Let's talk calcium reactors

[Dorado]

The time has finally come to where I can't keep up with my tank's cal/alk demands with kalk and two-part alone and need to bite the bullet and get a calcium reactor. I'm just wondering what reactors everyone has and how they like it? Is it worth it to splurge on reef octopus with electronic regulator or would an aquamax with a basic regulator suffice? I've been out of the hobby for quite some time until recently, but I feel like there used to be more variety out there.

 

[dontavo27]

Following along

 

[drexel]

Geo reactor, Alan Le custom 2 stage regulator and your feed pump of choice. Tune it by effluent (old school) or you can use a pH probe, whatever you prefer. Keep using kalk for night time top off/pH swings. If you have a big budget, then you can look into one of the automatic systems from Deltec or DaStaCo. Tunze reactors are a pretty solid choice as well. I know there's a new version of the Carbon Doser, but I was never a fan of the original and prefer a more robust 2 stage regulator.
Tank size and biomass will determine what size you need.

 

[pledosophy]

A nice regulator is worth it. Spend the money there.

The actual cannister that holds the media, isn't really that important. It's just a tube of acrylic that holds rocks.

 

[Smite]

I was running an older 6x18 GEO reactor with secondary 4x18 chamber. I bought it used years ago and it works very well. I had Alan Le off RC build me a 2 stage SS regulator. I really like the setup and I think it is very reliable. I've heard of people needing to send in carbon dosers for tune ups. they just click on and off constantly. If you can buy a quality 2 stage and tune it properly the solenoid rarely has to cycle on/off and you'll get a good amount of time out of it.

I do run mine of a ph probe controlled by apex. I try to tune it where I want it to run by the needle valve and set the ph control slightly lower than that for a fail safe.

I'll be setting mine back up once I have a decent demand. I wouldn't recommend ARM media, I had to run a very low ph to get it to melt in comparison to TLF reborn.

 

[Emac909]

I have a DIY reactor I made

This reactor cost me about $120 to make. $90 for the pump and $30 in plumbing parts.
The reactor it self was a XXL kalk reactor that never got use and ended up getting broken. I cut the broken section off and rebuilt the cylinder then attached the plumbing and pump.
It easily holds 40 to 50lbs of media. I originally added 30lbs of media. In the second pic I’d say there’s close to 20 to 25lbs left.
It’s so efficient that it easily supports my 300g of water volume.
I can almost for sure say I run my calcium reactor a way that no one on these boards does.
I run the effluent as a stream that beads 3” after the exit of the tubing. But what makes the way I run my calcium reactor so much different then others is I change the pH in the reactor to either melt media faster or slower depending on the alk readings of my trident.
Now my regulator is also a DIY regulator that a buddy built for me. It cost more then my calcium reactor. Just in parts he spent $250. But is all stainless steel and should last a life time.

 

[bustayanky]

I tried classic carx with high end regulators but I’ve never been successful with it. So I saw some reef builders articles about these high end carx (dastaco and deltec twintech). I ended up choosing deltec twintech cr1500. It was pricey but I feel like it was simpler to learn. I just needed to get co2 tank, cheap regulator, and special cal media. This carx has 2 chambers. One for media and the other is chamber it saturates the water with co2 to slowly add to media chamber. It has a controller that you can adjust water flow, pump speed, degassing. Been using it for about 1.5-2 years.
Deltec Twintech CR

 

[Smite]

I have a DIY reactor I made

This reactor cost me about $120 to make. $90 for the pump and $30 in plumbing parts.
The reactor it self was a XXL kalk reactor that never got use and ended up getting broken. I cut the broken section off and rebuilt the cylinder then attached the plumbing and pump.
It easily holds 40 to 50lbs of media. I originally added 30lbs of media. In the second pic I’d say there’s close to 20 to 25lbs left.
It’s so efficient that it easily supports my 300g of water volume.
I can almost for sure say I run my calcium reactor a way that no one on these boards does.
I run the effluent as a stream that beads 3” after the exit of the tubing. But what makes the way I run my calcium reactor so much different then others is I change the pH in the reactor to either melt media faster or slower depending on the alk readings of my trident.
Now my regulator is also a DIY regulator that a buddy built for me. It cost more then my calcium reactor. Just in parts he spent $250. But is all stainless steel and should last a life time.

This is awesome Eric. I really want to modify 2 things on my GEO before I set it up, and both you did on yours. Hard plumb it throughout, I can't stand the dinky tubing I feel it allows the pump to make more noise and move. The second is plugged the top bulkhead so I can pull from the top/side like you did. Mine sucks co2 all day and I think that's why my shaft wore down on my sicce 1.5 so quickly. Practically running dry 1/2 the time.

