Kalk, 2-Part, or Cal Rx? How do you dose and why?

Daniel@R2R · Nov 27, 2016

Which method of dosing do you prefer and why?

I'm partial to calcium reactors over 2-part or kalk just because of the potential of accidental overdose or pump malfunction (I've seen it happen more times than I want with 2-part).

Mark75 · Nov 27, 2016

My plan with my 50g. sps cube was kalk in top off water until demand exceeded what kalk can provide, 6 months in I am still relying on a weak(1 tsp.per 4gal.) kalk solution.

I am a big fan of kalk in the top off water for its simplicity and benefits and in my case with lots of evaporation (open top and lots of water movement) it does well maintaining alk/cal.

One problem I have been battling is keeping my alk stable with kalk. For the last few months alk has been between 9.3-10 but never steady. I attribute that to varying evaporation and me adjusting the amount of kalk I add to my top off container.

It would be much easier to keep parameters steady with 2 part but I really like using kalk and I am too stubborn to give up on it!

I have no experience with calcium reactors but from what I have read if you spend the money on a good one they do an excellent job. If/when I set up a larger tank I will look into a calcium reactor, just can't justify it on my little cube.