Sps equipment advice

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I have a 80gal tank, 36x24x24. Running aquatic life 36” 4 T5 bulbs (2 B+, 1 coral +, 1 purle) and 2 rx15w gen 4 pro. I plan to build sps dominant tank, have some experienced on lps and bubble tip anemones. Asking for advice about dosing system, and other necessary equipment for successful sps tank. Do I need a calcium reactor or it may be used later when I have colonies??
Here are my tank. Currently have 4 fishs are blue throat trigger, emperor angel, couple wrasses.

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You can definitely add a calcium reactor later on. I have a few colonies and many frags and don’t need a reactor yet, but I am dosing ESV calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium through a doser. I also dose some other minor products by hand
 
I like dosing pumps for cal/alk.
Really important is flow....lots of it. When you think you have enough add more. My tanks turn over around 140x an hour. Sand could cause an issue with this but try and figure it out. Indirect heavy flow.
 
If you are going to go SPS heavy in the future then just spend the money on a calcium reactor. Weekly water changes should work fine to keep your parameters high enough. When they start dropping fire up the calcium reactor and slowly adjust it as your tank matures. Just my 2 cents
 
Time is another important factor. Your tank looks pretty new. I only run kalk on my tank for now, but once it can't keep up I will be running a calcium reactor.
I’ve heard a lot of people talk about kalk I just don’t know anything about it
 
I steered away from it for years because dosing two part wasn't an issue, but I got an Apex for my new build. It was hard to watch my Ph constantly drop to 7.6 so a gave kalk a whirl. Just as effective as two part, and my Ph stays between 8-8.3 at all times now.
 
I’ve heard a lot of people talk about kalk I just don’t know anything about it
Well kallwasser mix up between kh and calcium,
But it just a short term dosing with sps. Kall also make the water parameter fluctuate when it start stuck up inside the dosing pipe. I had bad time with kallwasser
 
Thanks for all respone. I may choose 2 part dosing whem my small tank have jeebao dosing with kh, calcium, x special , and vinegars. Those dosing keep my water parameter really stable over a year. I know my tank is new, so I would wait 2 more months to add coral( same as BRS new tank set up) . Which dosing system do you think the best when I haven’t use Apex. Should I use Apex for sps tank and do I need to dose sup elements for sps. I heard a lot of sps guys only dose kh,ca,mg and vinegar. I want to decide the best method for my system, so I don’t need to chAnge like my other tank
 
Thanks for all respone. I may choose 2 part dosing whem my small tank have jeebao dosing with kh, calcium, x special , and vinegars. Those dosing keep my water parameter really stable over a year. I know my tank is new, so I would wait 2 more months to add coral( same as BRS new tank set up) . Which dosing system do you think the best when I haven’t use Apex. Should I use Apex for sps tank and do I need to dose sup elements for sps. I heard a lot of sps guys only dose kh,ca,mg and vinegar. I want to decide the best method for my system, so I don’t need to chAnge like my other tank
Lots of people only dose alk and calcium. I have an apex DOS for my dosing but since I'm having issues getting SPS to take off I haven't had to dose in months. My daily water changes have been more than enough to keep those stable. (in my old small cube I had to dose quite a bit) Check out the Bulk reef supply video on youtube comparing two part dosing to calcium reactors.
 
So when dosing 2 part, we don’t need to those calcium reactor and vice versa. Does apex DOS dose stable than Ghl or bubble magus dosing pump. Do we need to those vinegar to low nitrate down or changing sock??
 
You can hydrid the tank.
Kalk is the cheapest and easiest to implement.
2 part is either just alkalinity and calcium or may contain a 3rd part of magnesium or trace minerals like balling.

Carx is the most expensive and most time intensive method in the beginning.

I personally use a hybrid of 2 part and automatic water changes.

Benefits of kalk
Always dosing balanced amounts of alkalinity and calcium.
Cheapest method to keep ph of the tank up.
Cheapest method.
Drawbacks
If ato fails, ph can rise dangerously. Dont get a cheap ato system for kalkwasser.
Does not dose magnesium.
Large consumption tanks will eventually outgrow a pure kalk setup(this takes a long while)

2 part
Benifits easiest to understand alkalinity dose x alk solution to reach y target and same with calcium and magnesium.
Relatively cheap $200 doser 20-40 in chemicals.
Drawbacks
Basic understanding can sometimes lead you astray, sometime to get alkalinity up need to dose calcium and magnesium too even if in range.
Dosers will fail, and they do need to be calibrated from time to time.

Carx reactor
Great for large tanks, set it and forget after its setup period.
Drawbacks
Expensive
Low ph is common on carx tanks.
Learning curve to tune and setup properly.

Might have missed some pros and cons in there lol
 
You can hydrid the tank.
Kalk is the cheapest and easiest to implement.
2 part is either just alkalinity and calcium or may contain a 3rd part of magnesium or trace minerals like balling.

Carx is the most expensive and most time intensive method in the beginning.

I personally use a hybrid of 2 part and automatic water changes.

