# 1 Rule for Stony Coral-Besides Basics

[mattj206]

Calcium Reactor - why - Steady drip of balanced goodness.

Forget trying to dose only

I was trying to run a heavy SPS stocked tank by dosing only for years. LOL!

Not an option- I tryed different regiments-Only thing that worked was back and forth with calcium+ and alk powders about 10 times a day! lol

Get a Calcium reactor with all the trimmings if u want to keep stony corals

 

[hank187]

sounds like i need a calcium reactor. lol I am going to get one after I set uo my next tank its going to be part of the build I hope.

 

[NC2WA]

so are all Ca reactors the same? if not, what does one look for when buying one?

Which models are considered the most reliable or "game players" as it were.

 

[mike_dani]

Calcium Reactor - why - Steady drip of balanced goodness.

Forget trying to dose only

I was trying to run a heavy SPS stocked tank by dosing only for years. LOL!

Not an option- I tryed different regiments-Only thing that worked was back and forth with calcium+ and alk powders about 10 times a day! lol

Get a Calcium reactor with all the trimmings if u want to keep stony corals

Ummm, I have to disagree with you.

I have a 300 gallon SPS dominated tank and dose three part Mag, Cal, and Alk.

If you are going to do this you just need a nioce dosing pump like the Bubble Magnus this is a great pump and well worth the money. Now I know I am disagreeing with you but here is my story I dose 18 ml per day of ALK, CAL, and MAG this works out to be 126 per week and a gallon of solution is 128 ML. So I only have to visit the dosing once per week when I do my water changes. It takes me around 10-15 min to mix up the solution and because I use so much I actually mix 4 gallons at a time and have three on hand for reserve.

So no you don't need a Calcium reactor, are they nice absolutely but when your pump goes bad or you run out of Co2 and your on vacation then what???? And what about PH if you are a heavy user your effluent has a very low PH and now you need kalcwaser, correct me if I am wrong.

My point is not to say one is better than the other but to point out that one will work better then the other is different systems for different people.

 

[Frankie]

Here is my 2 cents on the topic.
Calcium reactors are nice to have. You can dose ca++, MG, and trace element this way. I mix in 25% of a magnesium solid with the crushed coral. I use Dolomite for this. Works well and breaks down slowly.
Another way to dose for SPS is the balling method. Here is a great link for my preferred method if I was to do balling:
http://reefdreams.de/lang_eng/info_3_eng.html
This is a friend of mines site. Very trustworthy.
Other ways are to do like the OP was doing by dosing individual supplements, but as he stated, it is a lot of work.
IMO what is needed for a killer sps system are three things:
1. Lighting
2. water quality
3 flow
With these three items in check your sps garden should thrive and not just survive.

 

[mattj206]

I agree guys-complex, machine-powered dosing is prob another good option-

Just dont expect hand dosing to get you anywhere-a constant drip seems to be key...

 

[mike_dani]

I agree guys-complex, machine-powered dosing is prob another good option-

Just dont expect hand dosing to get you anywhere-a constant drip seems to be key...

Hey Matt, Oh man if you were hand dosing three part then I totally agree 3 part is not for you. I would never dose if I had to do it that way, I think the best way to dose three part is over the course of a day or night depending on your systems PH. My tanks PH runs low during the night hours and to try and keep it up I dose at night to maintain stability......

Do you have some pictures of this tank?????

One thing I have always wondered is..... do we as hobbyist have better looking tanks being dosed with 3 part vs. being supplemented by calcium reactors. So three part is just natural chemicals we dose as needed but calcium is generally old shells and coral skeletons that we break down into solution. Do we get better colors and or growth with CAL reactors due to unknown solution contents like trace elements? Just something to ponder

 

[Myteemouse]

I dosed KALK and it worked good for over a year (through an ATO)

 

[lvsuckerfish]

I agree with ca reactors but it is not the only way to get to the end result of having a beautiful thriving reef tank..... many other metods that do work are they more work yes to a point but lets not forget how many people crash the tanks off of a Ca reactor. ini set up is a pain and most need help with this and requires alot of testing ca reactor will maintain ca & alk over raising the 2. the cos can kill a tank real fast over dosing ca via perlistic dosing pumps can use a water change to get things right again.

as for quality ca reactors I personally read alot of good things about the Geo line over others strong and stable systems most important part of a reactor is well the 2 most important things are media you have 2 types fine, coarse and extra coarse. coarse is a perfered method by most as does not clog the system as much as fine. and just like all other equipment it will have to be maintained. just not as often as most equipment... and the other is the valve quality valves for adjustment is key as the ole saying goes you get what you pay for. better quality means more precise adjustements when dialing it in. ph monitor so 3 main things not to skimp on when getting a system.


to dial a ca reactor it can take up to 2 weeks to get it perfect.3 weeks if you account for the week full of testing you should do to see what the depletion of ca and alk is to see where to maintain the levels.