New Babble Magus Calcium Reactor review
 

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Bubble Magus Calcium Reactor Just arrived from China yesterday,
Build quality is very good all joints are nice and firm, Atman pump impeller/shaft assembly is very smooth should be very quiet. will set it up in the bucket with vinegar tomorrow.
1st impressions:
• Well thought out design
• Co2 recirculation
• Ph probe port
• Intake strainer (very useful to prevent plug up’s) did not see that in other reactors
• Large bubble counter
• Bottom up flow
• Large chamber, 6” tube diameter about 20” high.
• Very easy disassembly only took me 3 minutes.
• Extra “O” ring (Red)
• Cool red/white colors (similar to wide known brand LOL)
• Pump looks very similar to Eheim design especially impeller.
• Very, very attractive price including shipping. (PM me for details if you need more info)
• 220V but I got 200W transformer so its ok.
Looks like it is in sump only even though it holds water very well, and no leaks I would be hesitant to run it externally without some sort of a container under it just in case. The reason is that pipes are not hard welded to the tube. Instead they used flex rubber sleeves. See pictures. This however will contribute to less noise and vibration so that could be a good thing, time will tell.

A little up date, BM reactor is up and running.

One more good feature that i did not realize this reactor has is top clear drip chamber.

On pic # 1 top left. Very cool, i have reactor fed from my main circ pump and whatever drops i have in this clear chamber coming from feed line the exact same drop count comes out of the unit effluent line NICE !

Really have been considering this piece of equip. Thanks for the review and please keep us updated with your progress in the coming weeks.
Hopefully it will be a set it and forget (for a bit) piece.

So far so good i would recommend this to anyone who still wants to use this old school technology vs dosing.

The only thing so far is that i am very cautious about is pump connection method via soft rubber sleeves instead of hard piping it.
The unit is holding water nicely and now is used externally, but i am watching it like a hawk! Planning a bottom container just to be on the safe side.


One more positive point is that it uses very little Co2 thanks to a very efficient Co2 recirculation feature.

Replyed all PM's, wow lots of interest

Can you take some pics of it all rigged up in action?

Sure no problem it will be massy though, lots of tubes and wires.

A little update:

• the clear "drip chamber" is almost full of water now so cant really see the drops, but still easy to control by the effluent drops.
• i made a little modification to the clear Co2 recirc. line (top pic # 1)by cutting it at the top and incorporating a "Vent" line. Got tired of waiting for all the air to dissolve.
• This reactor is Not for a small tank ! my tank is 65 Gal + sump but to keep SPS corals happy all i need is to keep Ph at only 7.0 to keep high Calcium level. This one is rated for 240 Gal so its a bit oversized for my tank. Should have gotten a smoller one.

I still think this is a very good unit. It is running externally for now.

ok here you go.

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I am pointing to a line that i modified and inserted a "T" to vent the reactor from air bubbles. Got tired of waiting and also when to much air inside it makes noise. But when vented it is silent.
Ph probe is now in.

Thanks for this,
What kind of controller are you using?
I'm very interested of your impression in a couple of weeks with regards to it being a set it and forget type deal device, once it's dialed in and to a certain extent of course.
It would be nice to only have to mess with it on a bi monthly basis type deal.

You are welcome.
I do not use a calc reactor controller, just PH probe. The controller you see on the pic is a Tunze controller for water movement pumps and Wave Box.

The reactor is running very quiet and the only noise from it is when it recirculates Co2 every few seconds. I am running it at Ph 7.3 now and dialing in very slowly to be easy on SPS ( i have lots of SPS). Corals are already responding positively with nice new growth. I will reduce the PH slowly in next few days down to 6.9 and will keep it there for some time and see what calcium level will be
If your tank is 120 Gal or less i would consider smaller version.
This will be set it and forget it device mainly because i feed it from my display tank return pump line. The most unreliable way to feed the reactor is gravity feed, second worst is small power head. So the drip rate is the most PITA in regards of calcium reactors use. As long as Co2 is injected and water circulates it should be very simple to use after that.
You will only attend to it when you need to recharge the media and that will depend on the rate of calcium consumption by the corals. This was the reason i got the larger one, because it takes more media.

Oh, BTW the white layer at the bottom of the chamber is Magnesium, makes it easy to keep the level up.

I got to know......where did you get this from, I want one now. :biggrin:

How are you finding this reactor? I noticed you have it installed outside your sump, any issues with leaks or anything? I'm looking to get a CA reactor, & didn't want to spend huge bucks!

PMed you.

So far so good. i don’t have the Ph down to 6.9 yet. other then that all is ok. No leaks, but i will have a small container installed under it anyway just to be safe in a long run.
Waite a month or so i will update this review and see if its a right reactor for you.
definitely good savings in terms of price. I was a little cautions to by from China direct but end up being positive experience. Looked like he dropped shipped it from someone else but that was good for me in terms of packaging lol. I mean box inside the box was good for safety of the inside item.

still running externally with no problems?