Looks great, makes me want to go for a DIY one of these days. not sure what the tube would run though.

 

[joseserrano]

Have tried a good amount of regulators, and honestly don’t the a huge difference. I’d just Get a dependable one ( Tunze maybe). Regarding the actual unit, aquamaxx is fine (can be hard to tune), but pretty much all do the same thing. I’d base it more on how easy is to service and refill. Always go bigger than you need. To feed or pull water, the kaomer pumps are pretty reliable

 

[Dorado]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, a lot to think about

Geo reactor, Alan Le custom 2 stage regulator and your feed pump of choice. Tune it by effluent (old school) or you can use a pH probe, whatever you prefer. Keep using kalk for night time top off/pH swings. If you have a big budget, then you can look into one of the automatic systems from Deltec or DaStaCo. Tunze reactors are a pretty solid choice as well. I know there's a new version of the Carbon Doser, but I was never a fan of the original and prefer a more robust 2 stage regulator.
Tank size and biomass will determine what size you need.

Do you have any idea where to find one of these Alan Le regulators or how to get ahold of him?

 

[Dorado]

I was running an older 6x18 GEO reactor with secondary 4x18 chamber. I bought it used years ago and it works very well. I had Alan Le off RC build me a 2 stage SS regulator. I really like the setup and I think it is very reliable. I've heard of people needing to send in carbon dosers for tune ups. they just click on and off constantly. If you can buy a quality 2 stage and tune it properly the solenoid rarely has to cycle on/off and you'll get a good amount of time out of it.

I do run mine of a ph probe controlled by apex. I try to tune it where I want it to run by the needle valve and set the ph control slightly lower than that for a fail safe.

I'll be setting mine back up once I have a decent demand. I wouldn't recommend ARM media, I had to run a very low ph to get it to melt in comparison to TLF reborn.

That's good to know about the carbon doser. I was strongly considering the doser, but it seems like a good regulator is more favorable.

 

[Dorado]

Have tried a good amount of regulators, and honestly don’t the a huge difference. I’d just Get a dependable one ( Tunze maybe). Regarding the actual unit, aquamaxx is fine (can be hard to tune), but pretty much all do the same thing. I’d base it more on how easy is to service and refill. Always go bigger than you need. To feed or pull water, the kaomer pumps are pretty reliable

I've seen that a lot of people use the kaomer pump, seems pretty popular. I actually have a spare head on my neptune dos that I was planning on using

 

[Daniel]

I've been thinking of this piece of equip myself and really wanting to see if this is an option given my alk consumption... wondering about details like media, phosphate, pH, etc. Hope to learn something new with your thread!

 

[joseserrano]

I've been thinking of this piece of equip myself and really wanting to see if this is an option given my alk consumption... wondering about details like media, phosphate, pH, etc. Hope to learn something new with your thread!

Brs has a lot of good videos hitting those points in detail.

 

[drexel]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, a lot to think about

Do you have any idea where to find one of these Alan Le regulators or how to get ahold of him?

Yes, I’ll send you a pm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ivan]

Well all depends on what you want and how much do you want to spend
I’m getting old and with 3 kids and a dog shit is getting crazy in this house
but let me tell you this I had multiple reactors in the pass then dosing but I run into the same problem that you have now dosing was not enough so I decided to go back to cal reactor and I ended getting a Deltec reactor why let le tell you why
1. Easy to set up
2. Automatic
3. No ph probe or anything to control the ph you can but no need
4. I’m lazy 😂
Really not because I have a Deltec but this thing is awesome 😎
Set and forget

 

[pirate2876]

I've had Skimz, Aquamax, 2x GEOs, and now finally a big double chamber reef Octo on my system. I have around 400g of mostly SPS that I am neglecting now, but at it's peak it was great. I use a C02 solenoid on a PH controller. The PH reading from those isn't always correct, so I do adjust it quite a bit. The reading is off by .4-.5 right now I think. It says 7.3,m but I think its closer to 6.8-9. I just replaced media in chamber 1 so I need about a week to level the ALK. I run the flow through method with a cheap submersible pump pushing water into the reactor. I tried a Kamoer to pull water into the reactor but it didn't work as well as the maxijet or whatever I have pushing into it.

