Quote:
Originally Posted by GMGQ
Hmm, so basically you would let the reactor flood with CO2 until the pH is too low, then your pH controller would shut off the CO2, and the reactor would slowly fill back up with regular pH water, then the controller would restart the flow of CO2?
What CA level do you maintain?
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Yes, that's the basic idea except it's not as exaggerated as it sounds. The CO2 will kick on and off as needed. I set the controller to maintain the ph in the reactor chamber between 6.65 and 6.67. To be honest with you I have no idea what my calcium and alk is. My target a year ago when I did test was 380-400. I have over 100 sps colonies in my tank that has been in there for more than a year and they were mostly grown from frags. Quite a few of the colonies are reaching the 12" mark or have surpassed that size. I haven't tested in over 6 months as I found the groove after quite a few months and realized that my reactor keeps up with the growth. I probably fill the reactor with an entire jar of ARM media every 4 - 6 months maybe? So the reactor media is definitely being consumed and used by the corals. I've never used the dosing method and I don't think I want to try. I know that the reactor media is a balanced way of maintaining calcium/alk.
Know that I'm not trying to persuade you either way, just giving you my experience as to what has worked well for me. I have seen gorgeous tanks on the dosing method as well. I think I'm a "try to get away with as little maintenance as possible" kind of guy.
I had a Deltec reactor and I didn't like the way it opened and closed so I bought a reactor that was easier to fill. I have the dual chamber Reef Octopus reactor and it has a screw top - this is AWESOME!. Simply turn reactor off, unscrew the top, drain the water a bit, and fill with new media, then screw it back on. the deltec had a twist top that you had to twist about 1/8th of a turn but it was a pain cause it was so difficult to do that I had to take it offline, stick it between my legs, hold it with my legs and tug as hard as I could and I thought it would break every time I filled it.
Hope this long ramble helps.