Alk & Calk Increased Demand

[Silent]

That seems pretty good size and the carbon doser is real nice. It is pricey and you might find a better deal waiting for the right moment but still better than buying new.

 

[Silent]

Once set up they are quite stable.

 

[Neo Jeo]

That seems pretty good size and the carbon doser is real nice. It is pricey and you might find a better deal waiting for the right moment but still better than buying new.

he’s selling it as a package for $700. What you think?
I’m dosing now , is this cheaper and easier in the long run?

 

[Silent]

Definitely easier. It will take a while to break even but yes cheaper in the long run. Add up how much you spend in dosing a month and see how long to break even. If you are ok with the amount of time to break even than go for it.

 

[BayouReefer]

Initially a reactor has a big price tag it would probably take years to make up the initial cost but once you get it dialed in will work awesome the low ph effluent will have to be compensated for by other means like dosing kalk into your ATO or a CO2 Scrubber on your skimmer or fresh air intake to your skimmer from outside. Even adding a secondary chamber on your reactor only increases ph marginally. A complete reactor setup new will run you anywhere from 600 to 1000 dollars. BRS has good videos on setup and operation of a Calcium Reactor just do your homework on them and you will be fine

 

[C. Eymann]

Youve heard from fans of reactors, but look carefully into them as they have downsides as well (e.g., low pH, hard to control time of day of dosing = slightly less stable alk, etc).

I will respectfully disagree in regards to stability
How do you figure alk is less stable with a reactor vs dosing pump? Unless you have the dosing pump constantly dripping in an alk solution, a doser running once every 2-3 hrs or even every hour will not be as stable as a reactor constantly adding minerals in the same rate they are used up?

hard to control the time of day of dosing? on a reactor? Have you ever used a calcium reactor? you so realize a reactor is consistently "dosing" all day/night long, continuously.


Low pH, meh, personally I have never seen a big impact, but I will accept that as a possible con.

But as far as stability and consistency, a well tuned/setup reactor wins, hands down VS a doser.


Can you explain the reasoning/chemistry of why a doser will achieve more stable alk VS reactor??

Thanks!

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Neo your tank is rocking. I’d freak out to make big changes as you have a coral growing machine.

 

[Neo Jeo]

Neo your tank is rocking. I’d freak out to make big changes as you have a coral growing machine.

I appreciate that! I’m also worried on changing. If I lost my sps I would be devastated. I’m dosing 200ml per day now and it will only go up.

my buddy changed to a reactor and he lost his sps in a week. I’m also working a ton more so I won’t have time to keep checking.

i found a deal on the reactor but I’m going to wait until my next tank.

thanks for the help

 

[bdare]

For what it's worth... I've used both dosing pumps (Litermeter) and a Calcium reactor to maintain parameters on my different tanks over the years.

Dosing:
- Up front costs: Dosing pump, reservoirs, and supplements. Even the MOST expensive 2 head dosing pump is around $500.
- Must refill dosing containers. Not a huge deal depending on how often this task must be performed. If you're demand is so great that you're needing to refill large reservoirs on a regular basis then a reactor may be better.
- Cost of supplements - Over all IMO they are pretty low. I bought 50lb bags of food grade CaCl for like $30 and would last me years. I used to give it away to friends. Still have half a 5 gallon bucket in my garage if you want some. Baking soda? Cheap cheap cheap. For me Magnesium was the biggest pain in the butt to get, but rarely needed to make adjustments negated the PITA factor.

CaRX:
- Up front costs:
--- Reactor - I bought a GEO618 for around $500. You could prolly get one used for less.
--- CO2 tank(s) - I bought 2 x 5lb tanks ($60 each). Figured it's best to keep them in rotation. If one runs out I swap them out and I have plenty of time to get the old one refilled.
--- Regulator - $350 Critical piece of equipment for a CaRx. Carbon dosers seem to be pretty popular, but I didn't go that route. I was afraid of relying on the electronics. Instead I stumbled across a thread where folks talked about Alan Le buidling them professional grade 2 stage regulators. These things are bad to the bone and super stable.
--- Dosing pump $300 - I admit. I was a skeptic. Everyone said don't split it off your manifold. I tried it and failed. As everyone said it's too hard to maintain the pressure. Controlling the flow with a needle valve sucks. It constantly needs to be adjusted. I also tried following the instructions from GEO's reef and tried a feed pump. I tried both the MJ1200 and the slightly strong Sicce 1.5. Both had the same problem... every day or so the needle valve needed to be adjusted. Trust me and the other threads on this forum... but a peristaltic feed pump. I ended up with the Kamoer FX-STP.
--- Media - IME they all work. It cost me about $50 to fill my GEO 618. How often you need to refill your reactor depends on how fast you melt it and the demand of your tank. Should be every 6-12 months.

IMO both are equally as stable and require about the same amount of adjustments. When demand changes and you do your water testing you bump them slightly.

If you don't have a huge demand and you're not dosing a boat load of 2 part you really don't need a calcium reactor. You can buy a whole lot of 2 part supplements for the extra cost of a reactor.

IMO reactors definitely add a "cool factor".

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

should I say work my dosing then? I’m making a new batch every 2 weeks . It’s a lot of work.

people say reactor will save me time and money is that true?

Very long term it can be cheaper. Short term, there’s a bigger start up expense.

 

[Barrnone]

You could get bigger dosing containers and make bigger batches of 2-part.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I will respectfully disagree in regards to stability
How do you figure alk is less stable with a reactor vs dosing pump? Unless you have the dosing pump constantly dripping in an alk solution, a doser running once every 2-3 hrs or even every hour will not be as stable as a reactor constantly adding minerals in the same rate they are used up?

hard to control the time of day of dosing? on a reactor? Have you ever used a calcium reactor? you so realize a reactor is consistently "dosing" all day/night long, continuously.


Low pH, meh, personally I have never seen a big impact, but I will accept that as a possible con.

But as far as stability and consistency, a well tuned/setup reactor wins, hands down VS a doser.


Can you explain the reasoning/chemistry of why a doser will achieve more stable alk VS reactor??

Thanks!

Alkalinity is not consumed evenly 24/7. It is mostly consumed during the day. A dosing pump can spread out the dosing over most of that time. While possible to mess with timing a reactor, few do and most run them 24/7. That necessarily leads to less alk stability. It is not hourly instability, it is daily rise at night and fall during the day.

Does that matter? Don't know, but it is real.

 

[C. Eymann]

Alkalinity is not consumed evenly 24/7. It is mostly consumed during the day. A dosing pump can spread out the dosing over most of that time. While possible to mess with timing a reactor, few do and most run them 24/7. That necessarily leads to less alk stability. It is not hourly instability, it is daily rise at night and fall during the day.

Does that matter? Don't know, but it is real.

Ah, never thought about the decrease of calcification at night vs during the photoperiod.

Very good point indeed, I didn't consider that.

I still prefer a calcium reactor vs dosing pumps for established reefs, but too each their own.