Thoughts on older style Vertex calcium reactor

[Mark Waltermire]

Hello everyone,

In my area there's a Vertex RX6 Duo Calcium Reactor for sale for only $150. Everything on the reactor is in good condition, but it doesn't include a regulator, tank, or media. Is there any disadvantage to going for an older style reactor like this compared to something newer like the Vertex RX-C 6D that currently retails for $499 on BRS?

 

[GoVols]

Hello everyone,

In my area there's a Vertex RX6 Duo Calcium Reactor for sale for only $150. Everything on the reactor is in good condition, but it doesn't include a regulator, tank, or media. Is there any disadvantage to going for an older style reactor like this compared to something newer like the Vertex RX-C 6D that currently retails for $499 on BRS?

If it's not up and running you might want to take a pass.
It's an old model and could have leaks. Parts might be hard to find.

If you go new. Please look into GEO. Their made in USA / Great Customer Support / R2R Sponsor and wrote the book on Calcium Reactors

I'm sure other's will chime in too and wish you the best.

 

[Mark Waltermire]

If it's not up and running you might want to take a pass.
It's an old model and could have leaks. Parts might be hard to find.

If you go new. Please look into GEO. Their made in USA / Great Customer Support / R2R Sponsor and wrote the book on Calcium Reactors

I'm sure other's will chime in too and wish you the best.

Would you say that a used GEO618 with tank, regulator, ph probe (possibly is bad) and ARM media for $400 is a better deal? There’s also someone local selling that deal. They have a GEO 618 Kalkwasser reactor too for $175. I don’t know if it’s worth it to pick up both though. I don’t really understand the whole calcium reactor and kalk deal.

 

[jda]

Calcium reactors are simple pieces of equipment. They just recirculate water through a chamber with three connections.

The only real improvement to a CaRx in the last three decades is reverse flow (bottom to top) to keep the melted media from compacting, but even that is not a huge deal anymore since reactor media got larger.

I would not use the ph Probe or regulator anyway - some people love these, but many have gone without them after a while since they just add one more variable and point of failure and are not necessary at all to run a reactor correctly.

In all honesty, either one of those are probably OK. Figure out which one is the best deal for you.

Kalk is a different deal than a Calcium Reactor. Some people use kalk with their Calcium Reactor to keep the pH up in their tank, but if their reactor was tuned properly with no excess co2 leaving the reactor, then your tank pH will barely move by using it. It is not the effluent from the reactor that lower the tank pH, it is the excess co2 in the water.