Calcium Reactor and Trace Elements

Daniel@R2R · Sep 11, 2017

I know that the CalRx media I'm dissolving is basically coral skeleton, so are trace elements included in this? Do I need to dose any trace elements in addition to using the CalRx? This question was posed to me, and I was thinking it would be a good one to ask here.

GoVols · Sep 11, 2017

mdbannister said:
I know that the CalRx media I'm dissolving is basically coral skeleton, so are trace elements included in this? Do I need to dose any trace elements in addition to using the CalRx? This question was posed to me, and I was thinking it would be a good one to ask here.

Your getting "some" trace elements.

I've seen others, use the Red Sea "Colors" program with cal. reactor media.

JMO: I'd dose trace elements to the low side, if your going to give it a go.

I don't think you have to, dose trace elements.

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I don't think the media that you use for the DaStaCo cal reactors, has trace elements to melt out.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 11, 2017

You're getting whatever is in the media, and that might be similar to what is going into your coral skeletons (assuming it is coral skeletons itself; not all of it is), but you will not get trace elements replaced that are going into organic tissue (like soft corals, algae, and hard coral "soft" parts), and a lot of trace element go there (iron, etc.).

So I would not assume that using a CaCO3/CO2 reactor appreciably changes the need (or not) for trace elements. I've seen detailed analyses for some media, but they have probably changed ssources since the last study I saw.

ecam · Sep 11, 2017

Gret question. Inline with this..... what are being using to dose trace elements with their CAL Rx?

GoVols · Sep 11, 2017

ecam said:
Gret question. Inline with this..... what are being using to dose trace elements with their CAL Rx?

Hybird's been dosing the Red Sea "Colors" program with his cal reactor and I believe he uses the Reborn media.

Daniel@R2R · Sep 12, 2017

GoVols said:
Hybird's been dosing the Red Sea "Colors" program with his cal reactor and I believe he uses the Reborn media.

That's the media I'm planning to use.

GoVols · Sep 12, 2017

mdbannister said:
That's the media I'm planning to use.

If I were you, I'd send Hybird a pm.
And if I went back to a cal reactor, I'd set it up and run it just like him.

Lifer · Sep 13, 2017

I have been using a Calc reactor with Reborn for years and never once added trace elements. If you are doing small frequent water changes with a good salt mix you should not need it. At least I haven't. My sps and other corals are just fine

Lifer · Sep 13, 2017

Also unless you can somehow test for the elements if you dose them you can be adding either too much or not enough. If you add too much then your wasting your money!

GoVols · Apr 19, 2018

Update to this tread:

Fired up my 2 stage GEO cal reactor last October.
Running the Large Reborn media with 10% of ZeoMag in stage-1 and the Small ARM media in stage-2.

All is good and the big three are staying stable with an PH never lower than 8.

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At that time I broke away from the Red Sea "Colors" program and watched the SPS colors. They did fade over the long haul, so I wanted to go back to the "Colors" program and see???, if it made a difference.

Well,
I used to dose 1.5 ml each day to my cal's consumption and Red Sea's directions.

A month ago, I started dosing 1ml of each every two to three days.

The difference has been amazing!!

My SPS color's have deepened back up and are as rich in color as they were when I ran the full blown Red Sea program.

Going forward I will continue dosing the "Colors" program (with the cal reactor) as stated above and just wanted to pass my findings along.

Thanks, Freddie

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 19, 2018

Great, thanks for the update!

ecam · Apr 26, 2018

Thanks for that. Very interesting

Daniel@R2R · Apr 26, 2018

GoVols said:
Update to this tread:

Fired up my 2 stage GEO cal reactor last October.
Running the Large Reborn media with 10% of ZeoMag in stage-1 and the Small ARM media in stage-2.

All is good and the big three are staying stable with an PH never lower than 8.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At that time I broke away from the Red Sea "Colors" program and watched the SPS colors. They did fade over the long haul, so I wanted to go back to the "Colors" program and see???, if it made a difference.

Well,
I used to dose 1.5 ml each day to my cal's consumption and Red Sea's directions.

A month ago, I started dosing 1ml of each every two to three days.

The difference has been amazing!!

My SPS color's have deepened back up and are as rich in color as they were when I ran the full blown Red Sea program.

Going forward I will continue dosing the "Colors" program (with the cal reactor) as stated above and just wanted to pass my findings along.

Thanks, Freddie

This is good to know. I actually have been thinking about trying the RS Colors program...I may pull the trigger on this now...

