Looking for advice on calcium reactors

Pth03001

Pth03001

Copepod
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
Morning everyone,

So I am taking the plunge and switching from dosing to a calcium reactor. With that said I have already purchased a vertex rxc d6 reactor and a kamoer peristaltic pump. Now I'm looking into ph controllers, media and the like. A few questions though, as I dont have experience in the calcium reactor world.

- what kind of ph controller would you go for off BRS? A few different Milwaukee brands are on there but I'm having a hard time finding the differences in them... aside from the price.

- what type of co2 regulator to use? I'm looking at the carbon doser one which has a hefty price tag and good reviews but dont know if it's worth the price if I'm going to be using a ph controller as well.

-what type of media do yall recommend? I'm looking at 2 little fishes for the araganite and magnesium types but would like to know everyone elses experience. Also with the size of the reactor would 1 8 pound bag be enough?

Thanks for taking a look everyone and hope to hear back from yall soon!

Sent from my SM-G930T using MASC mobile app
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
#2
@jda123 is a very knowledgeable resource here in the club. I am running the carbondoser and I like it, it seems to simplify a lot of the tuning, but I ran a regulator that needed tuning before it and it wasn't overly complex to get it set. I would guess the carbondoser vs bubble counter and tuning would depend on how much you trust "automation" in the sense that the carbondoser is a mechanical thing controlling a pretty important part of the complex system, if it fails or goes wonky...then what? I will say that the brass regulator that comes with the CD is junk, I replaced that part of the CD unit almost immediately. I think @JuanGutz and @Legonch also run the CD units, they might be able to add more.

I'm still on my first bag of media, I went with ARM course and added a bag of Zeo Mag to help keep mag up.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
#4
I do not prefer to use a pH controller with any CaRx. You don't need them and they end up being the most failure-prone part with pH probes being incredibly unreliable. I would only ever use one to monitor, but even then, I have not used one in more than a decade.

Any regulator with a precision needle valve, or carbondoser box will work well. I am using a M3, Tunze and a victor with a CD box on it and they all work fine. Even a regular needle valve is reliable, just harder to set until you get used to it.

I will use ARM or reborn - whatever is on sale. Seems to make no difference to me.
 
quackenbush

quackenbush

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
#8
I have a GEO reactor (thanks Halmus) with an RO/DI cannnister for a secondary chamber to scrub the excess CO2. I use my Apex to monitor the pH.

Regulator is probably my weakest link in terms of stability. If I remember right, I got my regulator at a homebrew supply house. I run a high flow setup with the output set at just past a trickle. Ph currently around 6.9. When I want to increase the bubble rate, I usually just increase the regulator pressure slightly, rather than fiddling with the bubble thing.

I use two little fishes aragonite and magnesium. My tank demands about 1 tbsp of soda ash a month to keep the Ca/Alk balance in check. I just started adding the magnesium with the latest aragonite replenish so we'll see how that goes.
 
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