Calcium Reactor - Decisions Decisions!!!

crusso1993 · Mar 16, 2019

Water Dog said:
Here’s my set up... GEO CR612, GEO SMC415, Watson Marlow 505U, 5# CO2 tank and a DIY regulator. My favorite piece of my set up is the Alanle style full stainless Victor SGT 160B dual stage regulator that I built myself.

Looking good!

If I remember right, you got the WM off Ebay for a steal but cannot recall if you said where you picked up that Victor reg. Was it off of Ebay too?

Water Dog · Mar 16, 2019

@Breadman03 Yeah, I remember from that original WM thread... Good luck!

Water Dog · Mar 16, 2019

crusso1993 said:
Looking good!

If I remember right, you got the WM off Ebay for a steal but cannot recall if you said where you picked up that Victor reg. Was it off of Ebay too?

Yeah, all the parts for my regulator were sourced from eBay. You gotta be patient, but ready to pull the trigger when opportunities arise. The regulator itself is full stainless steel, so it wasn’t cheap, but I waited until eBay had a 20% off coupon and pulled the trigger.

crusso1993 · Mar 16, 2019

Water Dog said:
Yeah, all the parts for my regulator were sourced from eBay. You gotta be patient, but ready to pull the trigger when opportunities arise. The regulator itself is full stainless steel, so it wasn’t cheap, but I waited until eBay had a 20% off coupon and pulled the trigger.

Thanks!

Water Dog · Mar 16, 2019

BfishLpond78 said:
Figured what the heck is a few more bucks...added on the secondary media chamber just in case! UMC618

I just noticed you ordered the UMC618... if it didn’t ship yet, see if you could switch out to the SMC618. The SMC is purpose built as CaRx secondary chambers as they come with 1/4” John Guest quick connect fittings, whereas the UMCs come with 1/2” barbed fittings to use as plumbing for media reactors using carbon, GFO, etc.

BfishLpond78 · Mar 18, 2019

Water Dog said:
I just noticed you ordered the UMC618... if it didn’t ship yet, see if you could switch out to the SMC618. The SMC is purpose built as CaRx secondary chambers as they come with 1/4” John Guest quick connect fittings, whereas the UMCs come with 1/2” barbed fittings to use as plumbing for media reactors using carbon, GFO, etc.

I took a screen shot of the wrong reactor I got the SMC618. I called and confirmed today!

BfishLpond78 · Mar 18, 2019

This thing is a work of art...it’s absolutely gorgeous! Super glad I took the time to research and found Alan Le to build this!

jda · Mar 18, 2019

Late to the party, but anything reverse flow and with Ehiem pump will work for me. Reverse flow is not even that huge of a deal anymore with such large media. CaRx it's self is just a water re-circulator and not too complicated. If you can use one, you can use all of them, IMO.

The reefer who is going to make decisions and tune it is more important than the actual reactor.

jda · Mar 19, 2019

Nep2nRev1 said:
That's the idea for sure. You're melting down coral skeletons to make coral skeletons. All elements should be 1 to 1. I'm sure there's some uptake of calcium, trace elements, etc. to other inverts in the tank that utilize these same elements at different rates than corals, but what your supplying is 1 to 1.

This is mostly true, but you are melting acropora, calcite or dolomite. Clam shells, LPS, coralline, calcium based algae (halmedia, etc.), etc. will all use in different ratios than acropora, so you still have to true-up your numbers every few months. My tank uses a bit more calcium than carbonate, so I have to add some dowflake every 60 days, or so... probably from the huge Squamosa clams. I test alk weekly, but also do calcium about every month, or so.

BfishLpond78 · Mar 28, 2019

Hello again...those of you running a secondary chamber. What media is everyone running in there??

Better yet...what media is everyone running over all???

Bpb · Mar 28, 2019

BfishLpond78 said:
Hello again...those of you running a secondary chamber. What media is everyone running in there??

Better yet...what media is everyone running over all???

Single chamber. Reborn

BfishLpond78 · Mar 28, 2019

Bpb said:
Single chamber. Reborn

Are you running and mag/zeo mag in there as well or just straight reborn?

Bpb · Mar 28, 2019

BfishLpond78 said:
Are you running and mag/zeo mag in there as well or just straight reborn?

Just straight reborn. I still do water changes which keeps my magnesium at the high end of normal

crusso1993 · Mar 28, 2019

Bpb said:
Just straight reborn. I still do water changes which keeps my magnesium at the high end of normal

"The high end of normal" is probably the closest you ever get to being normal! Lol

jda · Mar 28, 2019

I just run one chamber. I believe in tuning your CaRx and not dumping co2, so there is no excess co2 coming out of my reactors. With no excess co2, then a second chamber does not do anything.

I use ARM medium/large or reborn... whichever is on sale. The both work the same for me.

If you need more magnesium, then you can put some dolomite into your reactor.

Bpb · Mar 28, 2019

crusso1993 said:
"The high end of normal" is probably the closest you ever get to being normal! Lol

You’re not wrong, but how did you know I was an odd individual?

crusso1993 · Mar 28, 2019

Bpb said:
You’re not wrong, but how did you know I was an odd individual?

Takes one to know one, my friend!

Water Dog · Mar 28, 2019

In the secondary chamber I have ARM fine, however, I believe Caribsea has for some reason discontinued ARM fine so dry Florida crushed coral would work just as well.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...rushed-coral-substrate-40-lbs-3027436?ref=dfs

jda · Mar 28, 2019

If you use the smaller stuff, it is better if you have reverse flow. The smaller stuff can get compacted and not flow very well.

BfishLpond78 · Mar 29, 2019

Sooooo...with a properly tuned reactor the second chamber is...useless???

Does it help increase its capacity if there is a demand for a higher load of effluent?