Shane Williams · Dec 4, 2018

Good Information, are you dosing the reef energy along with the reef colors?

Craig Stuart - Reefscaper · Dec 8, 2018

Great info... many using a low frequency water change program assume that calcium reactor is enough to replenish trace elements as things look fine.

Our experience has been that it works for a while possibly extending the time required before vital trace elements need replacing either through dosing or water changes.

We have found through testing trial and error that iodine and most metals do quickly become deprecated (particularly iron) when refugiums are employed as a primary nutrient sink.

Our best results (strong coralline algae growth, coral growth, coral coloration, soft coral tissue growth and refugium algae growth) have been achieved through using calcium reactors containing a mix of freshly crushed coral sand (mixed) and dolomite (neo mag) and also dosing iron and or Red Sea colours.

Great question / thread!

GoVols · Jul 9, 2019

Another Update:

After trying other brands of trace elements (with my calcium reactor) the Red Sea colors still stand strong.

Still running the media's as posted above.

The only conclusion that I could come to, was that the other brands contained strontium, which the small ARM media should supply plenty of that.

The Red Sea colors do not contain strontium / Red Sea puts that element in their calcium part a.

We are over 2 dkh in alk intake per day at this point.
Been dosing 2ml of each of the four Red Sea colors / 5 days a week / and could not be any more satisfied.

To me the Red Sea colors have really stood out over the long haul, against all others, when dosing with the above cal reactor media's.

As the author of this post:
You truly need to play if safe when dosing trace elements and an ICP report would be the best guide to use.

Regards, GoVols

motortrendz · Nov 23, 2019

The question I have is when using a calcium reactor how do.you calculate the dosing. with 2 part it goes by the amount of calcium you dose daily. But not sure how to calculate it with the reactor. My reactor runs 5ml/min to maintain. But not sure if that equates to anything?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 24, 2019

motortrendz said:
The question I have is when using a calcium reactor how do.you calculate the dosing. with 2 part it goes by the amount of calcium you dose daily. But not sure how to calculate it with the reactor. My reactor runs 5ml/min to maintain. But not sure if that equates to anything?

If you honk dosing trace elements based on calcium or alk demand is appropriate (I do not), then you will need to know the daily addition from the reactor. I’d determine the daily flow and the alk difference between the tank and the effluent. We can calculate calcium addition that way far better than trying to measure it.

motortrendz · Nov 24, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If you honk dosing trace elements based on calcium or alk demand is appropriate (I do not), then you will need to know the daily addition from the reactor. I’d determine the daily flow and the alk difference between the tank and the effluent. We can calculate calcium addition that way far better than trying to measure it.

What do you recomend as the proper way to dose then.. kinda new to the coral color elements. I run the red sea pro salt, have a calcium reactor with reborn media and zeo mag in the first chamber and smaller arm media in the second chamber. I've noticed as my consumption has gone up my colors are not a vibrant as they used to be. Which is why I'm assuming it's a trace element deficiency. Nitrates are always between 4-6 and po4 is about .08-.12 I do dose vodka daily and bacteria weekly. Everything looks healthy with nice PE and is growing, just the colors are not as bright and vibrant.
What would be the proper way to start dosing?

So the alk on my reactor is 26dkh my tank is at 9.5, calcium at 430 I drip 5ml a min to maintain.
But I'd like to follow your suggested way of properly dosing.

Thank you for the reply randy

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 24, 2019

motortrendz said:
What do you recomend as the proper way to dose then.. kinda new to the coral color elements. I run the red sea pro salt, have a calcium reactor with reborn media and zeo mag in the first chamber and smaller arm media in the second chamber. I've noticed as my consumption has gone up my colors are not a vibrant as they used to be. Which is why I'm assuming it's a trace element deficiency. Nitrates are always between 4-6 and po4 is about .08-.12 I do dose vodka daily and bacteria weekly. Everything looks healthy with nice PE and is growing, just the colors are not as bright and vibrant.
What would be the proper way to start dosing?

So the alk on my reactor is 26dkh my tank is at 9.5, calcium at 430 I drip 5ml a min to maintain.
But I'd like to follow your suggested way of properly dosing.

Thank you for the reply randy

I would not assume trace elements are your coral color problem, although the may be useful. Elevated zoox from your fairly high N and P can also brown out corals a bit.

The perfect dosing way is by measurement using ICP for those ions that can be detected that way (some cannot, unless you dose quite high, like iron) and independent dosing of each ion as needed.

Second way is trial and error dose and observation of the tank,