Ok,
Here is an up date.
yes, still running externally all OK, nevertheless i installed a container under it just in case.

Observation: It works better with smaller sizer reactor media. The reason is that the Atman PH1100 pump is more powerful then say Maxi Jet, and can push a lot more water though the media.
So what i did is that i added small size aragonite to the reactor and now its completely packed. Also just to be on the safe side i protected the pump intake (the orange strainer on the last picture on page one of the thread) with open cell foam/sponge from old aquaclear HOB filter.

All in all its a good reactor, set it and forget it type. Ph effluent is 6.6-6.8 depending on the drip rate. I have it running at a fast drip rate about 3 drops per second. And a bubble of Co2 every 4-5 seconds. very economical in terms of Co2 consumption. If i slow down the effluent drip rate, Ph inside the reactor goes down a few points in few hrs.

Thanks, we'll get to that one too very soon
 

Hi Russell, let's talk about the added features and benefits of this skimmer next time you're at the store.

Cheers,
Romin

Been getting some PM's with same questions from different people about this reactor and decided to post question example here as an update.
Reactor is behaving really well, still dry as a bone and running externally. The only adjustment that needs to be made on mine is the effluent output drip rate. Its seemed to slow down every two weeks or so, so i had to open the supply valve to push more water through to clear the lines. I think this is because i do not use any filter socks and small lines are getting dirty. Plus the light in the sump creates growth in the red effluent pipe so i had to clear that pipe by squeezing it with the pliers and wrapping it up with black electrical tape to prevent future plug ups and it seems to be working.

Originally Posted by ******
Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I have one more question; My reactor seems to fill up very quickly the bubbles when I start the C02. I use one bubble every 4 seconds and by the time th PH drops to 6.7 my reactor is full of bubbles. In fact you can't even see inside the reactor for the fine bubbles. Does your do this?

Thanks,
***
Yep, mine was almost the same, Try increasing the output drip rate. I guess this will depend on the calcium media size. If your media is coarse then it will be easier for the pump to transfer water through the unit and therefore it will create smaller size bubbles. If media is smaller then it will take more time and effort for the pump. Mine has Atman PH1000 pump. Media is a mix of largest size media, zeo magnesium rocks, and also some small size media.

The bubbles in the reactor was the reason i built the bleed line initially, because i was tired looking at the reactor full of bubbles, but now after few month there is a lot less bubbles in the reactor, almost no bubbles at all.

If you Calcium is at good level with PH 6.7 (mine is) then you are OK.
If you need to lower the PH without injecting more CO2, then reduce the effluent drip rate and check Calcium and PH after 24 hrs.

I use one bubble of CO2 every 4-6 seconds and 3 drops per second effluent output rate.

I wouldn't be too worried about the external piping being connected to the main chamber via the soft rubber seals as they appear to be just square uniseals from the posted pictures. I ran an external skimmer for over 3 years that used uniseals to connect the external plumbing to the main skimmer chamber and the only time it leaked was when I had to remove the piping and piece it back together after being in constant use for several years. If you are scared about the quality of the soft rubber sleeves, just order up some replacement uniseals as there are several online distributors that carry them in various sizes.

So it has been almost 8 month (Wow).
I am very pleased with the reactor.
Its about half full of media still.

Hi, which ph probe are you using, does it just push in and secure with the lock nut or is the a O ring as well?

Cheers

Les

It will depend on the diameter of the probe. the one i am using has a rubber ring (its not an "O" ring, its more like a ribbon flat rubber ring), because my ph probe is smaller diameter, but if you have larger diam probe you will not need that, i am not at home right now, if you need me to measure the probe that its in now please let me know.
But you are right there is a nut to secure it in place.
I am using American marine Ph probe.

Thanks for the reply, I have ordered a pinpoint probe to use in the reactor, do the come with the rubber ring? if not are they available somewhere? also does the ph in the reactor go up and down during the day the same as it does in the main tank?

Thanks

Les

PH probe does not come with rubber ring. i dont know were to get one. My calc reactor came with it.
PH is stable inside the reactor. as long as you keep your bubble count and effluent water flow stable.

Cheers and thanks for your help and advice

Les

Ok it has been almost a year, just finished re-filling the reactor.
Still very happy with it. All i had to do is to open it by undoing the screws, took some water out with turkey baster, washed the intake protecting sponges, dropped in some more calc. reactor media, closed the top cover and it was done deal.
Didn't even remove the reactor from the cabinet. Had a tiny water spill but because i have it inside the plastic can it was ok.

Running externally everything is well. Pump is still very quiet the only way to tell if its still running is by touching the pump or when media inside moves.

Highly recommend.

Good old Bubble Magus. Their slogan should be " Aquarium crap doesn't need to be that expensive to be good"