I stayed away from saltwater tanks until 2006 because I thought that they were necessarily complicated. That changed when I saw a nano with just a clownfish, soft corals, live rock, a small powerhead, a heater and a T8 fixture.
The same thing kept me away from calcium reactors until recently.
All a calcium reactor does is melt media through the injection of CO2. I decided to simplify the process by eliminating 2 components:
- Dosing pump
- pH control.
Instead of the dosing pump I feed the calcium reactor through gravity, directly from the overflow.
Instead of checking the pH inside the reactor, I just measure alkalinity in the tank. That's it and it's been running like this for over 7 months now.
The whole setup to run a 200 gallon tank (calcium reactor and CO2 system) costed me less than 300 euros.
The same thing kept me away from calcium reactors until recently.
All a calcium reactor does is melt media through the injection of CO2. I decided to simplify the process by eliminating 2 components:
- Dosing pump
- pH control.
Instead of the dosing pump I feed the calcium reactor through gravity, directly from the overflow.
Instead of checking the pH inside the reactor, I just measure alkalinity in the tank. That's it and it's been running like this for over 7 months now.
The whole setup to run a 200 gallon tank (calcium reactor and CO2 system) costed me less than 300 euros.