Calcium Reactors ???

[Whatigot]

come on guys
Ca reactors look sexy.
So many of my aquatic ignorant friends are ore impressed with my ca reactor than anything in the tank...
They're like, wow, I never knew this stuff was so high tech....lol

you can't impress people with a couple of bottles.....

[sphelps]

I think the goal is stability, which is key for coral growth and vitality. Constantly adding additives gets tiresome and expensive. Once you have a tank that can suck up 20ppm of calcium a day you'll understand better. Most people don't have the need for constant addition of Ca and Alk and do well with a simple two part additive method or just frequent water changes.

Now buying additives in bulk and using an automatic dosing system is to me the best method, but this is fairly new technology for us

[brizzo]

A calcium reactor is also a good excuse to get a decent controller .... That's my "excuse"

You also don't have to purchase one, lots of info out there on DIY calcium reactors!

[Whatigot]

there is a diy job in the classifieds right now with co2 for 150.

How much 2 part additive would it take to cover that cost?

[Oxymoron]

Im not trying to thread hijack but what is the difference between a calcium reactor and a kalk drip? Do they serve the same purpose?

[Marlin65]

Same end result more or less but different process.

[NAS]

I just finished about two weeks ago installing my calcium reactor.

They way they work is by bubbling CO2 through the reaction chamber and mixing with water you create carbonic acid driving pH down below 6.9 This dissolved the substate (slowly) releasin perfect trace elements (except iodine). This is fantastic for all stonies, heavy fish loads, Clams, big tanks (where dosing can be expensive).

Then by dripping the effulant back into my sump (about 6" drop) the CO2 De-gasses from and your pH of the effluant pops instantly back up to around 8.3. Depending on your flow rate you can tweek the feed ammount of Ca, KH, and trace elements.

The only thing I found is that there was not an adiquate ammount of Magnesium coming in from the reactor so I still dose with a magnesium suppliment weekly, and Iodine.

Im running a Coralife reactor with a reefkeeper controler. The controler keeps the pH between 6.7 and 6.4. This limits the wastage of CO2 (using a 20lb beverage grade CO2).

Prior to the application of the reactor my clam tank would drop my Calcium from 480 to 230-255ppm in one night. The KH would go from 220-120 in about 9 hours. I was dosing 15ml of purple up twice a day (that's a 300 gallon tank dose) My clam tank is 40 gallons.

This led to a pH swing which my acros did not like.

Now, with the reactor balanced and running my KH is holding exactly at 200ppm (i run a little high), and Calcium at 500ppm (a little high).

I will pop some pictures and post them when I get home today.

Here is a pic of the clams






If you can afford it run with a power controler on a solenoid (co2 supply) it will be well worth it in the long run.

Any questions on sources just message me.

[NAS]

The Calcium reactor also dissolves the other elements locked up in the coral. This includes your strontium, mb, Carbonate, Calcium, and every thing else. EXCEPT Iodine.

the Kalkawaser is only Calcium hydroxide, so it's strictly calcium. It also jacks your ph wich in turn causes swings in pH. If not done correctly this can cause big trouble.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Oxymoron

Im not trying to thread hijack but what is the difference between a calcium reactor and a kalk drip? Do they serve the same purpose?

no, different all together with one common element.

Kalk is just Ca and will raise PH. With a Ca reactor you are maintaining both Ca, Alk, and trace elements. Some times they can lower Ph so then you would use Kalk in addition through a kalk reactor to balance it.

the purpose of the reactors weather it be Kalk or Ca is stability, better control with less work. With a Ca reactor you are not dosing once a day and causing swings of levels but you are dosing every second so it is constant. The are a bit of work for the first few days to get them dialed in, but once that is done....

One thing to note, a Ca reactor shouldn't be used to correct bad levels, only to maintain good ones.. before starting the reactor make sure your levels (Ca, Alk, Mg) are good.

Steve

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

no, different all together with one common element.

Kalk is just Ca and will raise PH.

Steve

That is not true. Kalkwasser or calcium hydroxide (chemical term) is a balanced calcium and alkalinity supplement which also has the ability to raise pH.