calcium reactor

[jose hernandez]

gettin a waterbox 190.5 for my new build which will be a sps dominant tank was thinking of a dual chamber calcium reactor instead of dosing with my apex dos ive never had one and dont now anything about them only saw videos online and still dont know anything about them lol what would i need and would it be good to start one up with the new tank as far as budget i have one but at the same time i wanna get someting good dont want to cut corners

 

[cobergas]

I would suggest a carbon doser. Dual chamber is nice but I would also consider a Tunze Calcium reactor because there is no need for an additional feed pump. You can eliminate another piece of equipment by purchasing a Tunze version of the calcium reactor and it is basically set and forget.

 

[jose hernandez]

what model tunze

 

[blstravler]

I run a two chamber reactor - carbon Doser is nice but IMO the Kamoer continuous dosing pump is more important. Most dual regulators have good needle valves on them and you can control bubble counts pretty easily. I would also not using a PH controller on the reactor for the Solenoid - this is the ‘old school’ method. I only use the PH probe to keep an eye on the internal PH.

This is a really good thread around set up-

calcium reactor cant keep up with alk

I have a korallin calcium reactor that is working great but it cant keep up with my demand. I have the effluent all the way open and ph set at 6.4 inside. Would adding a second chamber help a lot or not really? I really do not want to buy another whole calcium reactor right now. If a second...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[blstravler]

Which ever brand you go with - just make sure it has a recirculating feature to stop CO2 from getting trapped at the top of the media chamber.

 

[ZoWhat]

I ran a dual chamber Calc reactor for a couple years as more of a FAD..... bc all my other local reefer friends were doing it. It was "the thing to do" in the mid 2000s.

After 2yrs, I was pretty unimpressed with the results based on the amt of effort to fine tune it and manage it.

I personally thought it put too much CO2 back into the tank even though it was a dual chamber.

I also had a couple of Alk spikes that wiped out expensive chalices.

If you really really really do your homework over the course of a month and find out your exact Calc and Alk consumption.... you can dose Kalkwasser pretty effectively. But you really really really need to know what your doing and constantly keep checking your dKH and keep that in check

 

[ZoWhat]

Morever.... if you go to the Randy Holmes-Farley section of the Forums,

Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley

Need some help with the chemistry aspect of your aquarium or have some knowledge you would like to share? Please start a new topic. This forum is moderated by Randy Holmes-Farley.

www.reef2reef.com

there are plenty of great recipes on using Kalkwasser with a vinegar mixture in certain ratios .... all to get the calc ions and carbonate ions all working in the correct direction.

Theres a ton of reading on the subject of ways to dose heavy SPS without breaking-the-bank on 2part.

Read up ;Bookworm

 

[blstravler]

This is a pretty good video from BRS -

How it works: Calcium reactors explained the easy way - Reef FAQs

At first glance, a calcium reactor can be a bit intimidating with a seemingly complex network of tubes and conflicting advice all over the internet. Explained the easy way, a calcium reactor is simply a device that is dosing calcium and alkalinity to your reef tank via a single concentrated...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[jda]

Calcium reactor, at it's core, is just a container that recirculates water. All of them have more in common than they do not. Everybody has their favorites.

I personally like the co2 to get trapped in the top. This lets me know that my tune is good or bad - if you have a good, efficient tune, then there will be no undissolved co2 going into your tank and the reactor will produce as efficiently as possible and nothing will build up. Because of this, I like reverse flow reactors to pull from the top. If I have a reactor that does not trap, I add a short tube so that it does.

I do not need a second chamber because of the above... I tune them correctly so that there is no need for one. Second chamber only has benefit to remove excess co2. If there is no excess co2 coming out of the reactor, then it does nothing.

If you have a well tuned CaRx, then your tank pH should barely more... if you have a lot of extra co2, then it can lower quite a bit.

Precision needle valve is very important. CarbonDoser is one version that has an electronic knob. You can also buy them pre made. You can also get a regular-old regulator and spend $50 on a precision needle valve. I have found all regulators to be about the same for reliability, the only difference the ability to fine tune the needle valve.

Be sure and use a high quality check valve or else saltwater can creep back up into your expensive regulator and cause it to start to corrode. Solenoid can help this in cases of electrical outages, but they stay open when bottles run empty and stuff. You still need a check valve with a solenoid.

I have no idea what my pH is in my CaRx and have not known for more than a decade. I tune them using the effluent dKh only and watch for gas buildup in the top. I do not use a pH controller. I do not recommend using a pH controller.

I am currently running a pair of Korallins (probably my favorite since I do not need to modify them), a AquaMaxx (won it a show auction and like it, but I needed to modify it to trap gas) and a really old Knop. The knop does not need fed, but I feed the others with QuietOne 1200 or MaxiJet pumps - I have used T off of the main line before too. I have a pair of Victors a Tunze and a M3 regulators on the tanks - all of these are very precise and hold their tune. I could probably use any RELIABLE kind that is reverse flow and be happy... these are not complicated creatures.

