New Avast Marine Calcium Reactor

[Brew12]

Its been a few months since this has been out. Whats the verdict on this Seabones V2 for the people who own this unit? Worth the money? How loud is the waterfall effect? And does this unit require constant tinkering?

I think it is absolutely worth the money, but it just couldn't keep up with my demand. I had to pull it and get a larger one of a different make. I like the Seabones much better though and it was much quieter than my new one.
FYI, I need to melt almost 2 pounds of media a week to keep up with my current systems growth rate which just isn't practical for a calcium reactor with this small of a footprint.

 

[xionggotstyle]

I think it is absolutely worth the money, but it just couldn't keep up with my demand. I had to pull it and get a larger one of a different make. I like the Seabones much better though and it was much quieter than my new one.
FYI, I need to melt almost 2 pounds of media a week to keep up with my current systems growth rate which just isn't practical for a calcium reactor with this small of a footprint.

What size is your tank? And is it SPS Acros Dominated? Also what did you end up upgrading to?

 

[Brew12]

What size is your tank? And is it SPS Acros Dominated? Also what did you end up upgrading to?

I went with a Skimz CM202 and it is very noisy compared to the Avast. My tank is 187g with a lot of Acro, Monti's and Digi's.

 

[AVAST Marine Verified Sponsor]

I think it is absolutely worth the money, but it just couldn't keep up with my demand. I had to pull it and get a larger one of a different make. I like the Seabones much better though and it was much quieter than my new one.
FYI, I need to melt almost 2 pounds of media a week to keep up with my current systems growth rate which just isn't practical for a calcium reactor with this small of a footprint.

I am surprised by a few things here. We would like to talk to you more about this. Can you reply back here with your order number so we can reach out to you directly?

 

[Brew12]

I am surprised by a few things here. We would like to talk to you more about this. Can you reply back here with your order number so we can reach out to you directly?

Of course, I'll PM you.

 

[dwest]

Of course, I'll PM you.

I’m keeping an eye on this Brew. I might be looking for a calcium reactor within 12 months. But my tank is similar in size to yours and the acros are growing.

 

[Brew12]

I’m keeping an eye on this Brew. I might be looking for a calcium reactor within 12 months. But my tank is similar in size to yours and the acros are growing.

How are you maintaining Alkalinity right now?

 

[dwest]

I use 5 L of kalk through an avast kalk stirrer plus 2 part daily. My 2 part useage is 90 ml of each daily and increasing rapidly.

 

[Brew12]

I use 5 L of kalk through an avast kalk stirrer plus 2 part daily. My 2 part useage is 90 ml of each daily and increasing rapidly.

You would be fine with the Seabones for awhile yet, imo. Especially if you continue with the Kalk for the pH boost. I'm guestimating your total demand is around 200ml per day and the Seabones shouldn't have any issue with that. I'm guessing it can make up for at least 300ml per day of dosing.

 

[Mrx7899]

I'm using it on a 225 mix reef thats sps dominate with a few large colonies. I have the ph at 6.5 and its keeping my alk at 7.8. I will have to up the drip rate soon as thing are growing very well. When I was doing two part I was dosing 200mls of esv bionic but that was about a year ago before I switch to a calcium reactor. The sea bones is alot better then my old reactor.

 

[xionggotstyle]

Was thinking about getting this Seabones unit but now I'm having a little doubt. I was told that this V2 Unit should be able to handle 300 gallons SPS dominated tank or 30 to 40 large SPS colonies. I dont doubt the quality of the product. Just dont really want to buy something and then end up having to upgrade and get another unit later. (i'm currently dosing 100 mL of both Alk and Calcium right now).

 

[Brew12]

Was thinking about getting this Seabones unit but now I'm having a little doubt. I was told that this V2 Unit should be able to handle 300 gallons SPS dominated tank or 30 to 40 large SPS colonies. I dont doubt the quality of the product. Just dont really want to buy something and then end up having to upgrade and get another unit later. (i'm currently dosing 100 mL of both Alk and Calcium right now).

I think it would do that if the colonies are mostly Acros. It's my monti caps and digi's that drive my alk/calc consumption. I didn't even consider a calcium reactor until I crossed 300ml per day and didn't pull the trigger until I was over 400ml per day. I have no doubt that this can handle replacing 300ml per day of two part.
I'll also point out that having an oversized CaRx comes with risk as it is much easier to spike alk with an oversized unit.

