calcium reactor vs triton

[Water Dog]

Nice grab! You’ll be totally fine. In fact if you want to jazz up your new toy, look for brass dual stage Harris regulator with a 0-15psi working pressure (on eBay) and marry it to the Carbon Doser box and you’ll have a pretty killer set up. What is the condition of the brass single stage currently attached to your Carbon Doser?

 

[Water Dog]

These are the 2 Harris dual stage regulator models that would work great with the Carbondoser. The Harris 9296-15-320 and the 9200-15-320. Although full retail is quite pricy, I’ve seen them for sale on eBay BNIB for $60 not too long ago. This info is from the member tkeracer619 over on RC. That dude seriously knows his stuff. He’s the guy who started the invaluable Masterflex thread over there.

As far as tips to find these regulators to be DIY’d... lots of patience. Also be ready to pull the trigger quickly if something pops up. Set notifications on eBay so when an item you’re looking for hits the market, you immediately get an email. As an example, about a month ago, a new 1/8” stainless Swagelok low flow metering valve popped up with “Buy it Now” price of $36. I dragged my feet and it was gone in 20 minutes... these things usually sell for around $80 - $125. If you know how to play the game, you can make out great.

 

[elwallacejr]

The Carbon Doser has a very good reputation as a reliable regulator. Yes, it is a single stage regulator. I’ve read that it uses an electronic Clippard Mouse valve that opens and closes rapidly and consistently once set. Because of the nature of how this electronic valve works, Aquarium Plants claims that it protects against end of life tank dump even though it’s a single stage regulator.

We snobby DIYers with our Matheson, Airgas, Concoa or Victor dual stage regulators source lab grade stainless steel Swagelok metering valves and German Burkert solenoids. Often we can do this for a good bit less than the Carbon Doser. Once you go through the DIY process and understand how each part works, whether it’s fair or not, you realize that the Carbon Doser is essentially an electronic valve in a pretty plastic box married to a cheap single stage regulator. Like I said, the Carbondoser has an excellent reputation for reliability and ease of use, albeit a bit steep in price for what it actually is.

I built my Matheson dual stage for less than $250.

Mr. Water Dog - I don't suppose you'd share your parts list and source of materials for your setup?

 

[Water Dog]

Everything was sourced through eBay. Remember, patience and luck are key... without them you could easily spend over $400. This is a the definitive reference guide by RC member Alanle that I and many others have used for our DIY CO2 regulators. It’s a long read but well worth it. There is a preferred parts list on the first page.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2461771

 

[elwallacejr]

Everything was sourced through eBay. Remember, patience and luck are key... without them you could easily spend over $400. This is a the definitive reference guide by RC member Alanle that I and many others have used for our DIY CO2 regulators. It’s a long read but well worth it. There is a preferred parts list on the first page.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2461771

Awesome! Thanks a ton for the info.

 

[Water Dog]

Awesome! Thanks a ton for the info.

No sweat! If you have any specific questions as you move along in your build, PM me. I’d be happy to help.

 

[elwallacejr]

Again, Thanks! This is the last piece I need to wrap up my ca reactor build. We’ll see how I do.

 

[AcroJack]

Couple of things I'd like to mention as you are weighing your decision. We have been in the hobby here for around 21 years and have run everything from Kalk to Triton on our systems. Ditto the comments on buying quality parts above. Setup right, your calcium reactor can be a very stable piece of reef equipment, but if you have a part fail, the fallout can ruin your reef in a number of ways. After 7 or so years of a nice big GEO 818 on our primary grow-out system, we added the "Carbon Doser" regulator you can find at BRS and a few other places. Its the bees knees as far as dialing in your CR pH and easy to add a fail safe via a pH probe tied in to your Apex.

That being said, we have also run Triton in our coral QT for 14 months now and have seen coloration especially (and growth to some extent) go to new levels. Our QT has recently gotten to the point where alk starts ramping into an area where Triton costs increase and we have saddled up another Geo Calcium reactor/Carbon Doser to that system. Thought being, run a foundation of Ca/KH/ and Mg (via 10% mag media) via the CR, then above and beyond that we dial in the last 35-40% of demand via Triton and our GHL doser to get enough trace elements and things like K, I, etc to keep our fuge happy AND our corals blinging. We have only been doing that since July so stay tuned, but so far things are looking great, growing great, and not hitting us as hard on the bottom line.
Sorry for all the gory details, but your conundrum sounded just like some of the considerations we were weighing late spring 2017 and I thought I would add some of the things we did. Best of luck and whatever you do, keep that alk steady!

 

[gar732]

Nice grab! You’ll be totally fine. In fact if you want to jazz up your new toy, look for brass dual stage Harris regulator with a 0-15psi working pressure (on eBay) and marry it to the Carbon Doser box and you’ll have a pretty killer set up. What is the condition of the brass single stage currently attached to your Carbon Doser?

It has a bit if surface corrosion in spots since it was housed underneath the cabinet with the sump but looks to be in good shape otherwise. I hear you about being ready to jump on things as I had a similar experience with a regulator. I second guess myself because I’m worried about getting the wrong parts. I’ll keep an eye out for the ones you mentioned, thanks.