Dosing, Reactor or Reacting? (1 Viewer)

[TexanReef]

So, the age-old questions comes around again...

I'm ready to stop the "reacting" of manual dosing to raise dKH and Ca. My options seem to be:

Calcium Reactor:
o High initial cost
o Lower cost over time

Dosing:
o Lower (but still substantial considering I do not have a controller) initial cost
o Higher cost over time (though you can "roll your own" to make the chemicals cheaper

I know this is a "my system is better" type question but what are your thoughts?

To be honest, I'm leaning towards dosing 2-part.

 

[RGH69]

I have to say that I am a true Kalk Reactor believer. My corals and everything have been doing great since I hooked up a Kalk reactor to the ATO. The TLF reactor was only $60. It is way less complicated than a calcium reactor.

 

[TexanReef]

So the Kalk reactor goes in between your ATO water and the tank?

And that's enough to maintain pH, dKH and Ca?

 

[RGH69]

Here is how mine is setup

It keeps all of my parameters good.

 

[soymilk]

Although Kalk is nice and easy to set up, it depends on your system. Diff factors come into play when using Kalk, biggest factor is how much top off water your tank goes thru. That directly corresponds to how much Kalk gets fed into your tank.

Kalk is easiest to set up if you already have an ato system, dosing is pretty accurate and easy to pick up. calrx is most cost efficient for a tank with high calc/alk intake

 

[Ostentum]

I use 1 dkh a day so CaRx is the thing that makes the most sense for me

 

[TexanReef]

My dKH usage has been something I'm trying to quantify. I've had an issue getting it to stay above 7 using manual dosing of ReefBuilder. I recently moved to 18g a day and now have it squarely at 10.

It'll be interesting to test again today and tomorrow to see how quickly it falls off.

Manual dosing is driving me crazy -- not to mention the stress in the tank of the bouncing chemistry. This is the catalyst for my post. I would love to find something to help stabilize the chemistry and smooth out the swings during corrections.

 

[RGH69]

you may want to check your magnesium levels. I have found that when Mag is down, I cannot keep Alk up.

 

[TexanReef]

Yes, I've done that; Mg levels are within range for my salinity.

BTW, that is a PITA test to run. -- at least with my kit.

I think my issue at getting my dKH up was I didn't want to overdose ReefBuilder so I was being very conservative. 18g in my 150g combined water is still dosing on the constrained side. I think the level will be easier to maintain now that I've reached what I consider an acceptable target.

The question is what/how to maintain the levels now that I've dialed in.

 

[tektite]

What mg test kit do you have? My salifert test kit takes around a minute to do, very accurate too.

 

[TexanReef]

I'll check when I get home.

It has a bunch of bottles and you need to be very careful when doing the titration.

 

[soymilk]

how fast are you bringing it from 7 to 10? That itself could be the problem. Are you dosing the powder? are you mixing it before hand in RODI?

 

[tektite]

I had the seachem test before the salifert. That one was a major PITA.

The salifert is really easy, put 2 ml water in the vial, add 4 drops, swirl for 30 secs, add one level spoon of powder, swirl for 10 secs, titrate. Pretty dramatic color change from pink/purple to light blue.

For my levels I'm just dosing BRS 2 part right now, with their dosing pumps. A couple of digital timers dose each twice a day, though I could break it up even more if I wanted to.

 

[TexanReef]

I had the seachem test before the salifert. That one was a major PITA.

The salifert is really easy, put 2 ml water in the vial, add 4 drops, swirl for 30 secs, add one level spoon of powder, swirl for 10 secs, titrate. Pretty dramatic color change from pink/purple to light blue.

Thanks. I'll look into that test.

how fast are you bringing it from 7 to 10? That itself could be the problem. Are you dosing the powder? are you mixing it before hand in RODI?

Over the course of a week. Yes, dissolving the ReefBuilder into a cup or two of RODI and adding it incrementally into the sump by pouring into the bubble trap in the hopes of aiding the mixing.

 

[soymilk]

it might help if you could somehow drip the solution into your tank over a few hours. This well make sure it will mix better and not precipitate when you add it into the tank.

Now they you have the tank at 10dKH, i would start a log of how long it takes your tank to drop 1dKH. From there you can plan a dosing regime.

 

[TexanReef]

It's a Red Sea test kit.

Takes a Ph.D. to use correctly.

 

[RR-MAN]

I have to say that I am a true Kalk Reactor believer. My corals and everything have been doing great since I hooked up a Kalk reactor to the ATO. The TLF reactor was only $60. It is way less complicated than a calcium reactor.

Good idea but the Alkalinity demand increases so additional supplementation becomes necessary. For instance, I'm running a large calcium reactor and I have a PM kalk reactor. The kalk reactor offsets the low PH issue but it does not supplement enough Alk/Cal to keep things balance.

 

[RGH69]

True, My Alk is a little low. But everything is doing fine. Good color and growth in the DT. But I may start adding Alk to the frag tank because the color is not as good there.

 

[cliner]

I have to say that I am a true Kalk Reactor believer. My corals and everything have been doing great since I hooked up a Kalk reactor to the ATO. The TLF reactor was only $60. It is way less complicated than a calcium reactor.

So, does yours work as it should? I would like to get your feedback on it. I am starting to look for a Kalk Rx.
Sorry for the hi jack

 

[TexanReef]

That ain't no hijack.

I'm interested in see what he says as well.