ALK swings: One thing I've learned is that running out of C02 can be very detrimental quickly. As soon as the C02 runs out, I have about a day to get another tank unless I want to lose some SPS. The ALK drop into the 6s rather quickly. The healthier/fuller your system is, the more it will effect it. Solenoids go out occasionally as well, but IME they usually get stuck off, not on.

Media: I used to use reborn media exclusively, but about 2 yrs ago they changed the grain size and stopped using coral pieces. I didn't have good luck with it so I switched to large Caribsea and I'm happy with it.

Reactors: One thing I look for on reactors is the ability to replace the recirc pump. Those go out/get worn into oblivion, and they can be hard to replace. The reef octo has a Bubble Blaster which moves a lot of water and is easier to replace when the time comes. The only bummer with the reef Octo is the o-ring design. It sucks because as soon as you remove the top it stretches the oring out of size, and they never have replacements on hand(or ever from what I've experienced).

I'm sure the Deltec and Dastaco reactors are excellent, but I can't speak of them. I do feel once you have the reactor tuned you're GTG until you notice a difference in your tank. I still check my ALK every month or so, but most of the time it's set it and forget it.

my $.02

 

[BgFish]

All good information. I have loved it since I added mine about 5 months ago. +1 on the kalk. My ph dropped .3 on average when I added it. This is the only one o have ever used. I’ve had good luck with the carbon doser so far, and everything else was pretty easy to set up with a quick YouTube lesson lol I got everything used- but it all seems to work well so far good luck my friend

 

[Dorado]

I've had Skimz, Aquamax, 2x GEOs, and now finally a big double chamber reef Octo on my system. I have around 400g of mostly SPS that I am neglecting now, but at it's peak it was great. I use a C02 solenoid on a PH controller. The PH reading from those isn't always correct, so I do adjust it quite a bit. The reading is off by .4-.5 right now I think. It says 7.3,m but I think its closer to 6.8-9. I just replaced media in chamber 1 so I need about a week to level the ALK. I run the flow through method with a cheap submersible pump pushing water into the reactor. I tried a Kamoer to pull water into the reactor but it didn't work as well as the maxijet or whatever I have pushing into it.

ALK swings: One thing I've learned is that running out of C02 can be very detrimental quickly. As soon as the C02 runs out, I have about a day to get another tank unless I want to lose some SPS. The ALK drop into the 6s rather quickly. The healthier/fuller your system is, the more it will effect it. Solenoids go out occasionally as well, but IME they usually get stuck off, not on.

Media: I used to use reborn media exclusively, but about 2 yrs ago they changed the grain size and stopped using coral pieces. I didn't have good luck with it so I switched to large Caribsea and I'm happy with it.

Reactors: One thing I look for on reactors is the ability to replace the recirc pump. Those go out/get worn into oblivion, and they can be hard to replace. The reef octo has a Bubble Blaster which moves a lot of water and is easier to replace when the time comes. The only bummer with the reef Octo is the o-ring design. It sucks because as soon as you remove the top it stretches the oring out of size, and they never have replacements on hand(or ever from what I've experienced).

I'm sure the Deltec and Dastaco reactors are excellent, but I can't speak of them. I do feel once you have the reactor tuned you're GTG until you notice a difference in your tank. I still check my ALK every month or so, but most of the time it's set it and forget it.

my $.02

Thanks for all the great information

Yes, I’ll send you a pm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you pming me that info. I was able to get ahold of Alan and my regulator is on it's way.

I decided to go with the Geo reef CR618 along with a secondary 415 media reactor, which has a 4 week lead time. I was originally planning on just getting a Milwaukee ph monitor, but decided to go the apex route and buy a PM1 module along with ph probe. It's a little more expensive, but it'll make it easier to control.

I'm thinking that I may continue to dose the same amount of kalk that I have been, about 5 gallons weekly, and then use the Calcium reactor on top of that. I really like the ph benefits of the kalk.

 

[Smite]

Thanks for all the great information


Thank you pming me that info. I was able to get ahold of Alan and my regulator is on it's way.

I decided to go with the Geo reef CR618 along with a secondary 415 media reactor, which has a 4 week lead time. I was originally planning on just getting a Milwaukee ph monitor, but decided to go the apex route and buy a PM1 module along with ph probe. It's a little more expensive, but it'll make it easier to control.

I'm thinking that I may continue to dose the same amount of kalk that I have been, about 5 gallons weekly, and then use the Calcium reactor on top of that. I really like the ph benefits of the kalk.

Do you pre mix your kalk then dose off a doser? I've been thinking of doing this when I set the reactor back up.