outdated finicky regulator. And of course carx should have over PH cutoff set with a controller.

Don't you also have to employ kalk with a CaRX in order to keep pH from dropping? At which point how do you account for the Ca, and Alk being supplied by the Kalk? Ca reactors confuse me, I dont understand alot about them, like how the drip rate correlates to Ca, Alk, Mg levels, what pH the effluent needs to be, how to keep pH stable and high enough in the tank. My pH is alreadyt low, so employing a CaRX would not help the situation.

With a dosing pump one simply calculates the exact dose needed of each element on a daily basis in order to maintain stability and punches in the number. Simple...

Who knows, maybe I am missing something?

 

[Av8Bluewater]

Don't you also have to employ kalk with a CaRX in order to keep pH from dropping? At which point how do you account for the Ca, and Alk being supplied by the Kalk? Ca reactors confuse me, I dont understand alot about them, like how the drip rate correlates to Ca, Alk, Mg levels, what pH the effluent needs to be, how to keep pH stable and high enough in the tank. My pH is alreadyt low, so employing a CaRX would not help the situation.

With a dosing pump one simply calculates the exact dose needed of each element on a daily basis in order to maintain stability and punches in the number. Simple...

Who knows, maybe I am missing something?

Don't have to use Kalk but would maybe be nice for an extra .1 or 2. (As more corals grow it's possible I could get to a point where I would need to have kalk) I've only owned one Calcium reactor setup and I bought this particular CaRx to address some of that.
I have a dual chamber reactor. I noticed one brand claim that you don't need a second because of their design but I found that hard to believe. The second chamber bringing up the PH made sense to me and I am getting between 7.8-8.1. I suppose a single chamber reactor would be a little lower. I don't think it was really any better when I dosed but I can't really remember. Also in Texas it's rare I get to open windows.. so maybe air/size of room etc. in some parts of the country might help or make worse. I don't use kalk but I think about it. I don't think any "calculating" would be necessary. I would just lower my CarX drip. .. and possibly add a bit more zeomag for the mag part.

I don't do anything special with PH. It just is what it is. My PH controller is set on 6.5 to melt the media. If alk is low .. I turn a little knob to increase the drip and vise/versa. Sometimes I take a look at how many ML goes through the reactor in 1 minute so I have some sort of baseline.
I have what I would say is a medium ish SPS load. .. So if it was a heavy load a person may need to make and adjustment on the bubble count but my regulator seems to just do what it needs to do on it's own. I haven't touched it since I set it up and even then I don't remember moving it much if at all.


I can't speak any more highly about the aquarium plants regulator. It has a good 3 year warranty, made in USA and if it ever breaks outside of warranty they will fix it for $50 or less.
When you hear someone that talks about how finicky a calcium reactor is the first thing that pops into my mind is the old school type regulators that can have a bubble rate that varies.
Since there are so many reports of problems with those I wouldn't buy one.. This is from the APlants website:

CarbonDoser Electronic CO₂ Regulator NOTE: This is an 'introductory price' This product has forever changed the introduction of CO₂ into an aquarium...Used for CO₂ injection for a freshwater planted aquarium, or a Calcium reactor in a saltwater application. We guarantee, that, nowhere on this planet can you find a BETTER or MORE PRECISE regulator! (This is OUR baby, we built it, tested it, and patent it) The problem of 'dumping' is completely eliminated with our regulator. Dumping is always a problem with (ALL OTHER) regulators which utilize a needle valve. Simply because, a needle valve relies on the pressure on both sides of it for it's accuracy. So, even though you have it set at a certain 'bubble rate', once the pressure in the cylinder (or the outside atmospheric pressure) changes, so will the amount of co2 that passes through the needle valve. This is why it is physically impossible for any and ALL other regulators that rely on a 'mechanical needle valve' to ever be consistent. Our regulator does not have a needle valve, but instead, it has an electronic valve that opens and closes in a fraction of a second, (each 'opening and closing' equates to a bubble) and, due to the fact that it is 'electronic' the 'bubble rate' can NEVER change, and, once it is set, it can never vary more than +/- 1/1,000=of a second

 

[Keepswiming]

I just picked up a calcium reactor for a great deal from a local reefer. I was wonder if someone here could walk me through the dos and dont (what to check )? I understand the basics of how a carx works but not the fine tune adjustments like drip rate, flow rate, ph in the reactor, media...? Here is a pic of my new GEO 612 setup i picked up for 240 bux(not expensive like everyone said).

 

[d2mini]

Don't you also have to employ kalk with a CaRX in order to keep pH from dropping? At which point how do you account for the Ca, and Alk being supplied by the Kalk? Ca reactors confuse me, I dont understand alot about them, like how the drip rate correlates to Ca, Alk, Mg levels, what pH the effluent needs to be, how to keep pH stable and high enough in the tank. My pH is alreadyt low, so employing a CaRX would not help the situation.

With a dosing pump one simply calculates the exact dose needed of each element on a daily basis in order to maintain stability and punches in the number. Simple...

Who knows, maybe I am missing something?

Kalk can be used in tandem if you have a low ph issue but its not always necessary.

Either setup, when done properly with good equipment is easy.
I moved from dosing to a CaRx for a few reasons.
First and foremost, i was dosing 300ml of alk every day. I was tired of spending so much money on two-part and mixing it up every week or two.
Second, the CaRx is more natural, breaking down actual coral skeleton and giving me reef alk, calc, and other minor elements all in one shot and in the correct proportions.
All i test is Alk. I'll test for calc and mag very rarely, just to make sure everything is where it should be, and it always is. I use TLF Reborn media. I threw a little bit of magnesium media in there too.

 

[toothman]

Calcium reactor with electronic regulator

 

[gpwdr]

dosing pumps

 

[tbert33]

I currently use a Calcium reactor (the TMC v2 compact 300) after using a Kaomer triple doser. I find the ca reactor far easier to use and less maintenance. I swear by them.

 

[blufin]

My previous setup used a Deltec PF 601 reactor on a SPS only tank. I really enjoyed the fact that it was really all I had to do. I later realized that with the temp swing of the house when I was gone(71-78 degrees) had a big impact on how the reactor worked. I don't know if it was temp alone, humidity or what, but I saw that there was a big swing in reactor performance based on house conditions. I found that I was constantly fiddling with the bubble count/effluent to maintain my levels. I would even call the wife and have her make adjustments while I was gone(24hrs).
I now run a dose R and find that I only make small tweaks(2ml) per week to keep up with demand. Much easier to deal with. I'll probably stick with the dower from here on out.

 

[solitude127]

Dosing for me, I feel I have more control

 

[numsie]

I use part A and part B with dosers adding 60 ml 3 times a day and I have trouble keepng the levels in check. My system is a well stocked 90g with lps and sps thats sucks up alk and cal like crazy so now I add everyother day extra buffer (powder) and concentrated cal. I am now looking into a kalk reactor or cal reactor but I am concerned about reliability. Thoughts?

 

[blufin]

If something goes wrong with the reactor it could stick "open" and overdose the tank. It's happened many times and will continue to do so. The only problem I've encountered with the doser is a power outage that took it offlne and under dosed. IMHO, that's better than overdosing.

 

[declanisadog]

My power went out for a few minutes a couple weeks ago, and when it came on, the power surged and emptied all of the contents of my dosing containers into my tank. I got VERY lucky and only suffered a couple of losses, but it very well could have been a catastrophe. I only put a few days worth in my containers now, and am seriously considering a calcium reactor. I caution anyone who is using a dosing pump to put some sort of fail safe in place. Here's a thread from my local club that goes into further detail:

Disaster - Atlanta Reef Club Forums