Calcium reactors

[Silverni2]

I've taken notice of the Reeftank build section on mr and noticed that most of the high end large really good looking builds are using calcium reactors! Do you guys agree with this? If so could you recommend a reactor for a 120 mixed reef 30 gallon fudge/ 30 gallon sump. Price is not a major factor but ease of use and quality is.
Thx

 

[Jim]

I'm not saying I have a high end or really nice tank but I run a MTC Procal reactor on my 300 and love it. If you do go with this reactor, use their regulator as well.

 

[Silverni2]

Hey Jim,
I checked out mtc website and spoke to jeff there who was a big help! Is ur tank mixed or all sps? Have you heard anything about the smaller unit they sell? My tank is a 120
thx

 

[Jim]

Yeah Jeff is very helpful. My tank is 90% sps. I haven't heard much about the smaller unit but from what I've heard the dual chamber reactor is the way to go. Also you don't need to put small media in the small chamber, put the the course in. The small will turn to mush and clog up. If you have any question setting up lmk

 

[charliethetuna88]

My 120 gallon mixed reef is going so much better now that I have my cal reactor running .no more dosing all,cal or mag ,everything is very steady no more all swings love it beat price of equipment I bought its a little scary to use at first cause i got nervouse I was going to mess it up but its a price of cake sec get one I also have an mtc mines a mini cal not the pro ,mines smaller but works great on my system I have a total of 200 gallons of water in my system .

 

[masterswimmer]

Bruce, the reality is, you have a calcium based animal living and uptaking calcium in your tank, especially with an sps dominant system. If you have one sps frag, then weekly water changes would probably suffice. If you have one sps colony the size of toaster, then you might need to dose calcium (alk & mg too). If you have an entire tank of sps colonies and frags, the likelihood of benefiting from a calcium reactor is super high.....or, you can dose mega amounts of calcium daily. Both ways work, one just works more efficiently.

HTH
Russ

 

[Awibrandy]

Bruce, the reality is, you have a calcium based animal living and uptaking calcium in your tank, especially with an sps dominant system. If you have one sps frag, then weekly water changes would probably suffice. If you have one sps colony the size of toaster, then you might need to dose calcium (alk & mg too). If you have an entire tank of sps colonies and frags, the likelihood of benefiting from a calcium reactor is super high.....or, you can dose mega amounts of calcium daily. Both ways work, one just works more efficiently.

HTH
Russ

Thank you Russ!! You always make thing so much easier for this old lady to understand.:kiss:

 

[masterswimmer]

Thank you Russ!! You always make thing so much easier for this old lady to understand.:kiss:

Awwww Awilda, :inlove:

Russ

 

[ctrayer]

I was running a calcium reactor on my 125 but switched over to dosing with my 325 upgrade. I feel I can keep a more consistent alk and cal level from dosing and can control each separately. I also found thatwith a reactor the levels would go out of wack as the media got older and then it would take some time to get them back up as the new media was breaking in.
If you go the dosing route you need to have dosing pumps if not go with a reactor.
I have one for sale

 

[cybermeez]

After I moved recently I dosed for about a month until I could get my calcium reactor hooked back up. I lost several SPS during that time and as soon as I hooked the reactor up earlier this week the whole take began to turn around. You corals will thank you for it. Also makes growing coralline algae easier.

 

[Silverni2]

Thanks for the comments guys
Russ I understand what ur saying but my dilemma is my tank is 90% lps so is it worth the investment for an lps tank? Although if I did go with the reactor I guess I could add more sps and be hopefully be more successful with the stability factor!

Charlie I dis speak to you about the reactor thing in the past when you first posted pictures of your tank. You did say that's what made your tank thrive opposed to just survive. Do you think I can get away with the mini or is it worth spending the extra 300 for the pro? My biggest concern at this point is the mini as easy to run as the pro? By that I mean adjustments/ user friendly to a novice such as myself. I do not have any plans to upgrade my 120g total volume system.

 

[cybermeez]

FYI I'm using a Korallin 1502 on my 120g reef and it's plenty. I rent a 5lb CO2 cylinder and need to change/refill it less than once a year. Same goes for the aragonite in the chamber.

 

[charliethetuna88]

i would stick with the mini ive never used the pro its pretty big i seen it but never messed with it i think with the mtc u will be very happy especialy for the price and the guy that makes mtc is awsome he will guide u threw the setup on the phone is u want

 

[emmanuel]

I had a 125 mixed sps lps with a korralin 1502 running for 6 years when the sps grew large it couldnt keep up then I got a geo 6 18 it worked perfect . By the way someone was selling one fairly new for a good price on marketplace recently.
I now have a 34 gallon with just a couple of sps frags and mostly softies so I'm using bionic since it's such small demand .