Kalkwasser Reactor vs Kalkwasser Doser

[mannysantana]

Folk,
Sorry if this has been covered 100 times before, but after searcing I could not find it.
I am now getting into the hard corals and I am kind of new to it.
What is the difference between a Kalkwasser Reactor and a Kalkwasser Doser?

 

[teen]

ive heard of kalkreactors, but ive never really read up on them or learned how they work.
anyway, kalk isnt really that hard to drip/ dose into your tank. im sure it'll be cheaper than buying the reactor too.

 

[kpk]

Kalk doser is just like putting kalk in a bucket and letting it drip after the kalk has settled on the bottom (if we're on the same page).
Kalk Reactor is like using a pump to stir the kalk in half of a chamber and dripping the water that is heavily saturated in kalk instead of just the water with the kalk settled in the bottom. Don't know if that helped, but that kinda sorts it out a bit??

 

[aztec reef]

kalk-drip for a tank 60g and less..
calcium reactor for anything bigger.....

 

[jrthomas40]

if you do a ca reactor in anything bigger than a 60 then what are you going to do about keeping your ph up??

 

[aztec reef]

baking soda.water changes & plenty of flow. but if levels are good you shouln't have a problem..

 

[teen]

a Calcium reactor, imo, should only be used on big heavily stocked tanks with a high demand for calcium. there tricky to get dialed in so using them on a smaller tank isnt always fun.
i think you have a lot more control by dosing kalkwasser or two part.

 

[jocoxvt]

Originally Posted by teen
a Calcium reactor, imo, should only be used on big heavily stocked tanks with a high demand for calcium. there tricky to get dialed in so using them on a smaller tank isnt always fun.
i think you have a lot more control by dosing kalkwasser or two part.
Calcium Reactors are much easier to dial in with the proper equipment (Regulator, Bubble Counter, etc). None the less I also agree dont go with a calcium reactor unless you absolutely need it.
Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
kalk-drip for a tank 60g and less..
calcium reactor for anything bigger......
I dont agree with this statement I know plenty of people who maintained all of the calcium need solely on a kalk drip for all evaporation. And as for keeping pH up as it was mentioned afterwards you will see that the majority of reefers who run a calcium reactor still maintain a kalk reactor or kalk drip for the evaporation. I know one individual in my old club who had a very mature reef set up which was only maintained through kalk through evaporation no calcium reactor on a 120 gallon tank.

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by jocoxVT
Calcium Reactors are much easier to dial in with the proper equipment (Regulator, Bubble Counter, etc). None the less I also agree dont go with a calcium reactor unless you absolutely need it.

i disagree. there tedious to keep up on.
a calcium reactor can also be a bad idea if you dont have it from day one. i would never start running one on an established tank. there hard to dial in and can OD your tank. best to play with it before you have any live stock.

 

[aztec reef]

I dont agree with this statement I know plenty of people who maintained all of the calcium need solely on a kalk drip for all evaporation. And as for keeping pH up as it was mentioned afterwards you will see that the majority of reefers who run a calcium reactor still maintain a kalk reactor or kalk drip for the evaporation. I know one individual in my old club who had a very mature reef set up which was only maintained through kalk through evaporation no calcium reactor on a 120 gallon tank.
i don't agree with this statement either, i don't see a reason why you should run both. imo the more equipment you have, the more chances of having a major disaster.
why run a kak-drip if you already have a calcium reactor?
why run a calcium reactor if kalk- drip keeps levels stable?

