Think for me, calcium question

[stimpy4242]

Ok what do I need to do to automate calcium in my tank. I want to make sure my calcium is maintained for corals. I don't want to drip kalkwasser into my tank from a jug. I like the idea of the CO2 and stuff...tell me exactly what I need and how to set it up.

 

[teen]

buy a calcium reactor

 

[stimpy4242]

see that is totally what i was not looking for...i was looking for some specific instructions on what to do.

 

[devil dog]

What size tank do you have?
What corals do you keep?
How much do you want to spend?
I would look at this frist...

 

[stimpy4242]

Tank is 125 with 55 sump. Type of corals, my tank is there for the beauty. I will keep whatever corals make it look colorful and awesome. My lighting can support whatever I put in there. Money is not really an issue. Like I said I want to just have an automated way of maintaing calcium and alkalinity. And this seemed to be the way. Everything else in my tank happens automatically and I mean everything from water changes to light cycles to pumps. Only thing I have to do is refill my food feeder, refill my salt hopper and add frozen foods and algae sheets. So this seemed like a good step now that I am adding corals. Currently I have frogspawn, xenia, green plate. I anticipate getting goniopora, acropora, brain corals...i don't know

 

[teen]

1) buy calcium reactor
2) plug it in and get it dialed in.
3)
4)profit
in a 125 with a 55 sump and money is no issue, i dont know what other answer your looking for.
dosing 2 part in a system that big will run about the same as a calcium reactor in a years time. a calcium reactor will take up less space than 3 seperate holding tanks for magnesium/alkalinity/calcium.

 

[stimpy4242]

Maybe I was not clear, i was actually asking for the specific parts that I would purchase to create an entire automatic calcium reactor. I can buy a reactor, but that does not come with a CO2 tank and I hear talks of solenoids and ph controllers, i don't know what any of those are or how to control the ph fluctuations...I wanted to know specifics about what to get, not why I should get it.

 

[teen]

do you have a specific model in mind yet? it'll be easier to find out what else you need once you know which reactor you're going with.
look into the GEO brand reactor.

 

[wrongmove]

Stimpy,
Before you start investing in any more equipment let us know what you have currently besides your tank and sump. I know you said your lighting will support anything but it helps to know exactly what you have. Also how long has your tank been set up. What type of salt do you use and how often do you change the water? What are your Cal. levels currently? What is your alk? Cal. reactors are a great investment but that might not be what you need at the moment. I will give some friendly advice and let you know that as nice as automated systems can be, if they fail you can lose a lot of livestock and fairly quickly. Im not saying automated systems are wrong just a little warning it can be costly and discouraging if they fail. On a birghter note watch out for that Xenia it has a tendency to grow like a weed.
On a side note, teen i saw you work in a lfs on the island. What store do you work for and what town do you live in?

 

[hurt]

This is what you need to run a reactor:
Ca Reactor
CO2 tank
Regulator/solenoid for CO2
air tubing or CO2 silicone tubing
Ca Media for reactor
Check valve between the reactor and regulator, some reactors come with a check valve. Mine did(Korallin 1502)
pump to feed reactor/unless you gravity feed it
and lastly I would stongly recommend a pH monitor/pH probe, it's not absolutely necessary, but it makes it much easier to manage.
This is what I use:
Korallin 1502 reactor
10# CO2 tank
JBJ reglator/solenoid
silicone tubing
Koralith medium size Ca media
Industrial check valve came with my reactor
aqualifter pump
Pinpoint pH monitor/probe
I use a drip cup for the effluent to place the pH probe in and to take Alk readings. Depending on the type of media you use, you want your effluent to have a pH between 6.5 and 7. Saturated effluent should have a dKH of 34. You adjust your BPM(bubbles per minute of CO2) and DPM (drips per minute of effluent)to adjust for changing Ca/Alk as needed. The more BPM, the lower the pH in the reactor, the more Ca/Alk released at that same given effluent. You increase both the DPM and BPM if your levels are not being maintained by the reactor with the current settings(BPM/DPM) The goal is to have the slowest/lowest effluent, lowest DPM, and highest Alk effluent that will meet your systems needs. There is no magical formula for dialing the reactor in as far as DPM/BPM, as the incoming water from differnt systems have different levels of Alk/Ca saturation, and the load on the systems are different. The goal is to maintain Alk/Ca. So you must first have your levels in line, and make sure not to dose anything else when attempting to dial the reactor in. If Alk levels in your DT are dropping, your effluent either does not have a high enough dKH(it's not saturated because their is not enough CO2), or you don't have enough effluent passing through the reactor.
Without a doubt, my Ca reactor is the best piece of splurge equipment I have bought for my tank. I dosed saturated Kalk and a lot of high purity Two Part for several years. The reactor has made my life/tanks life much easier and is definitely a worthy investment if you have a decent load on your tank, and/or are just tired of the maintenance of dosing chemicals every day/several times per day. If you are out of town for several days, no worries...

 

[stimpy4242]

Yeah all those things you mentioned, I am out of town a lot that is why I am automating most of my functions.
What I have:
125 tank with 55 sump/fuge
I have a CL system pumping about 3000 gph
I have a return pumping about 1800
I have solaris lighting hood
I have a g3 skimmer
As mentioned above my calcium needs are not excessive right now as I only have a few corals, but my decisions are based on my future stock so I have currently been adding calcium each day.
Ca level is around 400
Temp is around 79
pH is 8.3
I run lights on my sump at night from 8-8 to counter balance the pH drop at night from above so my fuge is active at those times balancing my pH.
Tank has been up 1 year now. I used RODI water and water changes occur automatically at 7pm sunday night. The tank drains until a switch is tripped. That level is the level of my water change can. The solenoid valve then switch my water change pump from recirculating in the water change can to pumping up to the DT. When the water level in the water change can hits the low switch the pump turn off and when the high level switch is tripped in the tank it put the solenoids closed to recirc water in the water change can once its level returns to where it should be. At 8pm a salt hoppper begins dosing approx 16.5 cups of salt into the filling water change can. Then it is aerated, circulated through the week and heating begins saturday. The process repeats.
I am not sure what else to tell you about the tank...I was serious when I said everything is automated...if I could figure out a way to have frozen food removed from the freezer thawed and then put in the tank...I would.
Here is another question I have yet to seen answered, some regulators have a solenoid on them which opens and closes the valve based on a trigger...what would the trigger be, a pH controller? I am confused...can the pH controller adjust whether or not the CO2 is dosed in or not to controll pH?