Reactor, Dosers or Manual???

[coralkiller]

What is the best and most effective way to get Calcium into the tank?

 

[pickupman66]

Guess it depends on your work/testing ethic as well as budget. Its been debated many times. I loathe dosing. Just too lazy to deal with regularly so I love the stability the reactor provides. Dosing will give you minor level fluctuations between doses especially if done manually. The reactor is a constant source of good to the tank. And in the long run it will be less expensive with a high demand tank.

 

[ToXIc]

well put lindsey..

but carl it all boils down to personal preference....

 

[gmoney243]

imo low - med demand use Kalkwasser , Med-high demand 2 part , high demand or just dont wanna mess with it much use Ca Reactor. so for me its a matter of usage really but u could use a Ca reactor to dose any ammount you need low or high just more expensive up front.

 

[coralkiller]

Kalkwasser hooked up to dosers?

 

[gmoney243]

Usually kalkwasser is dripped or using an ato system .. kalk is mixed with top off water

 

[coralkiller]

So its not necessarily consistent?

 

[pickupman66]

It is fairly consistqnt provided you are precise in your measurements making the Kalk saturated water and adding that into your top off water. Most tanks are fairly consistant in their evaporation so replacing it that way can be a viable method.

 

[poolkeeper1]

It's all relative to Demand! If you have a need to replace what is being depleted by Stony Corals (SPS) that determins how you need to put those depleted elements back into your system. If you have little to no demand regular water changes will usually suffice or in this order 1. Dripping kalk manually 2. Dosing with a 2 part additive system
3. setting up a Ca reactor for high demand systems, with little hands on effort after spending many hundred dollars for equipment and then getting it dialed in to your tanks needs.
Testing to see how much your system depletes in a measured time period will be IMO the best way to judge your needs (Or No Need ) to dose.
Most new systems have very little demand unless stocked with full size colonies from another tank. If your starting from frags youir demand will be low. JMHO
Bill

 

[coralkiller]

What kind of testing frequency would you recommend and for how long?

 

[poolkeeper1]

What kind of testing frequency would you recommend and for how long?

Testing is forever in a Reeftank! Seeing how much is depleted over a timed period is pretty straight foward, Be it 24hrs or several day's or a week or month. The more stable the better the results so that's a matter of choice as to how often, But parameters that are up and down will not yeild the desired results of a stable enviorment.
Stability promotes sucess...
Bill

 

[coralkiller]

Lets say I have a system up and running for 3 months. Ive done 5% water changes every week since its been running. Would it be wise to test right after the water change and then once a day up until the next water change?

 

[angrycubano]

I have just a few sps frags and the rest are lps and I go through 0.5 oz of 2-part alk and very little calcium per day. Since my demand is very low right now, I use 2-part BRS for alk and little calcium since water changes adds more than enough and my tiny frags don't use up much calcium. I would say just test your alk and calcium at 7PM for example and then that same time the following day. I did this for several days to get an idea of usage and then figured out how much alk/cal to dose daily. Since my demand is very low I decided to go the manual 2-part method. As Bill states above, first you need to figure your demand and then decide which methods fits you best.

 

[SmyrnaReefer]

+1 testing the same time every day for a few days. maybe skip the night of water change as you want everything stable...

 

[coralkiller]

How dependable are dosing pumps and reactors? Anyone ever have any negative experiences?

 

[poolkeeper1]

How dependable are dosing pumps and reactors? Anyone ever have any negative experiences?

Equipment is only as good as it's operator, Nothing in life is guarenteed but Death and MORE Taxes

 

[pelagic]

What is the best and most effective way to get Calcium into the tank?

1. Reactor: More expensive on equipments, cheaper to maintain, harder to setup
2. Doser: Cheaper on equipments, can be expensive to maintain, easy to setup
3. Manual: You will get tired of it eventually... and you are risking to change the tank parameters too fast.

I guess it depends on if you when do you want to spend the money..

my 2cents.