New to Dosing

[Shawn_epicurious]

As the title say, I am new to dosing. I have a 200 gallon tank, currently mixed reef (mostly softies) that is now 5 month old. I am on a path towards an SPS dominant tank. I do not own any SPS yet. I have been in equipment mode : )

This path towards SPS has had many curves already. Below is what I have and my plan...(All of this is on my build thread)

I have an Octopus calcium reactor (yes, I have the CO2). The media I bought has magnesium in it. I have a Neptune, Trident and the Apex DOS 2 stage. Spent a lot of time reading about why I need to dose... level to keep parameters at.. and it just dawned on me I have not researched what actual products to put in those two stages lol

I plan on letting my tank mature a bit more while I learn to stabilize the water.

Any recommendations?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Is the CA reactor already up and running?

What kind of Ca, alk and Mg levels do you have now and what levels do you want to maintain?

You can buy any or all of these additives at an LFS, online, or if you are like me, even at pool supplies and hardware stores. I dose Ca and soda ash (for alk) once a week and I do it manually.

If you are going for an sps dominant tank, you will need to get these parameters as stable as possible. I've never run a Ca reactor (I considered it but decided dosing was easier). So hopefully somebody will jump in here and help out. But I thought a Ca reactor was able to keep Ca, alk and Mg at proper levels?

 

[ReefnFG]

I have never owned a calcium reactor but I've worked with a few customers who have. I would say post a picture of the reactor setup, it's components, and your settings & apex coding for things like CO2, Ph, flow rate. I also believe that magnesium media you have in there now will only dose Mg. I was under the impression that people run 2 cylinders, 1 for Ca & Kh, and the other for Mg. Or maybe a mix of the 2 medias but I'm not sure on that. For your tank now that its mostly softies you shouldn't need that Mg media yet. Did someone recommend you to get that media?

Have you checked BRS videos on them, I just watched 2 of them and they are informative and offer a good starting point.

As to your point about what product to use, I'll say ask a thousand people and you'll get a thousand answers. HAHA. Personally I think this is where trial and error comes in, you need to figure out what works and what your system thrives with.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

You both asked great questions. I am still waking up... sippin’ my coffee. I was going to run all of my water tests this morning. I’ll follow up in an hour or so.

In the meantime, almost nothing is running yet. Only the Neptune is actually turned on and I still haven’t gotten the PH probe to finish a calibration cycle.

I have the Reef Octopus Varios CR 140 DC calcium reactor. The media I used is shown below: Caribsea ARM CaRx media - course. My research so far indicates this combination just might take care of both my calcium and magnesium needs. That why I am not sure what to put in the 2 stage doser

My plan was... is... get my trident up and running, calibrated and then get the reactor turned on and running through my Neptune. And then spend the next two weeks ...”watching”

Nothing in my tank is using calcium right now. My calcium levels already stay around 400, so even when I turn it on, the Neptune is going to keep it turned off most of the time.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I also just changed to the salt shown below. I do a 25 gallon water change every weekend

 

[X-37B]

I dosed 2 part for 6 months in my 120. That way I got an idea of whats going on in my system. When I got to 40 ml of esv 1&2 of their 2 part I fired up my carx.
I run manmade media which only supplies alk and cal.
My trace elements supply the rest.
I do not run a ph probe or controller. It has been running for over 6 months and is the single best piece of equipment I run.
I would check alk every day for awhile to determine your daily swing.
I test ca and mag maybe once a month at best.
Cal stays the same and mag is easy to manually adjust but I have not needed to since setup, which is a year the 23rd of this month.

 

[ReefnFG]

Ok! You are good on the media originally I thought you bought just Mg media. I don't see a CO2 regulator or did I miss it or is not set up yet? What pump are you planning on using to feed the reactor?
I do not think calcium reactors are meant to be turned off when values raise above your setpoints. Normally people run them all the time. The only thing turning on and off would be the CO2 regulator if Ph gets to high or low. The idea with CaRX is a constant drip of super saturated water.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Ok! You are good on the media originally I thought you bought just Mg media. I don't see a CO2 regulator or did I miss it or is not set up yet? What pump are you planning on using to feed the reactor?
I do not think calcium reactors are meant to be turned off when values raise above your setpoints. Normally people run them all the time. The only thing turning on and off would be the CO2 regulator if Ph gets to high or low. The idea with CaRX is a constant drip of super saturated water.

I have 2 regulators. One is full manual. The other has a power cord of its own. I am not sure which one I should use. One of the reasons it is not turned on yet is that I have a friend coming over to help me do the remaining setup on the both the reactor and the Trident. (I’m hoping we get the ph probe to calibrate) I dropped in a pic of the regulators I have...

 

[X-37B]

I have 2 regulators. One is full manual. The other has a power cord of its own. I am not sure which one I should use. One of the reasons it is not turned on yet is that I have a friend coming over to help me do the remaining setup on the both the reactor and the Trident. (I’m hoping we get the ph probe to calibrate) I dropped in a pic of the regulators I have...

Use the tunze.
The power cord is for a solenoid.
The solenoid on mine just shuts off the co2 if the power goes off.
You will need a solenoid to turn off the co2 if you are running off a controller.
Its easier to tune a reactor by effluent count and bubble count imo.
It runs 24/7.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Water parameters as of this morning

Salinity - Neptune is at 34.6ppt. Evaporation and ATO are swinging between 34.4 x 34.9
Refractometer is just barely below 1.025. My goal has been to stay closer to 1.026. Temperature - Neptune 77.9 right now. I have it set to control the heater between 77.5 - 78.5
ORP - is at 329. It stays between 318 - 333

Everything else is an API test: (I do not like API tests)

Calcium - 21 drops of part 2, so 420
KH - 9 drops, so dKH is 9 or ppm KH is 161.1
PO4 - almost zero. The color is not even close to the 0.25ppm color
NO3 - Best guess based on color is 2.5ppm, definitely less than 5.0 and definitely not zero
PH - 7.9

ammonia - zero
NO2 - 0 ppm

i do not have a test kit for magnesium

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Use the tunze.
The power cord is for a solenoid.
The solenoid on mine just shuts off the co2 if the power goes off.
You will need a solenoid to turn off the co2 if you are running off a controller.
Its easier to tune a reactor by effluent count and bubble count imo.
It runs 24/7.

