edc_aquarium
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Should I dose or should I just use a calcium reactor or both ?
Calcium reactor or dosing
- Thread starter edc_aquarium
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You don't need both.
Which one to use is up to you. There are many good systems with both.
Calcium reactor is a bit more expensive to start with and it takes about 30 minutes of learning to figure out how they work and to tune them. They do offer calcium, carbonate, magnesium, potassium, strontium and a handful of other elements that were used for building the coral skeletons that you are now melting. If you have a finely tuned reactor, it will not move your PH, but it can drop your PH about .1, or so, if you are using too much CO2. All of the input in in balance. It is hard to crash or overdose since the output of a CaRx is really just to maintain and it can take weeks to raise levels too high. I just look every few days to make sure that the CO2 bubbles are bubbling and there is output from the reactor and then leave it alone for months at a time.
Dosing can be cheaper and easier to start with. The input is not balanced and you control each of the two or three part on their own. You can overdose a tank in minutes if a pump goes out of whack. You do not need to buy any fancy stuff to do this and Dr. Holmes-Farley has recipes using simple driveway ice melter and baking soda. You can do this on your own by measuring and pouring in your tank, or you can buy automatic dosing systems.
With either, you still have to test. I test alk about twice a week and rarely check calcium or magnesium (maybe every months) since they come in balance.
Which one to use is up to you. There are many good systems with both.
Calcium reactor is a bit more expensive to start with and it takes about 30 minutes of learning to figure out how they work and to tune them. They do offer calcium, carbonate, magnesium, potassium, strontium and a handful of other elements that were used for building the coral skeletons that you are now melting. If you have a finely tuned reactor, it will not move your PH, but it can drop your PH about .1, or so, if you are using too much CO2. All of the input in in balance. It is hard to crash or overdose since the output of a CaRx is really just to maintain and it can take weeks to raise levels too high. I just look every few days to make sure that the CO2 bubbles are bubbling and there is output from the reactor and then leave it alone for months at a time.
Dosing can be cheaper and easier to start with. The input is not balanced and you control each of the two or three part on their own. You can overdose a tank in minutes if a pump goes out of whack. You do not need to buy any fancy stuff to do this and Dr. Holmes-Farley has recipes using simple driveway ice melter and baking soda. You can do this on your own by measuring and pouring in your tank, or you can buy automatic dosing systems.
With either, you still have to test. I test alk about twice a week and rarely check calcium or magnesium (maybe every months) since they come in balance.
Mr.Fishtank
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I recently changed over to CaRx. Was dosing 2 part for over 3 yrs and was never able to really get things as stable as I would have liked. It has only been a few days since the change over but I have it tuned pretty close with just a few minor adjustments to go.
Then again this all depends on what size system you have. I know a few people that dose over 300ml a day. That can get expensive depending on what brand you use.
Then again this all depends on what size system you have. I know a few people that dose over 300ml a day. That can get expensive depending on what brand you use.
How big is your tank, what kind of coral do you keep and what is your dKH consumption? The answers to these questions will help determine which system is right for you. If your keeping a softy / LPS tank, you might even be able to get away with just kalkwasser.
