ashburn2k
Supporting Member
for those who is planing on setting one up or still tinkering one to set it on autopilot.
video link
video link
Good video from BRS on Calicum reactors
- Thread starter ashburn2k
- Start date
grizfyrfyter
Guest
Someday....
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Yeah but Kalkwasser helps keep pH up which allows your corals to grow faster in the first place. I definitely would suggest starting with that over a reactor.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
My only problem with kalk is evaporation variables.
I'd like to get a calrx at some point. I've spent around $200 on BRS pharmaceutical dry goods in the last year and that doesn't even touch trace elements.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
I have a stupid amount of fish so I have to run a CO2 scrubber just to keep the pH over 8.0, even with a 20g fuge with 100w grow light.
ofzakaria
Guest
Here is what I have seen work
-Goes the cliche fresh air us one of the best treatments.
-Co2 scrubber connected to skimmer
-Airstone in the display
- Make sure your ph reading is correct
- maintain solid kh and I mean solid across the day. Before the CArc I used to dose every 1 hour the ammount needed. With carx this is taken care off
- run 35ppt salinity. Lower salinity will have lower ph
- skimming wet tend to lower ph. So if possible skim dry so you have more bubble I'm the skimmer or add airstone.
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ofzakaria
Guest
Btw do yourself a fav and if you can add couple more hundreds and get something that is auto regulated like the dastaco or the twin tech. You will save so much hassle on the long run. No ph probs, no counting drops and no need for other fancy attachment.
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grizfyrfyter
Guest
25 fish in ~220g of water.
Renter, so I can't put a hole in the wall.
Apex lab grade ph probe is less than a month old and calibrated.
I was dosing alk in the evenings every other hour to help with ph swing, started dosing every other hour all day recently, will switch to every hour.
35ppt salinity
I've never heard that wet skimming lowers ph but I skim fairly dry, skimmate is as dark as coffee.
Skimmer is a 9" wide and 24" tall reef octopus body run by a VarioS 6 pump running at 90% pulling air from a dual cannister CO2 scrubber that's mounted under the frag tank next to the refugium tank (so it pulls more humid air). Apex controlled solenoid diverts air through the scrubber anytime the pH is under 8.3 and I pull out cannister 1 (first to contact fresh air) media, rotate cannister 2 to cannister 1 and put fresh media in cannister 2 once the pH drops below 8.0 on the low swing (usually once a week). I bought a 5gal jug of media a long time ago and am only a little more than half way through it.
I have a tank journal here. Tank is 100% funded by 3d printing and selling frags so it started off as a pile of neglected equipment, suffered some crashes due to equipment failures and stupidity but is doing well now.
I'll have to research those for later. Everything will be controlled via apex, I'll have to get a PM1 for it.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Yeah it comes down to how much the hassle is worth, and dropping 2-3 grand on a calcium reactor for me would not be worth the convenience factor
ofzakaria
Guest
Not 3 grands.
I got my A2 extrean for like 1800. This reactor is rated for big tanks I forgot how much.
Shop around and take a look at the twin tech..good price point.
When you compare make surebu do apple to appl.
Meaning, if u buy from brs see the coat of everything..its adds up.
Dastaco and twin tech comes with everything u need
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grizfyrfyter
Guest
Bill Wann makes an automated calcium reactor for $500. I haven't researched it much but saw one of his posts about it.
ofzakaria
Guest
Oh man that's way too fast. I think you have a leak somewhere.
My 10lb last me 5-6 months. And I have (had) big kh/ca demand
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jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Coat the entire regulator and valve stem assemblies with really really soapy water or bubble mix. Look for bubbles. On my planted tank I do that every tank swap and occasionally find one. Less now that I pulled all the original fittings and properly doped them on reassembly.
Flagg37
Guest
I liked when I ran kalk. I didn’t put it in my ato though. I think that’s what you’re talking about. I had a separate reservoir and dosed it at a set rate so it was more consistent.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
I've seen the kalk reactors but never really researched them. I just assumed it was via ato feed.
Hmmm....
I can make a magnetic stir plate to keep it mixed and dose via dosing pump....
Hmmm....
I can make a magnetic stir plate to keep it mixed and dose via dosing pump....
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Yeah, kalk supplements your ATO. You dose whatever kalk you dose, and your ATO fills up the rest, it does require two dosing systems though but it is much more stable than adding kalk to your ATO. The ultimate limit is your evaporation rate though, however for most people that far exceeds how much kalk they dose. Sure down the line that might change but it is a cheap and easy method to start out with reef building corals (i.e. not softies)
Don't see why not, as long as your stirring rod is strong enough to deal with the high pH and pushes around the slurry.
This is the one I use, the bigger K2 reactor. Really simple gravity fed system too, so dose freshwater into it and it drips into a tank, prefer this to the pump driven ones where you always have to worry about if the pump impeller is getting destroyed.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
I will look into a kalk reactor when I get a chance. I had good luck with using it in my ATO years ago when my tank was scraps pieced together from Craigslist but I was always worried about it crashing my tank so I switched to dosing pumps.