Almost about to stick water in the tank - Help please with final equipment

[thebulkhimself]

I've spent 3 months making sure that I have all the required equipment for my new reef tank as sometimes I am away from home for 10 days at a time and I want this thing to be able to run itself when im away. I have the protein skimmer and the uv sterilser and the chiller and the hood fans for the halides plus the hood lid i made can be removed for warm days (or trips away). Basically I want this thing top notch before i even consider putting water in it.

Basically where im at is Calcium reactors and Co2 thingymajigamies.

I don't have a lot of room left in the cabinet and was wondering whether Calcium reactors need to be huge (its only a 50gal tank) and do I need the Co2 thing as well? I aint gonna skimp so let me know what I need as I would rather have more than less when it comes to reef equipment. Save hundreds now could cost me thousands later yeah!!!!

Also I'm looking at auto fish feeders for metered amounts of both flake and pellet foods. The best one I can find at the moment is the "Fish Mate F14". Anyone have one or a better one????

Cheers guys

[jenajet]

I don't know anything about co2 or any of that auto stuff. I have a sump with skimmer and an auto topoff for replacing water from evaporation. I know I have to refill the 5 gallon bucket for the top off every other day. I don't feel comfortable having more than that hooked to the top off of my 90 because lets face it equipment fails and if that happens the worst that would happen would be 4 gallons of freshwater getting dumped into the sump at one time which wouldn't drop my salinity enough to hurt anything. Anymore automation than that is just scary to me. Maybe when I am a little more experienced it wont seem so bad.

[Wiskey]

What kind of coral do you plan to keep? If you are going with softies I would not worry about a CA reactor, but if you are keeping SPS or Clams they are required if you wish to leave you tank for that long at a time.

You won't need a big one for a 50G tank even with SPS but it will take up some prime realastate so you need to have room. If nessessary I know allot of people that set the stand off the wall a foot or two so they can put stuff behind the tank. They then make wood peices that cover from the carpet to the top of the hood and make it all look like one peice. Cool look if you ask me.

HTH,
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Oh, Jenna has a point here, never connect your autotopoff to an unlimited water supply (like a RO/DI unit) becase if a valve fails your tank will be freshwater by the time you get back, and so will your house. Always hook your ATO to a holding tank that is small enough so there won't be major swings in salinity if something were to fail.

HTH,
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

And I forgot something else

CO2 is required for a CA reactor to function. The idea is that you drive the PH of the water in the CA reactor down via acidic CO2 in order to desolve the media releasing the CA and ALK contained within the CO2 then leaves the water off into sorrounding air after it leaves the unit.

CA reactors do drive down the PH of your tank slightly, but for most that is not a problem. A CO2 reactor with a built in probe holder is very nice, it alows you to automate the PH on the inside of your reactor with a PH controller leaving one less thing to chance.

Whiskey

[thebulkhimself]

Geez,

I havent had a reef tank before but ive had numerous large tropical tanks and 5 gallons every other day seems like a huge amount of evaporation, is this normal?

Mate I'm having it all . Know any good small calcium reactor brands. I'm still not totally sure how they work but i'll have to research them more.

[whatevva]

Precision Marine makes a 4" (I have one) and it works GREAT on my 90. You'll need some type of controller to maintain proper ph. I had PM make me a custom cover that holds a ph probe. It works awesome.

[thebulkhimself]

Ok this is actually looking a bit daunting. I live in an apartment which i rent and the calcium reactor plus Ph controller and stuff seems like it might just push the nerves of my housemate. Is there a simpler way of adding calcium in a pure form? I understand there is a relationship between calcium and acidity but I'm hoping that I may be able to get away with not having one for the time being. He's already annoyed that the thing will hum as he's trying to watch a dvd.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Originally Posted by thebulkhimself

Geez,

I havent had a reef tank before but ive had numerous large tropical tanks and 5 gallons every other day seems like a huge amount of evaporation, is this normal?

Mate I'm having it all . Know any good small calcium reactor brands. I'm still not totally sure how they work but i'll have to research them more.

With the additional flow needed with the reef tank, evaporation is much higher. My 125g reef tank evaporates about 5 to 8 gallons every two days.

[whatevva]

Ok this is actually looking a bit daunting. I live in an apartment which i rent and the calcium reactor plus Ph controller and stuff seems like it might just push the nerves of my housemate. Is there a simpler way of adding calcium in a pure form? I understand there is a relationship between calcium and acidity but I'm hoping that I may be able to get away with not having one for the time being. He's already annoyed that the thing will hum as he's trying to watch a dvd

The CA reactor would be the quietest thing under there!

[Geoff]

i have my top off connected directly into the house water supply. i also have 2 backups if the main float switch were to wigg out. one of the backups being a flood switch will will cut off the entire water supply to the filter if water is sensed on the ground near the sump.

so far each of the backups have worked, but for different reasons and have kept the flooding to a minimum. anything from a float switch getting stuck to a connector breaking loose.

as for feeding, if you have critters that will eat flake than you will be fine with an auto feeder. this might need to be a priority with you when selecting critters for your tank. most fish do not like flake, they prefer either the frozen foods, or blender mush (home made frozen foods). these types of foods are difficult to auto feed.

G~

[thebulkhimself]

can you give me some links to good quality cheap float switches.
Also do they run on 12v or mains voltage. If they run on mains voltage happen to know a 240v online shop?

[Geoff]

i use www.floatswitches.net for mine. they run on 12-24v supply. so a relay will be needed if you want to use mains power. they do not last long on mains power.

G~

[thebulkhimself]

mate just ordered some - thanks heaps