Calcium Reactors

[rosebud161616]

Let me first start off with some background information. We do not have a basement so have always avoided calcium reactors saying it was something we would look into once we could integrate our systems together into one large system. Well we are now changing out our systems and they will be plumbed together into one sump. I think we should finally have room for a calcium reactor. I like the idea of switching to a calcium reactor from dosing pumps. On larger systems it seems more economical and more automated.

So I started researching. I have been studying these articles:

Reefkeeping Magazine - Calcium Reactors
Reefkeeping Magazine - Calcium Reactors

My head is spinning. I feel more confused now than when I started. How did those of you with Calcium Reactors learn the ins and outs when you made the dive into them? Any tips that could get me going? I know this is very vague and many of you may feel like "where to even start..." That's kind of how I feel.

[tankdude]

This is an interesting thread, I don't have a calcium reactor myself but it would be interesting to here some stories of how people got their start with one.

[AZDesertRat]

Check out Geo's Reef . He has a good users guide at the bottom of the reactor section. They are simple to set up and maintain when you do it as he directs.

[schminksbro]

I have been running a GEO 618 for a few years now. I control it with a Pinpoint controller. I find it to be super easy. Almost set it and forget it. My alk stays rock solid. I give GEO my full endorsement.
For set up you can go without a controller but it can be very difficult to set up and hardly worth the trouble. A controller is the way to go.
A much overlooked aspect of running a Calcium Reactor vs Two Part is that you are breaking down and dosing actual coral skeletons. The result is that you get all the trace elements that those corals took in and used to build their skeletons.

[rosebud161616]

Well sounds like the Geo reactors make it pretty fool proof. He is local to us and active in the reef club, so it'll be pretty easy to pick his brain if need be.

Originally Posted by schminksbro

For set up you can go without a controller but it can be very difficult to set up and hardly worth the trouble. A controller is the way to go.

I do have an Apex, so that should take care of that part. Do the Geo reactors have a place for a PH probe built into the reactor?

Originally Posted by schminksbro

A much overlooked aspect of running a Calcium Reactor vs Two Part is that you are breaking down and dosing actual coral skeletons. The result is that you get all the trace elements that those corals took in and used to build their skeletons.

That's a great point I hadn't thought about!

Please keep up the comments! I would like to hear from more people on the routes you have gone.

[AZDesertRat]

My reactor is not a Geo but in hindsight it should have been.
I controlled it with a Milwaukee pH controller for years but now have a Reefkeeper Lite for control.
I do not have a probe port in the reactor so I hang a Lee's large specimen container on the side of my sump and drip the effluent into that with the probe suspended above it, been working great for almost 7 years now.

[sullyman]

Good time to get a reactor set up. And with the right controler pretty much set and forget.
I'm running a 6" precision marine calcium reactor and a milwaukee Ph controler, the 6" is the diameter, it's about 2' tall. I utilize the same method with a specimen cup on another set up.
Most new reactors have Ph probe ports but you can drill and install one on most reactors.