calcium reactors

J

jrthomas40

Guest
i have a fewquestions...i am having problems keeping my calcium at an acceptable level it is constantly below 300 i just did my first water change with a new salt last weekend and will do another this weekend but my level still tested at 280 and i add TECH A and B calcium and buffer...so my questions are
1) should i invest in a kalkwasser or calcium reactor??
2) what is the co2 bottles used with calcium reactors for??
3) and which would be getting one of the kalkwasser/Ca R or should i just get a doser and drip calcium all day??
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
The C02 is what drops the PH to disolve the calcium into a usable form. water flows very slowly through them so when it comes out its rich in Cal dosing the tank at even rate.
There is alot of back and forth. On a 300 I would vote FOR a reactor if heavy livestock of coral is the plan, additives get spendy on larger tanks. You can build your own reactor for cheap too, its the calibration thats the pain
 
rabid frog

rabid frog

Active Member
I am also back and forth on reactors. They do keep your tanks Ca levels even "Once" you get them adjusted, Until then your ph, Ca and Alk are all over the place. I dont know how much stress this would add to your corals. I did some figuring on the cost of the reactor vs. additives. On my 75 gal tank it would take me 5 years of buying my additives to equal the cost of a full dual chamber reactor set-up. That is if anything does not go wrong with the reactor. The cost of coral lost due to fluctuating levels, etc.
When I set up a new reef tank you can bet your bottom dollar that I will set up a reactor in the cycling phase. No risk there, by the time the cylce if finished the reactor should be dialed in. HTH
Joey
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
i use regular instant ocean and it is always like 250-280....i just changed to reef crystals so hopefully after some water changes i can get it up and wont have to supplement so much cuz i am doin a lot right now and it still aint fixin the problem
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
one of the problems i have though is that i dont have a lot of space under the tank and i dont have a fish room...i think when i add water from the evaporation i will have to mix salt water to help
 
zman1

zman1

Active Member
Originally Posted by jrthomas40
1) should i invest in a kalkwasser or calcium reactor??
2) what is the co2 bottles used with calcium reactors for??
3) and which would be getting one of the kalkwasser/Ca R or should i just get a doser and drip calcium all day??
4)i think when i add water from the evaporation i will have to mix salt water to help
1) Drip kalk first and see if that helps you. Much cheaper why to test with before a Ca Reactor.
2) To lower the pH in the media chamber.
3) Drip kalk in your replacement evap. water. Best done at night
4) You only add/drip addtional saltwater to adjust your salinity up, not for Ca or Alk.
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
which is better Chocolate or Vanilla...........
Brand vrs brand is mostly opinion based, no two set ups are the same, I vote Kalkwasser.
 
mshimer

mshimer

New Member
You can get calcium cloride from the supermarket under food preservatives. put 1 table spoon in a gallon of fresh water. mix and let stand for 1 day then por water in another container. use this water for your make up water. I have bin doing this for 5 years with no problems. Why spend all that money for nothing.
 
fishcake

fishcake

Member
If your tank runs at a lower ph Don't use a reactor the c02 will just lower the PH further...Unless you drip kalk(raises PH) to compensate!
If it runs higher, then run a Ca reactor!
 
fishcake

fishcake

Member
I have a DIY kalk gravity drip that I use.
Very simple..
I'll throw some pics if interested.
Involves a
1 gallon milk jug
some rigid tubing,airline tubing,gang valve
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
If you have a heavy demand tank, Ca reactor all the way. Kalk reactors can only do so much, evaporation limits them. Ca reactors are not limited by your evaporation rate. I drip saturated kalk through my ATO and it doesn't come close to keeping up with my levels so I also have to use 2-part. Your best situation would be using a Ca reactor as well as using kalk in your top-off water. This helps to negate the low and high ph of each.
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
yeah i would like to see those pics...i was thinking i may have to make up heavy calcium/alk mix for my top off water maybe use some turbo calcium
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
if ur planin on keepin lots of calcium demanding creatures like sps and clams then get a calcium reactor....
first off ur salt is way low in calcium u should be testing at or around 400 on newly mixed salt anything that low is junk IMO
on my 180g tank i run a dual chambered calcium reactor a "MRC-CR2" with a 10lb CO2 bottle a Ph probe to montior the Ph coming out of the first chamber into the second chamber... then a jbj dual guage/solenoid with bubble counter ....
i have lots of sps corals and some big clams that demand a constant supply of alk and calcium....
i also run some kalk in my top off water.... i throw a heaping table spoon in per every 5 gallons of fresh top off water ... this also helps on raising Ph some since reactors do tend to keep the tanks Ph on the low side....
i have my reactor turned up pretty high to keep up with demand but it keeps my levels at 400-420 and alk at 8.3dkh steady.... the original cost of the setup was kinda pricey at $700 but its saved money in the long run since dosing with a 2 part addative would have been super costly to keep up with my tanks demands
another way to help bring up the Ph of the calcium reactors effluent is to have it drip into a big 7-11 44oz cup and run some air stones in the cup to help blow off any excess CO2 gasses out of the water to bring the Ph back up... ive found this to help alot and by running a reverse lighting schedule on my macro algae to help
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
wow you have a ton of money invested in that tank...i do plan on keeping some higher calcium animals but i dont have that much room under my tank...i use instant ocean and my ph has always tested good but the calcium has been crap
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
Originally Posted by jrthomas40
wow you have a ton of money invested in that tank...i do plan on keeping some higher calcium animals but i dont have that much room under my tank...i use instant ocean and my ph has always tested good but the calcium has been crap
yeah i got enough in this tank lol
ur guna wanna find a better salt or at least dose it up when u mix it u wanna get ur calcium around 400 it really hurts and hampers the growth of LPS, SPS and clams
good luck its always fun having corals
 
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