 

[xionggotstyle]

I think it would do that if the colonies are mostly Acros. It's my monti caps and digi's that drive my alk/calc consumption. I didn't even consider a calcium reactor until I crossed 300ml per day and didn't pull the trigger until I was over 400ml per day. I have no doubt that this can handle replacing 300ml per day of two part.
I'll also point out that having an oversized CaRx comes with risk as it is much easier to spike alk with an oversized unit.

Thanks for the tips and Advice. Maybe I shouldnt get an oversized Calcium reactor. But how are all you guys tuning this unit? Apparently you dont need a Peristaltic pump for fine tuning .But I already have a Versa pump which I wanted to push/pull a set volume of mL per minute. Also I have the carbon doser and was planning on using it with my apex to turn the amount of CO2 infused on and off. But looks like this unit approaches the concept of calcium reactors from another point of view. Feel free to chime in Avast. I would appreciate it.

 

[AVAST Marine Verified Sponsor]

We designed the unit to handle most systems, there will of course be tanks outside of "most". We definitely say this will handle a 300g display of SPS and it will. Brew is using 2# of media a week, let that sink in for a minute, that is a TON of media. Could the Seabones keep up with that? Yes, but changing media that often is a chore and if you have the footprint to get a bigger chamber then it definitely makes more sense to get another unit. That is the type of valuable feedback we get from our customers that lets us continually evolve a product line.
Xiong, As to dosing co2 with the carbon doser, I am not 100% clear on what you want to do and how it is different from what we are recommending?

 

[Mrx7899]

Thanks for the tips and Advice. Maybe I shouldnt get an oversized Calcium reactor. But how are all you guys tuning this unit? Apparently you dont need a Peristaltic pump for fine tuning .But I already have a Versa pump which I wanted to push/pull a set volume of mL per minute. Also I have the carbon doser and was planning on using it with my apex to turn the amount of CO2 infused on and off. But looks like this unit approaches the concept of calcium reactors from another point of view. Feel free to chime in Avast. I would appreciate it.

I build a dual stage regulator that I'm using to control co2 flow and have my apex to close the solenoid if it goes below 6.5. That's it you dont have to worry about flow because the drip emitter does 50 mls a minute. Its pretty easy to setup. I do have a versa when I need to up the flow but right now 50 mls is working for me.

 

[Mrx7899]

We designed the unit to handle most systems, there will of course be tanks outside of "most". We definitely say this will handle a 300g display of SPS and it will. Brew is using 2# of media a week, let that sink in for a minute, that is a TON of media. Could the Seabones keep up with that? Yes, but changing media that often is a chore and if you have the footprint to get a bigger chamber then it definitely makes more sense to get another unit. That is the type of valuable feedback we get from our customers that lets us continually evolve a product line.
Xiong, As to dosing co2 with the carbon doser, I am not 100% clear on what you want to do and how it is different from what we are recommending?

Do you have any plans for making a bigger version.

 

[AVAST Marine Verified Sponsor]

A larger unit is on the roadmap as is a DIY kit version.

 

[AVAST Marine Verified Sponsor]

I build a dual stage regulator that I'm using to control co2 flow and have my apex to close the solenoid if it goes below 6.5. That's it you dont have to worry about flow because the drip emitter does 50 mls a minute. Its pretty easy to setup. I do have a versa when I need to up the flow but right now 50 mls is working for me.

Another option is to keep flow rate consistent and lower ph. This will have the same effect as upping the effluent rate and keeping the ph constant. Those are really the only two "keys" to tuning a reactor, manipulating ph and flow rates, keeping one constant and making one variable is helpful.

That said, we do have plans to offer larger flow restrictor valves so we can offer a second tier flow rate. That is one thing I think Brew could have benefitted from with his super high demand system. There are a few other tweaks we could do to the reactor to make it run better on ultra high demand systems, but then again that's maybe where the larger size reactor with larger media capacity would take over.

 

[Mrx7899]

A larger unit is on the roadmap as is a DIY kit version.

Sweet I'll definitely be picking one up. I really like the kits I have done the kalk stirrer, mr5 which I converted to the second camber for my reactor and breakout box kits

 

[Brew12]

Brew is using 2# of media a week, let that sink in for a minute, that is a TON of media.

I'm going to try and put into perspective how fast my system is growing if you don't mind.
I took this picture yesterday.

Three weeks ago I cut out 60 to 70 good size frags of mostly monti cap, digi's and the purple slimer. It was enough coral, growing so quickly, that it crashed the 60g frag tank of the person I gave them to when alk dropped over 2dkh during the day.
I can't even tell where I cut stuff out 3 weeks ago. It's all grown back and then some. I need to get back in there this weekend and frag about that much again. If I go more than a few weeks I start getting serious shading issues.