It's has been a lesson I have learned the hard way and want to share with you guys. I have currently a 720 Gal mixed tank. That I fought the Alk and Calcuim fight for several years to get good numbers and most importantly stable numbers. My first try at this tank was with a Korallin reactor that was suppose to be for up to 1200 gallons. I could never get enough calcuim and Alk from this and was testing daily. I would just test the out flow of the reactor with a PH meter and get around 6.7 PH and would test alk and see it was producing Alk. Still not enough than I added:
I would use two-part but found that even with two-part and calcium reactor I could not get reliable numbers and most importantly stable numbers. I than start mixing Calcuim chlorde and Calcuim Carbonate from BRS and adding. So now I have a Calcuim reactor running, Two-part dosing, and adding CACL and Carbonate to get numbers I wanted to achieve. So now am starting to get good growth but of course demand of alk and calcuim increases. Corals are looking good starting to get good growth. Than here comes the major lesson I kept getting demand surges driving down Alk to the low 7's. Next came what everyone hates RTN from base up. The swing of Alk caused most of my corals to slowly loss tissues. I got my Alk back up to the 8's but it was too late. Once RTN starts say good bye too most of your corals. I had to frag most of them. It seems once it starts it will not stop expanding up the coral even when you bring parameters back. So had enough of this. After trying to figure out how to fix this cluster of equipment and help from the guy at Geo I bought the CR836.
Now, I had the fix. Well I had not figured it all out yet. I went about it the old way with trying to check the outflow with a ph meter ect.. Problem with this coupled with a normal regulator valve is you do not have the control you need to know exactly how much alk your putting in the tank. So I was most of the way there. I still not getting stable numbers. Why? Regulator valve and controlling pH of reactor. Next I bought these little things:
Ph controler and CarbonDoser Electronic Co2 Regulator. Within a week of adding these to my Calcuim reactor I stopped all two-part plus the additonal Calcium chlorie and Carbonate I was adding.
Lesson learned:
First you must over shoot the size of you calcium reactor for a system with SPS. If you have a 200 Gallon get a Calcium reactor for twice that amount. Second without a controller it makes it very difficult to control the amount of alk going into you tank. Reason being PH in the Reactor will go up and down with a standard regulator. Plus it is very hard to dail in a calcuim reactor without having a stable number. Should you increase you effluent or decrease the PH hard to do without a stable number. Second, the electronic regulator is a must buy. It gives you exctually the same bubble count all the time until the CO2 bottle runs out.
So I went from multiple pieces of equipment dosing different amounts of Alk and calcium at different levels to one piece of equipment.
Upsize calcium reactor(you can always decrease outflow but once it hits your max your screwed with undersized), must have controller to keep PH in reactor stable, and electronic regulator keeps bubble count exact. Now my maintenance is change CO2 botte when it runs out and adding more substrate. Alk and calcuim levels completely stable without any headache. I hope this helps you guys.
I would use two-part but found that even with two-part and calcium reactor I could not get reliable numbers and most importantly stable numbers. I than start mixing Calcuim chlorde and Calcuim Carbonate from BRS and adding. So now I have a Calcuim reactor running, Two-part dosing, and adding CACL and Carbonate to get numbers I wanted to achieve. So now am starting to get good growth but of course demand of alk and calcuim increases. Corals are looking good starting to get good growth. Than here comes the major lesson I kept getting demand surges driving down Alk to the low 7's. Next came what everyone hates RTN from base up. The swing of Alk caused most of my corals to slowly loss tissues. I got my Alk back up to the 8's but it was too late. Once RTN starts say good bye too most of your corals. I had to frag most of them. It seems once it starts it will not stop expanding up the coral even when you bring parameters back. So had enough of this. After trying to figure out how to fix this cluster of equipment and help from the guy at Geo I bought the CR836.
Now, I had the fix. Well I had not figured it all out yet. I went about it the old way with trying to check the outflow with a ph meter ect.. Problem with this coupled with a normal regulator valve is you do not have the control you need to know exactly how much alk your putting in the tank. So I was most of the way there. I still not getting stable numbers. Why? Regulator valve and controlling pH of reactor. Next I bought these little things:
Ph controler and CarbonDoser Electronic Co2 Regulator. Within a week of adding these to my Calcuim reactor I stopped all two-part plus the additonal Calcium chlorie and Carbonate I was adding.
Lesson learned:
First you must over shoot the size of you calcium reactor for a system with SPS. If you have a 200 Gallon get a Calcium reactor for twice that amount. Second without a controller it makes it very difficult to control the amount of alk going into you tank. Reason being PH in the Reactor will go up and down with a standard regulator. Plus it is very hard to dail in a calcuim reactor without having a stable number. Should you increase you effluent or decrease the PH hard to do without a stable number. Second, the electronic regulator is a must buy. It gives you exctually the same bubble count all the time until the CO2 bottle runs out.
So I went from multiple pieces of equipment dosing different amounts of Alk and calcium at different levels to one piece of equipment.
Upsize calcium reactor(you can always decrease outflow but once it hits your max your screwed with undersized), must have controller to keep PH in reactor stable, and electronic regulator keeps bubble count exact. Now my maintenance is change CO2 botte when it runs out and adding more substrate. Alk and calcuim levels completely stable without any headache. I hope this helps you guys.
