sure is alot of paranoia and mis-information in this thread.
calcium reactors are *not* hard to setup or tune. all you gotta do is set the pH inside the chamber with a pH controller and the solenoid on the regulator. then you just turn the effluent drip up and and down as needed to raise or lower your calcium/alk. so as you test over time, if you see calcium/alk raising or lowering, you simply reach down and turn a valve a smidge. no big deal. doing this 3 times in 6 months can hardly be called problematic. what do you do when your calcium or alk is low? reach for a bottle of supplement, do the math to know how much to dose, measure it out, mix it in DI water, then drip it. and how often, 2-3 times a week? seems a whole lot more problematic and more work than just turning a dial a hair. with all that said, i see my calcium reactor as supplementing what my kalk reactor doesn't provide. there is something magic about kalk, and even though i can maintain all the same numbers with just a calcium reactor, my tank does better with kalk. but since my tank is full of growing corals, i can't drip dose enough kalk to meet the demand.
kalk slurry is dumb. inconsistent, spikes the pH, and introduces impurities to the tank. plus it's work that you gotta do several times a day if you tank is doing well and has any amount of a calcium demand.
it would'nt be that fun to kalkdrip for a 125g tank daily, i would just go with calcium reactor
gravity dripping kalk is dumb. too much work and inconsistent. too easy to drip too fast or have it clog and not drip at all. that's the whole reason for a kalk reactor. you hook it up to your autotopoff, dump in a few cups of kalk, then forget about it for a month or more. if you can't make your own (they are a joke) or afford to buy one, just get an aqualifter or even better a cheap $40 peristaltic off ---- to dose from a trash can that is filled with kalk. either off a timer or wire in a relay to a float switch.
why run a kak-drip if you already have a calcium reactor?
why run a calcium reactor if kalk- drip keeps levels stable?
you are not speaking from experience, are you?
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.
only if you are a moron. it's *way* easier to crash a tank from kalk than a calcium reactor. it's very easy to start off slow with the calcium reactor, then slowly bump it up to get balanced with your demand. just do your tests every couple days, and turn the knob as needed. just go slow.
ive heard of kalkreactors, but ive never really read up on them or learned how they work.
then why in the world are you trying to give advice on things you don't know anything about?
you guys need to get out more. there are plenty of boards out there full of good information where people actually know what they are talking about. i come here only when i'm bored, and every single time it's a bunch of morons who don't know what they are talking about arguing with one poor soul who does (in this case jocox)