 

[jocoxvt]

Originally Posted by teen
i disagree. there tedious to keep up on.
a calcium reactor can also be a bad idea if you dont have it from day one. i would never start running one on an established tank. there hard to dial in and can OD your tank. best to play with it before you have any live stock.
So then what do you do when you realize that it isnt economical to do two part and you cannot keep up with just dripping kalk? What I am saying is if you get a pH controller and a good regulator you can set up a calcium reactor with little headaches. What is hard to dial in? Yes you have to change things at the beginning of the process such as your effluent rate, your bubble rate, etc. but once you do get that lined up testing is the only thing that needs to occur and with the majority of individuals who are using calcium reactors are testing at least alk on a semi regular basis anyway. Since I set my calcium reactor up I have changed it all of three times the first time was the effluent, the second and third time was the pH/bubble.
All and all though I never recommend calcium reactors unless you absolutely need it. If calcium/alk needs can be maintained via kalk/bio calcium or the like go that route.

 

[jocoxvt]

Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
i don't agree with this statement either, i don't see a reason why you should run both. imo the more equipment you have, the more chances of having a major disaster.
why run a kak-drip if you already have a calcium reactor?
why run a calcium reactor if kalk- drip keeps levels stable?

Look at the majority of the prominent SPS keepers out there I bet the majority of them are doing both calcium reactor and dripping kalk/kalk reactor.

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by jocoxVT
So then what do you do when you realize that it isnt economical to do two part and you cannot keep up with just dripping kalk? What I am saying is if you get a pH controller and a good regulator you can set up a calcium reactor with little headaches. What is hard to dial in? Yes you have to change things at the beginning of the process such as your effluent rate, your bubble rate, etc. but once you do get that lined up testing is the only thing that needs to occur and with the majority of individuals who are using calcium reactors are testing at least alk on a semi regular basis anyway. Since I set my calcium reactor up I have changed it all of three times the first time was the effluent, the second and third time was the pH/bubble.
All and all though I never recommend calcium reactors unless you absolutely need it. If calcium/alk needs can be maintained via kalk/bio calcium or the like go that route.
how long have you had your reactor?
kalk isnt really expensive. its like the cheapest part of this whole hobby and not that hard to keep up on.

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by jocoxVT
Look at the majority of the prominent SPS keepers out there I bet the majority of them are doing both calcium reactor and dripping kalk/kalk reactor.
so you're saying , regardless of the size of tank you need to run both?
how can you prove that running both is better than running either of the two.?

 

[jrthomas40]

i plan on keeping clams and maybe a few sps....but my calcium is always low and before i get them i want to be able to get my ca/alk up and keep it up...and i am running into the same question if i should do a kalk drip or ca reactor...it seems like it is a matter of personal opinion of kalk drip vs ca reactor

 

[jrthomas40]

if you only run a kalk drip then how do you keep you calcium up??

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by jrthomas40
if you only run a kalk drip then how do you keep you calcium up??
kalk drip..

 

[jocoxvt]

Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
so you're saying , regardless of the size of tank you need to run both?
how can you prove that running both is better than running either of the two.?
No I am not saying that all! I said in two of my above posts that if you can get away with just dripping kalk that that in my mind is the way to go. I was doing that for a long time until my calcium demand was to high.
Originally Posted by Teen
how long have you had your reactor?
kalk isnt really expensive. its like the cheapest part of this whole hobby and not that hard to keep up on.
My calcium reactor has been set up since September. I realize that kalk is cheap but only so much kalk is going to dissolve in the water and when you only evaporate so much water a day you can only dose so much kalk a day, following me? None the less when I was running my SPS dominant system my demand was not met by kalk top off and bio calcium alone (it came to the point that I was having to feed my tank so much bio calcium that it wasnt economical anymore) hence I got a calcium reactor.

 

[teen]

kalk is actually calcium hydroxide. so adding kalk raises calcium.

 

[aztec reef]

No I am not saying that all! I said in two of my above posts that if you can get away with just dripping kalk that that in my mind is the way to go. I was doing that for a long time until my calcium demand was to high.
did you read my first post? where i said 60g and less kalk-drip and calcium reactor for larger.. what i mean is, it would'nt be that fun to kalkdrip for a 125g tank daily, i would just go with calcium reactor. but for smaller tank you don't need it. imo kalk is the best way to keep alk,calcium &ph. stable.(in smaller tanks) ***)