Lets talk CA reactors

[impur]

Well i'm pretty sure i need a ca reactor. I'm adding about a box of baking soda to my tank every 3 weeks to keep up with alk demands as well as a gallon of saturated (2teaspoons) kalk PER DAY. My tank uses up 4dKH PER DAY, yes PER DAY. I up it to 12dKH in the morning and by the next morning its at 7 or 8dKH. That is just too much of a swing. So my next big purchase is a calcium reactor. Any suggestions on which to get, experiences? My total system volume is approx 40 gal. I do plan to upgrade, of course, to possibly as big as 125 in the next year. So i would like a reactor that can be dialed back for the mean-time, and also be able to handle a larger tank with 150-200 gal total water and a majority of SPS corals.

I found this one for a good price
http://www.petsolutions.com/Aqua+Med...876004-I-.aspx

There is also a good DIY reactor over at RC that is doing well on ppls tanks of 250gal or so and smaller. The DIY makes it real easy to add a second chamber. The total cost on that is around $250. I would like to spend around that much max. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

Miles

[rude944]

Well, you get what you pay for, and that thing is cheap. I think the Pacific Coast imports one is about as "cheap" as I would feel comfortable with. I saw the aquamedic one and it really scared me away from most of their products.
But I hear ya, it's pretty hard keeping up with demand without a reactor. I think that you may want to get one of the upgradable ones, and just add the second reaction chamber in the future, however, most small reactors are rated around 150 gallons.
I think to really do it right, I am looking at spending $200-250 just on reactor/pump and plumbing, $ 100 on solenoid and gauges and $50 on the bottle. So $400 later I have an angry girlfriend who's not going out to nice dinners for the pay period. But she thinks corals are pretty too.
In the end, I have no advice... I'm in your boat.

[impur]

Yah i figured that one looked pretty cheap. So far i'm thinking the DIY one on RC is the best bet as far as costs and effectiveness are concerned. Thanks for the input!

[Illusion]

If I were in your boat I would go with the Korallin Reactor... a nice 1502 would work wonders and would allow room to upgrade to whatever size tank later... The Korallin is a pretty low maintainence reactor, uses very little Co2 and is very efficient...

Will put it this way... I have had my reactor now for about 1.5yrs.. I am just using a 5lb co2 tank... my tank has only ran Empty once on me... It took about a year for that to happen... The bubble rate is Extremely slow as the unit is pretty pressurized...

I will be completely honest up front... It can be a PITA to setup but once its going its probably the most Maintainence free reactor out there... In the time that I have had it I have never used a controller nor will I ever... The Reactor has a safety Feature that only allows so much gas into the reactor to build up prior to it shutting down... This is the reason why people say its a PITA to setup... You add too much co2 to it all your going to do is put a big air pocket into it and thats it... As far as performance of the unit I have a second chamber that Wanareef built for me and It was easily keeping up with my 224g system... I have never experienced a pH drop in the system from using it... I also Do not like the Risk of Dripping Kalk so I wont do that either...

James

[impur]

Thanks James, i'll definately look into that unit. Sounds perfect.

Was just searching on ebay and found this one, dual chamber with regulator, pump and everything needed it seems. Could someone who knows about these comment on it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...PcY_BIN_Stores

[Krux]

i like their reverse flow reactor better than that model... going with dual chambers on a tank your size really shouldn't be necessary.

have you checked your magnesium levels recently?

[funstarfish]

i have like 12 words... reeftek.com

jorge is amazing, he will asnwr emails in like 4 hours and hes super. the craftsmanship is great and the unit is large enough to accomodate a lrge tank and hold plenty of media. Sanblas has mine now and may be able to tell you more too. check it, i loved mine, it was even pretty.

[impur]

Originally Posted by impur

Thanks James, i'll definately look into that unit. Sounds perfect.

Was just searching on ebay and found this one, dual chamber with regulator, pump and everything needed it seems. Could someone who knows about these comment on it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...PcY_BIN_Stores

Well i'm not buying from this guy, check this thread

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...y&pagenumber=1

Thanks for the heads upon reeftek.com, looks like good stuff!

[impur]

Originally Posted by Krux

i like their reverse flow reactor better than that model... going with dual chambers on a tank your size really shouldn't be necessary.

have you checked your magnesium levels recently?

No, i don't have a mag test kit. It should be ok IMO, i do weekly 5gal WCs and oceanic has always had good lvls of it.

[Illusion]

wow what a post lol.. Ooppss.. Supprised that the company is still around and selling lol..

James

[funstarfish]

so whats the verdict here, just for curiosity sake. i would say the first guy was also the same guy. haha regrdless, i would not buy the stuff.

[Illusion]

Very last post from the Mod said it was as he locked the thread...

James

[impur]

Yah, that guy is pretty wacko. Definately steering clear of his products.


I'm leaning more toward building my own reactor. I really enjoy the DIY stuff and the build over at RC seems to be as effective as other reactors costing a lot more. Still researching though.

[Illusion]

After looking at Ca reactors they look extremely simple to DIY... I look at mine and have questioned cloning it several times.. wouldnt take much but a few pieces oc acrylic and some 1/4" pvc fittings


James