what is a calcium reactor
- Thread starter motameto
- Start date
attml
Active Member
A calcium reactor is a device for adding equal parts of alkalinity and calcium to your system. They are nice to have because once they are "dialed in" they require very little maintainence and only minor adjusting sometimes for up to 6-8 months (which is much better than dosing additives daily). They are also nice because there is a 24 hour uninterrupted supply of CA & Alk so in my experience my corals grow at a much quicker rate than dosing. I have enclosed a picture of my setup but a Ca reactor works on this general principle. You have a chamber filled with dead crushed coral and water from your tank is pulled out of your system into the chamber. You inject the chamber with CO2 which lowers PH and makes that water in the chamber more acidic. The acidic water which is circulating in the chamber acts like acid rain and it begins to melt the crushed coral. When this slow melting occurs it melts in equal parts of calcium & alkalinity which is what most corals need to grow. You then have a small exit hose that lets the calcium & alkalinity enriched water go back into your system in the form of a drip called the effluent. You control the amount of CA & ALK that is released into your system by gauging how much CO2 you inject into the chamber (known as bubbles per minute) and by how slow or fast the effluent drip is. HTH If you have questions just ask!
attml
Active Member
There is no real break in period. It is just a matter of getting your levels of CA & Alk to stay at the same level everyday. Take a look at my response to your question in the other thread (https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/128218/calcium-reactor ) Take care!
attml
Active Member
motameto,
You are welcome! The rules against posting info about other vendors prevents me from posting where I got mine but if you go to Yahoo and do a search for "geo calcium reactor" you will find online vendors that sell my model.
Items needed
1.The reactor (Apx $280)
2. CO2 regulator & Solinoid (apx $145)
3. Circulating Pump (Geo reactors this is included)
4. Feed Pump (usually MaxiJet 1200 Powerhead) (Apx $20)
5. Reactor Media (I use CaribSea ARM) (apx $15)
6 CO2 container (you have the option to buy a new tank and have it filled which is kind of a pain or you can usually put a deposit down at your local Oxygen Suppy or welding supply and just bring back empties when you need more CO2). (apx $22 for 5lbs which lasts 5 to 7 months)
wow that is so cool. So what kind of corals do you have? And what lighting do you have?
I have my reactor running on my 120 gallon SPS system which has 2 -250w MH (10k USHIO) & 2 110w VHO (URI Super Actenics)
You are welcome! The rules against posting info about other vendors prevents me from posting where I got mine but if you go to Yahoo and do a search for "geo calcium reactor" you will find online vendors that sell my model.
Items needed
1.The reactor (Apx $280)
2. CO2 regulator & Solinoid (apx $145)
3. Circulating Pump (Geo reactors this is included)
4. Feed Pump (usually MaxiJet 1200 Powerhead) (Apx $20)
5. Reactor Media (I use CaribSea ARM) (apx $15)
6 CO2 container (you have the option to buy a new tank and have it filled which is kind of a pain or you can usually put a deposit down at your local Oxygen Suppy or welding supply and just bring back empties when you need more CO2). (apx $22 for 5lbs which lasts 5 to 7 months)
wow that is so cool. So what kind of corals do you have? And what lighting do you have?
I have my reactor running on my 120 gallon SPS system which has 2 -250w MH (10k USHIO) & 2 110w VHO (URI Super Actenics)