Calcium Reactor

[Alexrd09]

I have reacently purchased a 150g tank and was thinking about getting a calcium reactor. What are the benefits of having these and is it worht the price?

[ccCapt]

What's your tanks daily consumption of alk and calcium?
The benefits are you don't have to dose alk and calcium every day since the reactor does it for you. It will also help keep your water chemistry more balanced if you don't want to be dosing. It's worth the price IF you are using a large amount of retail alk and ca supplements every day. If you make your own DIY 2-part supplements, it would take quite a few years to equal out the setup cost for the reactor and all the associated equipment. If you don't want to be dosing every day, then it's worth the cost too.

[Alexrd09]

I am not able to dose alk and calcium so I am trying to figure out a way to get around doing so.Does it matter what brand I use. Do you have any recommendations?

[ccCapt]

OK, I'll ask again.
What's your tanks daily consumption of alk and calcium?

Why can't you dose?
Brand of what? If a calcium reactor, get 1 with a good bubble counter. There isn't much difference between them besides the counter.
If pH monitor/controller, Milwaukie is good.
I'm not famaliar with co2 regulator brands or solenoid brands.

[Alexrd09]

I do not know the consumption because I have not set up the tank yet. I currently have a 90 gal and am in the process of upgrading to a 150g. I am unable to dose because I am away for college and I don't feel confident that my dad is dosing as needed.

[Alexrd09]

I am looking for a way to get around dosing and having as little maintenance as possible. My father does not have time to be taking care of it the way I would. Any suggestions?

[ccCapt]

Maybe you should then wait till someone has the time to devote to properly take care of the tank.

Why do you think you even need a ca reactor? Do you anticipate such an overwhelming alk/ca demand that normal water changes won't keep everything in line?

[Alexrd09]

I am only able to do water changes once a month my father does top offs and my brother uses a hagen test kit to check water parameters. I have told him to test weekly for Nitrates phosphates ammonia and nitrites. If there is any sign of these i immediately do a water change. I believe that a calcium reactor will improve my Coraline growth and help give more color to the tank. Most of my coraline has started to die off because of low levels of calcium.
Specs:
150g
2x 250w MH
wet dry
25g Refugium (30lb of LR and Chaeto)
Protien skimmer(up to 200g)
ChemiPure Media(changes bimonthly)
Phosban Media
As you can see im trying to overdue my firltration to try to offset the fact that i am not there to do biweekly waterchanges.I also dose the top off water( i prepare month supply ahead of time) with iodine and strontium. He adds about 5 gallons a week. My father wants it to be a reef tank but he does not understand the maintanance required. I am trying to make it as hassle free as possible and i will be doing routine monthly water changes of about 30g if not more. Is there anything else I can do? Will a calcium reactor not aid the growth of many hard and soft corals? I understand this is not the appropriate approach to a reef tank but im doing what i can with what i have. I also understand that blind dosing is not a good idea and that the best way to get parameters at acceptible levels is throught water changes. as you can see im having a little bit of a problem i have a 150g tank with all supplies ready to set up but am holding back until i get all my facts lined up.

[Alexrd09]

Sorry if i seem uninformed but i am making an effort to learn as much as possible. Thank you for any advice

[GhostKnife]

Seems kind of backwards to me. Normally people will get just what they need and watch over the tank themselves and do whats right when it needs done. It sounds to me like you are trying to bypass the human part of the aquarium and use components to fill in for the human. I dont think in the long run if your dad is not up to watching over the tank you will have good results for instance if a fish or something dies and you are unaware or not there to "fish " it out... You will have an ammonia spike that could be detrimental. good luck!

[ccCapt]

I sort of see where your heading....and if you look far enough ahead, you'll see a brick wall. To begin with, you said you don't know how much alk/ca your tank consumes per day. A ca reactor is far from plug and play. Being you don't know how much to add to your system, because you don't know what it needs, how do you setup the reactor? There is no "1 setting fits all". It can take weeks or more of fine tuning before you have the reactor setup to match your tanks needs.

my brother uses a hagen test kit to check water parameters. I have told him to test weekly for Nitrates phosphates ammonia and nitrites.

What about calcium, alkalinity and magnesium? What are these parameters?

I believe that a calcium reactor will improve my Coraline growth and help give more color to the tank.

Not necessarily. Many thing can inhibit coralline. How often do you change the Phosban? Do you run it in a reactor? What does your phosphate test at?
I don't know exactly what you mean by more color. Unless ca is really low and corals are bleaching, calcium has no affect on color.

As you can see im trying to overdue my firltration to try to offset the fact that i am not there to do biweekly waterchanges.I also dose the top off water( i prepare month supply ahead of time) with iodine and strontium.

I see nothing overdone. In fact it's probably average or less for that size tank. What brand skimmer?
What are your iodine and sr levels since you are dosing both. If you are dosing and not testing, how do you know your not overdosing?

I suggest before you do any upgrade, get a grasp on what's happening in your tank now. Buy a bunch of test kits and test every week. Learn what your tank needs.

[nanoluvr]

I dunno....I don't know if a CA reactor will make up for infrequent PWCs

[Alexrd09]

My father sites in fornt of the tank every night staring at the fish. He notices when fish die and he also knows the signs of diseased fish. He just does not have the time to do a 30 gallon water change every 2 weeks. And I am not trying to completely bypass the human aspect, I am just trying to minimize the need for water changes. As I stated in the previouse post, my brother also test weekly for nitrate nitrite ammonia and phosphate. If there is a dangerouse spike they have everything needed to do a water change. I am trying to find a way to make sure my corals have sufficient nutrition in between monthly water changes.

[Alexrd09]

My 90gal's parameters are as follows:
Nitrate 0
nitrite 0
phosphate 0
salinitly 1.026
calcium 480

By color i mean the color provided by coraline(purple/Pink). I recently had a diatom break out because of the fact that i have too many fish in my tank hence the upgrade. I beleive this may have caused the coraline to be without light and bleach. I do not have a test for iodide so i cannot tell you the levels. My cousin works at the LPS and offered to adjust the Reactor to the tank. I change my phosban, Chemipure and Carbon every 2 months and i do not run them in a reactor they are place in my sump. My protien skimmer is a Coralife Super Skimmer

[Alexrd09]

Nano that is the answer i needed to hear... i will have to find a way to make it easier for my dad to do water changes. I somehow need to make it easy to remove water from the tank and at the same time make it easy to add water. I guess i will have to come up with some type of plumbing. do you think 10g-15g water changes once a week will be good enough?

[nanoluvr]

.....I'd do the 15 gal a week.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by Alexrd09

Nano that is the answer i needed to hear... i will have to find a way to make it easier for my dad to do water changes....

This is the best thing you can do for the tank at this point. With only monthly water changes, even if you HAD a properly tuned in Ca reactor, I'm afraid you'd have a heck of a time with your water parameters with such infrequent changes. Corals need more than just calcium to grow... they need good water.

[nanoluvr]

well put, Kurt

[Ziggy953]

I agree a ca reator is not the answer. When I had my 72 set up I was changing 32g every two weeks my point is with a heavily stocked tank you really need to be doing at least bi-weekly PWCs. 32g trash can from walmart makes mixing and changing water easier

[Alexrd09]

Do you guys have any ideas on how i can make doing water changes easier? I beleive if i make it a simple process i can get my father to do it...