Benefits of kalk
Always dosing balanced amounts of alkalinity and calcium.
Cheapest method to keep ph of the tank up.
Cheapest method.
Drawbacks
If ato fails, ph can rise dangerously. Dont get a cheap ato system for kalkwasser.
Does not dose magnesium.
Large consumption tanks will eventually outgrow a pure kalk setup(this takes a long while)

2 part
Benifits easiest to understand alkalinity dose x alk solution to reach y target and same with calcium and magnesium.
Relatively cheap $200 doser 20-40 in chemicals.
Drawbacks
Basic understanding can sometimes lead you astray, sometime to get alkalinity up need to dose calcium and magnesium too even if in range.
Dosers will fail, and they do need to be calibrated from time to time.

Carx reactor
Great for large tanks, set it and forget after its setup period.
Drawbacks
Expensive
Low ph is common on carx tanks.
Learning curve to tune and setup properly.

Might have missed some pros and cons in there lol
Wow thanks for taking time to explain all those thing. That information is the need for any reefers. I’m using 2 part method for my lps and Anemones tank, so it may easy for me to keep track and set up. I never dose mag. What is the best dosing pump??. Not jeebao
 
Some other benefits of a CaRx is that they offer other trace minerals that were used by the coral that grew the skeleton that you are now melting. They are are also slow to drift and change and cannot really harm or crash a tank unless you don't pay attention for days and days and days.

Kalk is not truly balanced and you do have to true-up your carbonate and calcium every few weeks - you have to do this with 2 part or CaRx too, but not as often.

Kalk and 2 part probably should have routine water changes. Chloride ions can add up from 2 part and kalk has a lot of impurities that can also build up if you do not always let it settle 100%. None of these are a problem in tanks with an export system.

Choose wisely with any doser for 2 part of kalk or else they can stick on or otherwise malfunction and can crash or harm a tank. There is nothing to worry about here if you buy good stuff and are smart, but it can happen if you cut corners or do not heed the typical advice for redundancy.
 
Wow thanks for taking time to explain all those thing. That information is the need for any reefers. I’m using 2 part method for my lps and Anemones tank, so it may easy for me to keep track and set up. I never dose mag. What is the best dosing pump??. Not jeebao

Loaded question [emoji23]
buy by reviews for your budget :)
Also look at your future goals if want an apex perhaps ghl isnt the best choice but might be if looking at an eventual profilux. If a controller isnt in the works for awhile look at the most positive reviews for a standalone unit.

How controllable are you looking for the stand alone unit as well? If just need it to dose x a few times perhaps a few timers and brs dosers would be best. Want it wifi controlled maybe this wont :)
 
A few comments.

Your fish are going to get very large for that size tank. They'll probably be OK for a little while, but an emperor and a blue-jaw trigger can easily exceed 6" in a year or less.

For dosing, others have already covered the basics. For the most part, you don't need to do anything now, as the tank has virtually no demand for calcium or alkalinity. You might want to check the alkalinity from time to time, as the nitrate cycle will consume a little; this can be corrected with a baking soda solution made from store-bought baking solution at a concentration of 78g/Liter (buy a kitchen scale and a 1L volumetric flask off of Amazon - they're about $15). Alternatively, you may simply choose to do 20% water changes per week, which should be enough to prevent your alkalinity from falling too low.

Once you introduce stony corals, you'll need to think about increasing your Ca and Alk testing; most here would advise testing your alkalinity once every 2 days or so until you get a feel for how much your tank's using, and calcium once a week (calcium falls much slower than alk). Magnesium dosing won't be necessary as long as you're changing water on a regular basis.

While you can certainly implement a calcium reactor, most find it to be a bit much for a smaller tank - they just supply far more calcium and alkalinity than the corals can reasonably consume, and a calcium reactor runs best if it's constant. For dosing, getting reliable dosing pumps is highly important. I'd personally choose between Neptune's D.O.S. system or GHL. If you're in the 'states, it's a preference choice, since Neptune's an American company, and GHL has good support. If you're overseas, you may have a preference for GHL if for no other reason than the extra cost of a Neptune system because of import duties.

Making your own 2-part dosing solutions is very easy from sodium bicarbonate/carbonate and calcium chloride. Not only will this save you considerable money over purchasing pre-made solutions from ESV, Tropic Marin or Triton, it also gives you a degree of control over what goes into the solutions. Most of us SPS folks are control freaks. ;)
 
I’m still choosing apex or ghl but apex only have 2 pump mean i couldn’t dose Or I have to buy 2. I looked up some review online that alex dosing pump more stable than other but only have 2 pump
 
Some other benefits of a CaRx is that they offer other trace minerals that were used by the coral that grew the skeleton that you are now melting. They are are also slow to drift and change and cannot really harm or crash a tank unless you don't pay attention for days and days and days.

Kalk is not truly balanced and you do have to true-up your carbonate and calcium every few weeks - you have to do this with 2 part or CaRx too, but not as often.

Kalk and 2 part probably should have routine water changes. Chloride ions can add up from 2 part and kalk has a lot of impurities that can also build up if you do not always let it settle 100%. None of these are a problem in tanks with an export system.

Choose wisely with any doser for 2 part of kalk or else they can stick on or otherwise malfunction and can crash or harm a tank. There is nothing to worry about here if you buy good stuff and are smart, but it can happen if you cut corners or do not heed the typical advice for redundancy.
Ya I tried both kalk and 2 part , but seem like 2 parts make my tank more stable and my coral grow crazy. Kalk got stuck in the pipe few times and have died a lot of coral due to ph and low kh
 

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