Calcium Reactor Recommendations

Dan Man · Jul 4, 2017

Apologies for being so high maintenance however one more question relating to this topic please and thank you.

What media have people had the best luck with.

Two Little Fishies Reborn seems to be popular however not knowing the source I am concern about potential pollutants.

I am a seachem fan. They have a product called reef reactor high purity calcium reactor media.

Also has anyone mixed in magnesium media and has great success with their calcium reactor. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.

Aslam Abraham · Jul 4, 2017

I use Arm Caribsea media.

SchnitzelReef · Jul 4, 2017

Dan Man said:
Apologies for being so high maintenance however one more question relating to this topic please and thank you.

What media have people had the best luck with.

Two Little Fishies Reborn seems to be popular however not knowing the source I am concern about potential pollutants.

I am a seachem fan. They have a product called reef reactor high purity calcium reactor media.

Also has anyone mixed in magnesium media and has great success with their calcium reactor. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.

Go with TLF Reborn and Remag. It's high quality stuff. I used to use Caribsea ARM, but am much happier with TLF media.

The next question is what Co2 regulator did you get? Also did you order the reactor with the pvc needle valve? Having a high quality needle valve for the effluent and a quality needle valve on the co2 regulator will make a world of difference when trying to tune the reactor.

Dan Man · Jul 4, 2017

SchnitzelReef said:
Go with TLF Reborn and Remag. It's high quality stuff. I used to use Caribsea ARM, but am much happier with TLF media.

The next question is what Co2 regulator did you get? Also did you order the reactor with the pvc needle valve? Having a high quality needle valve for the effluent and a quality needle valve on the co2 regulator will make a world of difference when trying to tune the reactor.

Here is the calcium reactor that I got along with the check valve. http://www.geosreef.com/product/geo-cr618-calcium-reactor/

Here is the regulator that I got. http://www.geosreef.com/product/carbondoser-electronic-co2-regulator/

Do I need to get something else aside from the CO2 tank?

SchnitzelReef · Jul 4, 2017

Dan Man said:
Here is the calcium reactor that I got along with the check valve. http://www.geosreef.com/product/geo-cr618-calcium-reactor/

Here is the regulator that I got. http://www.geosreef.com/product/carbondoser-electronic-co2-regulator/

Do I need to get something else aside from the CO2 tank?

Nope it looks like your all setup! I guess Geos new reactors come with the needle valve.

You made a smart choice going with that setup. I'm assuming you have an apex or some other way to monitor the PH? That would be the last piece to the puzzle. Besides a co2 tank.

Water Dog · Jul 4, 2017

Unless I missed it, what will you be using for a feed pump?

Aslam Abraham · Jul 4, 2017

SchnitzelReef said:
I used to use Caribsea ARM, but am much happier with TLF media.

Any positive changes you can report.

SchnitzelReef · Jul 4, 2017

Aslam Abraham said:
Any positive changes you can report.

I would get lots of sludge at the bottom of the reactor, from the ARM media melting. I haven't gotten any sludge yet from the TLF.

Dan Man · Jul 4, 2017

SchnitzelReef said:
Nope it looks like your all setup! I guess Geos new reactors come with the needle valve.

You made a smart choice going with that setup. I'm assuming you have an apex or some other way to monitor the PH? That would be the last piece to the puzzle. Besides a co2 tank.

I have the current apex model. Thanks for the reminder as I will need a breakout box and secondary ph probe for the reactor.

Stugots · Jul 4, 2017

Podle said:
I recently threw out my old Deltec reactor and replaced it with a DaStaCo Xtrema, and i just love it! Mostly because you dont need a pH probe (i dont trust pH probes that much and i hate to calibrate )
And also because its so easy to set up and maintain, and so much more effective than the Deltec.

Anyone else running a DaStaCo? I'd like to learn more about the price/function equation on this brand.

@Podle which Xtrema are you running on what size tank with what type/bioload of coral?

Africangrey · Jul 4, 2017

No one here try the vertex yet, BRS has it on sell for some time now, used to be 499, now it's only 379, can not go wrong with dual chamber and flow meter that come with it.

What is going on with the price of reborn, seems it has increased 50%, was $22/8lb container now it's $35. talking about inflation.

Dan Man · Jul 4, 2017

I noticed on the vertix that it has a flow meter. Would this be helpful? How do these work? Do they measure the rate of water entering the reactor?

http://www.dwyer-inst.com/Product/Flow/Flowmeters/VariableArea

Dan Man · Jul 4, 2017

Africangrey said:
No one here try the vertex yet, BRS has it on sell for some time now, used to be 499, now it's only 379, can not go wrong with dual chamber and flow meter that come with it.

What is going on with the price of reborn, seems it has increased 50%, was $22/8lb container now it's $35. talking about inflation.

It is back up in price. There were a lot of complaints about leaks due to the pump/pump connection. It does have some interesting tech on it though. To bad they don't make more than one model.

SchnitzelReef · Jul 5, 2017

Dan Man said:
I have the current apex model. Thanks for the reminder as I will need a breakout box and secondary ph probe for the reactor.

What reason will you need a break out box?

Alex caracheo · Jul 5, 2017

Vertex rx6d

SchnitzelReef · Jul 5, 2017

Africangrey said:
No one here try the vertex yet, BRS has it on sell for some time now, used to be 499, now it's only 379, can not go wrong with dual chamber and flow meter that come with it.

What is going on with the price of reborn, seems it has increased 50%, was $22/8lb container now it's $35. talking about inflation.

I'm not a fan of them, they made the reactor unnecessarily complicated. Another reason why I like my Geo, very basic and simple.

Dan Man · Jul 5, 2017

SchnitzelReef said:
What reason will you need a break out box?

Oops. Not a breakout box but a secondary Apex module that allows for a second ph probe for the calcium reactor. I want to keep my primary ph probe setup for my main tank.

Dan Man · Jul 5, 2017

Water Dog said:
Unless I missed it, what will you be using for a feed pump?

One of Geo's Reef recommendations was a Syncra Silent 0.5 at full power for the feed pump.

Podle · Jul 7, 2017

Stugots said:
Anyone else running a DaStaCo? I'd like to learn more about the price/function equation on this brand.

@Podle which Xtrema are you running on what size tank with what type/bioload of coral?

I have the Xtrema A2. My system are about 1000 L of water in total. Its a quite new setup, so not to heavy loaded with corals yet, but i have a fair amount of sps and lps.
On my previous reactor i had to run close to 100 ml/min through the reactor to keep up with consumption, but with the Xtrema i only have to pump 9 ml/min to maintain Kh

But the biggest advantage is that its so easy to set up and maintain. Its set and forget... with my old reactor i had to test and adjust constantly... now the Kh is completely stable!

BTW: I picked mine up on a sale here in Norway for just under 750 USD.

Stugots · Jul 8, 2017

@Podle

Great deal on the Xtrema! Thanks for the detailed info. I'm heavily leaning toward DaStaCo now.

P.S. I live in Oregon, but I'm part Norwegian.