Questions about a Calc Reactor setup

[gideon2086]

I'm at the point where my SPS dominant 220 is too demanding for dosing and I'm considering a calc reactor (geo's to be exact). I've watched a bunch of videos.. but there are still a few questions lingering that I hope you all can help with.

1) If I use a peristaltic pump to feed does it have to be a continuous duty? Can it be any doser?
2) Is a secondary chamber a must to control PH drops? I've seen a few with and a few without.
3) Can I have the reactor on the opposite side of the wall of the tank and in the garage? I live in NC and the winter temps do sometimes drop to the 20's. The garage is warmer than the outside, but not insulated. If the water is continuously moving, I'm assuming this won't be an issue.
4) Does a standalone PH monitor (like Milwaukee work?) I have an Apex EL - If I want to go that route I'm thinking I will need to add another module for a second probe. I also would have to buy another energy bar to plug the pump into as those slots are beyond full.

 

[Yodeling]

I'm at the point where my SPS dominant 220 is too demanding for dosing and I'm considering a calc reactor (geo's to be exact). I've watched a bunch of videos.. but there are still a few questions lingering that I hope you all can help with.

1) If I use a peristaltic pump to feed does it have to be a continuous duty? Can it be any doser?
2) Is a secondary chamber a must to control PH drops? I've seen a few with and a few without.
3) Can I have the reactor on the opposite side of the wall of the tank and in the garage? I live in NC and the winter temps do sometimes drop to the 20's. The garage is warmer than the outside, but not insulated. If the water is continuously moving, I'm assuming this won't be an issue.
4) Does a standalone PH monitor (like Milwaukee work?) I have an Apex EL - If I want to go that route I'm thinking I will need to add another module for a second probe. I also would have to buy another energy bar to plug the pump into as those slots are beyond full.

1) If I use a peristaltic pump to feed does it have to be a continuous duty? Can it be any doser?
Yes, imho it needs to be continuous duty. You want to produce steady consistent adjustable flow.

2) Is a secondary chamber a must to control PH drops? I've seen a few with and a few without.
No. It's a nice to have. I never ran a CaRx without one tbh, but it's only there to reduce effluent PH.

3) Can I have the reactor on the opposite side of the wall of the tank and in the garage? I live in NC and the winter temps do sometimes drop to the 20's. The garage is warmer than the outside, but not insulated. If the water is continuously moving, I'm assuming this won't be an issue.
I wouldn't do it. Water + freezing temps = bad things. The water is not like turbulent in the entire reactor. You will have pockets between all the media that's hardly moving at all.

4) Does a standalone PH monitor (like Milwaukee work?) I have an Apex EL - If I want to go that route I'm thinking I will need to add another module for a second probe. I also would have to buy another energy bar to plug the pump into as those slots are beyond full.
Yes, I use a Milwaukee and I prefer it over Apex. The standalone purpose built PH controllers are 1000 x more reliable.

 

[gideon2086]

Thanks. What media do you run in the secondary chamber?

 

[Snoopy 67]

Same media in both chambers.
A PH probe is NOT necessary to run a CARX successfully. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VVDp1UOhxK1by9ofK0K83q2RyArEAEYtueOuUFy4SzI/edit

 

[Yodeling]

Thanks. What media do you run in the secondary chamber?

I just run ARM Extra Coarse in both chambers. It's probably not ideal because you'd want finer media in the secondary for maximum effectiveness, but I don't want to deal with the headaches of different media dissolving at different rates.

 

[Water Dog]

Thanks. What media do you run in the secondary chamber?

Since the Caribsea ARM fine has been discontinued, you’d be fine using Caribsea Florida Crushed Coral substrate.