Poll: Do you use Calcium Reactor or Dosing Pumps?

[acr0p0ra]

Which do you use, dosing pumps or calcium reactor? Have you used one then switched to the other? why?

 

[_sludgefactory]

Kalk.

 

[prsnlty]

I want to know this also... following

 

[_sludgefactory]

I would say most people do 2 part because it's easy and cheap. Calcium reactors are difficult and expensive.

 

[prsnlty]

So when you say 2 part, do you mean with or without dosing pumps? I hear that dosing pumps keep the stability better but sometimes difficult to dial in.

 

[_sludgefactory]

I've always just did it manually. Too poor for dosing pumps.

 

[prsnlty]

Me too but I'm terrible at always remembering. FS has a unit for $110 I've been thinking of getting.

 

[prsnlty]

In my case I will need ca, mg and maybe alk. I say maybe because I rarely have a need for alk. Although it gets too high with a kalk reactor or as the reactor no longer has enough soluble kalk(and I miss this) it drops dramatically. Thus making the tank unstable.

 

[Reef Pets]

I use a dosing pump. My main purpose for using them is stability. In the holding containers I only keep enough 2 part to last 2 days. If a pump were to go bad and was to stick on it would only raise my levels but there is not enough solution to destroy my system. I would notice if a pump was not turning on due to the small amount of solution kept in the containers. This is my way of safe proofing dosing pumps.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Ca Reactor with a controller, I've done dosing but for an SPS dominant tank its what I prefer. I'm convinced I get more out of dissolved coral skeletons than I did dosing and yes they are more expensive but what in this hobby is not :squigglemouth:

 

[_sludgefactory]

With mag you only really need to dose it once a week so you don't necessarily need a dosing pump for it.

 

[prsnlty]

With mag you only really need to dose it once a week so you don't necessarily need a dosing pump for it.

That's good to know Why are some people dosing K though a dosing pump? I would that would be a once a week thing as well like those that test for and dose strontinum.

 

[Maikoa02]

Used a calcium reactor (knop first then upgraded to a geo) for 2 years. Would get it dialed in correctly and parameters would be steady. Within a few weeks alk starts to rise and if I didn't test every 4 days alk would rise to over 12 and start getting burnt tips and some sps start to rtn. Frustrated me like crazy cause I would lose some expensive frags. A friend suggested I borrow and try his profilux doser and I've never looked back. I stopped making my own chemicals and started using esv 2 part and magnesium. Levels have been stable for 4 years, easy to make adjustments if needed, and have grown frags to colonies with almost all 2-4 years old. In hindsight, if I had used an electronic regulator for the ca rx, I probably would have been able to keep parameters more steady and might not ever have made the switch to dosing.

 

[Birddog]

With mag you only really need to dose it once a week so you don't necessarily need a dosing pump for it.

I have an over stocked 28G nano and have only found stability if I dose 4 ml of mg daily. Just my $0.02

 

[buckroe07]

Peristaltic pump on a timer with a kalk reactor for me. Should I mark dosing pump?

 

[_sludgefactory]

That's good to know Why are some people dosing K though a dosing pump? I would that would be a once a week thing as well like those that test for and dose strontinum.

I've heard it does good things not really sure what though. It's big with the Zeovit crowd. I try not to dose anything I don't/can't test for.

 

[prsnlty]

I have a red sea coral colors pro test kit and suppliments. After testing I found my iron and k were quite low. I dose these by hand once a week if needed. My main reason to consider use of a dosing pump is stability of the main 3, ca, mg, alk. It seems to be the only reason that I have found why my tank doesn't support acros or millies for longer than a few months. Though I've wondered if they aren't getting enough food also. I only have a handful of fish in a 125g soon to be 180g.

Wish I could afford a profilux but may go with the one from fish street since it's affordable. Anyone have experience with the fish street dosing pump?

 

[_sludgefactory]

I don't know man. I just dose kalk and mag and I have a bunch of acros. I don't potassium and iron are your problem with keeping acros.

 

[_sludgefactory]

This isn't one of my best pics, but you get the idea. It's a 92 corner and i dose kalk in my ato. I dose a solution of Epsom salt whenever my mag drops below 1400. I use a few Zeovit supplements but that's about it.

 

[prsnlty]

I don't believe that either. It was just a shot in the dark. Those numbers however were low so it didn't go to waste. I still believe it's a lack of consistent numbers with the ca, mg and alk. My BD is in Oct so I may by myself a doser By then the 180 will be running and hopefully it'll work out. But I'm going to change up some foods for all and maybe add more fish in the meantime. I only have a y and pb tangs, pr of clowns, coral beauty and 6 line for fish.