Whether you want to dose 2/3 part, use kalk or have a CaRx is up to you. Eventually, you might get to a point where you cannot evaporate enough water to keep up with kalk, even with acid in it... this can happen early in a SPS tank's life and especially if you have a lot of coralline. My tank would need a slurry added to it and the pH might be near 9 to get enough in there to meet demand. Most people do not get here. I like a CaRx because once I figured out how they worked 20 years ago, I can pretty much just look at it and tell if it is OK or what it needs. Other than changing media every few months and a bottle less often, they need nothing and just run and run. I also like that if I melt natural media, I am introducing a whole bunch of different traces that the coral uptook when they grew... more than just carbonate, calcium and magnesium, but about a dozen others (reborn and ARM have their assays out there to view).

 

[lapin]

Im old school. I run a older version of the CR818. A Milwaukee MA957 CO2 Regulator that has a bubble counter and solenoid. Its a better counter than the one on the reactor. I switched to dual Smith gauges. If I was to buy new I would get the carbon electronic doser just to try it. The solenoid is not really used except in case the Ph drops below a certain level. I run a fast drip with a certain bubble rate. This gives me the correct Ph in the reactor with out the solenoid turning of and on.
I dont have a problem with excess C02 geting into the tank. It will build up when the return pump is off(weekly water change). It supplies water to the reactor thru a manifold. Once back on its easy to bleed out the excess C02 thru the probe holder in the top.
You can find all products on Geo's site.

 

[jose hernandez]

as far as equipment i was thinking carbon doser and using my apex to monitor the ph and control it as far as the reactor shouldnt i get one that is rated for double or triple the water volume?

 

[blstravler]

I wouldn’t use it to control the PH in the Reactor - it will create different levels of DKh in your effluent as it turns on and off - you want it to be constant and adjust from there. This where a continuous dosing pump comes in very handy - or a really good needle valve. I only use my PH probe in my reactor to see what it is at. I don’t change anything based on the reading - all though if it where to tank I would assume the effluent has stopped exiting the reactor so I would want to know about that. Read the post I linked above @jda does a really good job waking a few people through set up of a CalRx - one of the best post on R2R.

 

[jda]

The weal link in the setup is the pH probe - I would not rely on them for anything except for maybe text or email (or nothing). When you use a pH controller, the on/off nature of dumping bunches of co2 and then periods of nothing is not efficient and can waste gas and can lower the pH in your tank. Steady, 24/7 tune is best, IMO. It takes a bit to learn, but no different than figuring out a DOS or how to calibrate a pH probe.

 

[jose hernandez]

THIS WHAT I WAS THIKING BEING ON VIDEOS IVE BEEN WATCHING
REACTOR STILL DONT KNOW VERTEX OR GEO NOT SURE
KAMOER PERILICTIC PUMP
CARBON DOSER
CO2 10LB TANK
MEDIA TWO LITTLE FISHES REBORN AND MAG
EXTRA PH PROBE FOR THE RECATOR
IM I ON THE RIGHT PATH?

 

[jda]

That is fine. You won't likely need the dolomite (mag) if you use natural media, unless your tank is naturally low (it likely is not). Just regular reborn or ARM do the job for me.

Whatever you do, do NOT watch the YouTube video with the guy who has a video with a title of something like "alternative method that is too easy." IMO, the worst way to run a reactor and I help more people move from this method than anything.

I will leave the probe up to you... I don't use one. Some people like them as a double-check. Some people depend on them too much and it makes their CaRx experience turn out to be a bad one.

They are really easy once you understand... it will just click all of a sudden one day.

If you are out and about and ever see a 5lb co2 tank from a failed home brewer, pick it up. Good to have a full spare since they always seem to go empty on a Friday just after the welding shop closes.

 

[Ardeus]

I recently got a calcium reactor because I was dosing 5 litres of kalk per day and it wasn't enough.

I keep dosing kalk and I managed to balance the tank with the calcium reactor but I have the feeling it's not the best way.

The reactor is gravity fed and I removed the pinch valve at the exit, so the effluent is around 250ml/minute.

The reasons I removed the pinch valve was because it was providing inconsistent flow and I was fed up of collecting gas at the top of the reactor, making it noisy. So now it runs open.

The CO2 is set to 30 bubbles/minute.

If I turn off the reactor, the KH drops 1 dKH per day (it's a 200 gallon mixed reef).

Is there anything wrong with this huge flow out of the reactor? I don't monitor pH. I balanced the tank by measuring KH of the tank every 24 hours.

 

[jda]

Keeping up is the goal. If you get to a point where your current tune cannot keep up, then you can probably slow things down and use less co2 and get more effluent dKh out of the thing. Don't mess with this if it is working well.

I would test your effluent dKh, count the bubbles and measure the effluent mls. Write this down for a baseline in case you need it some day.

 

[Ardeus]

Too late... I had already read your recommendations on how to tune a calcium reactor on another post and I couldn't resist trying them out

I did take note of the effluent and CO2 before making changes.

I set it to 20 bubbles/min and 100ml/minute. If the result tomorrow is too out or whack, I will go back to the free running effluent setting.

Thanks!