Calcium reactor or dosing pump

[Montaquelaveist]

okay guys so I'm about to start a new project where I'm about to plump two tanks together so that they are the same levels and I'm moving the equipment to the basement to make a bigger sump. Okay so my question to you guys is should i just stay withy dosing pump or should i advance to a calcium reactor and why or why not thanks guys

 

[STORM]

Usualy what some people do is after 125 gallon they switch from dosing to a calcium reactor as its cheaper a year, what sizes are your tanks how much water volume and what are you keeping in the tank? Would it be an sps dominant tank or mixed reef?

 

[Montaquelaveist]

Usualy what some people do is after 125 gallon they switch from dosing to a calcium reactor as its cheaper a year, what sizes are your tanks how much water volume and what are you keeping in the tank? Would it be an sps dominant tank or mixed reef?

the small tank is 120 gal and the larger one is 220 gal and the MDT is sps dominate the smaller one aggressive fish but i want to be able to put monti's in it hence the reason for plumbing them both on the same system so that i can frag my current monti and put it in there the total volume will be the two tanks plus another 75 gallons for the sump and refugium

 

[STORM]

Then in that case i would dose to get your levels were you want them then use a calcium reactor to maintain them however maybe someone who has more experience with them can chime in an share their thoughts as well.

 

[duke62]

90 gallons would be my max for a doser.

 

[Mattl22]

I'd use a cal reactor once dialed in can go 6-8 months b4 I need to mess with it again really nice not worrying about 2 part etc I also top off with kalk

 

[Montaquelaveist]

I'd use a cal reactor once dialed in can go 6-8 months b4 I need to mess with it again really nice not worrying about 2 part etc I also top off with kalk

how long does it take to dial in and what about coral growth wouldn't you have to keep messing with it as they grow, as you know monti's grow rather fast
and what would be a good reactor for that amount of water

 

[bklynreef]

i personally like the dosing pump route for now as i can dial in easily the amount of mg i need of each element and im running over 1000 gallons of water volume. I just didnt feel the same comfort with a calcium reactor at that time. I am dosing heavily and my containers hold 3 gallons of ( CA, ALK, MG ) liquid each plus a kalk top off for 12 hours at night. Could i go calcium reactor today? the answer is yes especially with the new electronic regulator but right now i feel comfortable with what im dealing with and i like that i can adjust each parameter until its balanced. both are not cheap options but my advise is do what you feel comfortable with, to me back then there were too many stories of reactors doing the wromg thing by accident or user error. ill give you the link for the regulator iwould use, well worth the money IMO.(http://www.aquariumplants.com/CarbonDoser_Electronic_Co2_Regulator_p/co2.htm)

 

[Dk638]

+1 on the aquarium plants. I tried a cheap regulator and had a lot of trouble dialing in but was real easy with aquarium plants reg. I adjusted for growth for a few months but now I'm steady and check alk once a week. I don't think you'd have to make adjustments more than once a week for growth anyway unless you have an amazing growth spurt and for that you'd need to be super steady anyway. Just mo.

 

[Mattl22]

2 part gets pretty expensive

 

[Montaquelaveist]

i think for now i will stay with the dosing but once i feel my tank is strong enough i will convert to the reactor but i agree dosing does seem much much easier to control over the reactor i will have to give this some serious thought my corals are just starting to make some progress would hate to see all of that hard work go to waste over a dial in issue