I am actually still a bit confused by that. If my Neptune is running it and calcium is in the right range, don’t I want the Neptune to turn off the CO2? ...and then just let water run thru the reactor 24/7?

 

[ReefnFG]

So values look ok for softies, seems like water changes is enough to maintain your levels at this point. Maybe nutrients are a bit low. NO3 & PO4 can be localized so when you test, try to take a sample from lower in the tank instead of off the top. That might give higher values.

Orp & salt probe have about 1-2 week break in period before you can trust their values and calibrate it (salt probe, ORP does not have a calibration just a "seasoning period").

The point of CO2 regulator is to maintain CO2 flow into the reactor to maintain the Ph (~6.5) for efficient breakdown of the media to create a high concentration solution of calcium & alkalinity ions. When the regulator is plugged into the apex, you make a code for the apex to monitor the pH, if the pH swings out of the limits you set on it the apex will turn the regulator off (raising your pH in the reactor) or turn it on (lowering the pH in the reactor). This maintains the concentration of the solution you are dosing to the tank thus creating stability. The recirculating pump runs all the time you don't want that to turn off, you will need a peristaltic pump (your dos can probably do it but it will put a lot of wear on the pump, greatly reducing its life & its probably loud) to pull water through the reactor. Due to the concentration of the solution being dosed, if a continual drip is not maintained the line will clog .

Maybe for the time being I'd use the Dos to dose Calcium & Alkalinity solutions (like Red Sea, Kent, B-ionic, etc.) due to the low demand of your system. Then progress to run the reactor when 2 part solution is no longer cost efficient from SPS consummation.

 

[TX_Punisher]

Just add remag to your calcium reactor chamber with your ARM. follow the directions on the back of the bag of remag. You have a trident so it will be testing mag a minimum of Twice per day.

get your levels where you want them (alk, cal, mag). The reactor maintains the levels when tuned properly. Turn my effluent pump and co2 off at night and keep the reactor circulation pump on. You can do all of that through apex. I still did cal and mag a few times a week as it drops at night while the reactor is off, however, my alk creeps up a tad on its own around 3-4am.

you'll have to test and tune for a week or
Two to get things dialed in mainly bubble count and effluent flow through the reactor.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

So values look ok for softies, seems like water changes is enough to maintain your levels at this point. Maybe nutrients are a bit low. NO3 & PO4 can be localized so when you test, try to take a sample from lower in the tank instead of off the top. That might give higher values.

Orp & salt probe have about 1-2 week break in period before you can trust their values and calibrate it (salt probe, ORP does not have a calibration just a "seasoning period").

The point of CO2 regulator is to maintain CO2 flow into the reactor to maintain the Ph (~6.5) for efficient breakdown of the media to create a high concentration solution of calcium & alkalinity ions. When the regulator is plugged into the apex, you make a code for the apex to monitor the pH, if the pH swings out of the limits you set on it the apex will turn the regulator off (raising your pH in the reactor) or turn it on (lowering the pH in the reactor). This maintains the concentration of the solution you are dosing to the tank thus creating stability. The recirculating pump runs all the time you don't want that to turn off, you will need a peristaltic pump (your dos can probably do it but it will put a lot of wear on the pump, greatly reducing its life & its probably loud) to pull water through the reactor. Due to the concentration of the solution being dosed, if a continual drip is not maintained the line will clog .

Maybe for the time being I'd use the Dos to dose Calcium & Alkalinity solutions (like Red Sea, Kent, B-ionic, etc.) due to the low demand of your system. Then progress to run the reactor when 2 part solution is no longer cost efficient from SPS consummation.

A lot to respond to.. let me know if I missed something : ) The Neptune has been going for a month now. The Salt, ORP and temp probes are all working great now. The PH probe just refuses to finish a calibration. It is at 7.06 Right now... I know that cannot be accurate, but I can see the changes over time in that number. It does seem to be stabilizing nicely. It’s just stays between 7.06 and 7.08. I have one more set of ph calibration fluid packets. Going to try again tomorrow

I like what you suggested on how to begin using the reactor (I knew it would be weird at first : )

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Just add remag to your calcium reactor chamber with your ARM. follow the directions on the back of the bag of remag. You have a trident so it will be testing mag a minimum of Twice per day.

get your levels where you want them (alk, cal, mag). The reactor maintains the levels when tuned properly. Turn my effluent pump and co2 off at night and keep the reactor circulation pump on. You can do all of that through apex. I still did cal and mag a few times a week as it drops at night while the reactor is off, however, my alk creeps up a tad on its own around 3-4am.

you'll have to test and tune for a week or
Two to get things dialed in mainly bubble count and effluent flow through the reactor.

That makes sense. Thank you : )

 

[X-37B]

I am actually still a bit confused by that. If my Neptune is running it and calcium is in the right range, don’t I want the Neptune to turn off the CO2? ...and then just let water run thru the reactor 24/7?

With that system your regulator needs a solenoid valve.
When your low setpoint ph is reached it shuts off the co2. When it reaches your high setpoint it turns the co2 back on.
And its your alk not ca.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

The trident is going : ) ....and yeah, I missed buying a pump for the reactor...