Calcium reactor required?

[ReeferNoob77]

If I am planning on having a mixed reef, might be heavy on the sps will I require a calcium reactor for good growth?

Also I am planning on giving the Triton method a try and I will need a doser. What would be a recommendation?

Thanks.

 

[jenreefer]

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If I am planning on having a mixed reef, might be heavy on the sps will I require a calcium reactor for good growth?

Also I am planning on giving the Triton method a try and I will need a doser. What would be a recommendation?

Thanks.

Hey Noob, glad to see you here. That there is a loaded question. Have you ever kept SPS? have you ever monitored Ca, Alk, and Mg? Start at the beginning. At some point, every heavy SPS reef needs more and more Ca and Alk. This can be achieved in many ways. Research it and learn what your options are and how to achieve each. In the early days, you can simply put kalk in your topoff water. As your system grows, you will probably go to dosing Ca, Alk, and Mg with a doser, then and only then, at some point when everything else is inline and you understand how to manage your tank, consider a Ca reactor. They are among the more difficult to set up pieces of equipment, (in my opinion) and should not be even considered until you are well into your reef keeping journey. Too many ways they can go wrong.

Why do you want to go Triton? where are you on setting up your tank? is it stable yet? good luck

 

[Diesel]

GHL has good dosers that can stand alone or be part of the whole controller system.
@d2mini is running the full Triton with a GHL, hoping he chime in and not be worried about his front yard flag pool till the Diesel crew will show up

 

[d2mini]

GHL Doser 2 with 4 pumps used with Triton Method.
Very easy and hands off type of system.
I would recommend basing your build around Triton from the start if you decide that's the way to go.
It's easier to do now than integrate later, especially since you need a sump designed specifically for Triton with your tank's drain(s) dumping directly into a large refugium.

OR

Calcium Reactor with a Cole Parmer Masterflex pumpwith EZ Load head (used from eBay) and either an Aquarium Plants Carbon Doser Regulator or a custom built (from eBay parts) dual stage regulator for non-Triton tanks.
Also a pH monitor for the effluent.
This setup costs more, but makes using a calcium reactor super easy.
But as JenReefer said, if you are just starting out you could get away with just Kalk in your ato for now and get the CaRx setup later once your Alk and Calc demand really increases from increased coral growth.

You can check out my build thread (link in my sig) to see an example of a Triton system, and check out the Triton more.

 

[jenreefer]

GHL Doser 2 with 4 pumps used with Triton Method.
Very easy and hands off type of system.
I would recommend basing your build around Triton from the start if you decide that's the way to go.
It's easier to do now than integrate later, especially since you need a sump designed specifically for Triton with your tank's drain(s) dumping directly into a large refugium.

OR

Calcium Reactor with a Cole Parmer Masterflex pumpwith EZ Load head (used from eBay) and either an Aquarium Plants Carbon Doser Regulator or a custom built (from eBay parts) dual stage regulator for non-Triton tanks.
Also a pH monitor for the effluent.
This setup costs more, but makes using a calcium reactor super easy.
But as JenReefer said, if you are just starting out you could get away with just Kalk in your ato for now and get the CaRx setup later once your Alk and Calc demand really increases from increased coral growth.

You can check out my build thread (link in my sig) to see an example of a Triton system, and check out the Triton more.

That is good to know Dennis. I have not used the Triton method. Nice to hear that it it is easy. May have to do some reading.

 

[d2mini]

That is good to know Dennis. I have not used the Triton method. Nice to hear that it it is easy. May have to do some reading.

I've done it all. My last tank I went the route you described. Kalk in top off --> two part ---> CaRx.
Kalk was a pain in the butt, from mixing it up to keeping things ultra stable due to variances in top off rate. And going through pumps. And kalk reactors seemed to dangerous to me.
Two part sucked because I felt like I was always mixing it up (at one point I was going through 300ml per day of Alk) and it was all consumed at different rates. I struggle with it in my nano now.
I really really liked the CaRx with the setup I described above. So easy, and I very rarely had to test Calcium. Just Alk ever few days. I felt my tank was the most stable with this method and I rarely needed to touch it.
The Triton Method I'm finding at least as easy as the CaRx if not easier. Everything gets dosed at the exact same rate, so again... just test Alk. If that shift, make your adjustment to your dosing across the board.
And no water changes needed since all major and minor trace elements are being replenished.
Been running it since I set the tank up in June and it's been rock solid.

 

[Diesel]

I have a CaRx running and it's the best of all worlds.
Not doing triton but just as well could as I didn't do a water change in a long time
Not dosing either, if I feel like the few corals that are left are hungry I just turn my skimmer off for a few days.
My Gem tang must be liking the lack of interest from me in the tank as she gets more end more spots............. wondering if it could be Ick
But what do I know

 

[ReeferNoob77]

thanks for all the feed back. I want to get a stable tank with as little manual manipulation as possible is the reason for me going towards the Triton method. I read a lot of your posts about that method d2mini along with watching your chaeto weight test.

My sump needs some work already and I have a hand me down 75g reef ready I am going to convert to my new sump for this purpose. Also I hate the way my sump area looks so good reason to rework it all. I posted these in my hello thread here is my cyan garden and sump area.

 

[Diesel]

Test for the cyano.
It might not be cyano even though it looks like it but Spirulina
Put some of the red stuff in a cup and add two drops of H020 to it let it stand 24 hrs, if color changes it's cyano if not Spirulina.

 

[ReeferNoob77]

Looks like it changed colors. I tried chemiclean but no luck. Is there something else I can try?

 

[Diesel]

It's still red though
By this we can say you're dealing with Spirulina.
Chemo-clean have no effect on spirulina.
I had really good results with a three day of total darkness on the tank if I had spirulina but that been a long time ago.
It still works though and it's free.

 

[ReeferNoob77]

Oh ok, I was thinking the liquid changes color. Well lights off for a few days I can do.

Thanks for your help. Hopefully this will clear it up.