badxgillen Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Alright alright, I admit it I do have a doser but it is in the form of my wife. She keeps the tanks from getting too thirsty by dosing calcium in the morning and the alk at night manually.There are separate dosing bottle upstairs and downstairs with measuring spoons attached to the sides so you don't have to carry the "Flasks" for too long. It's a tough job but somebody gotta do it. I am one of those lucky guys that has a partner in crime and my wife has her own reef tanks and nano that she maintains very well. It is kinda a team effort here in my house seeing as my son has a few reef tanks in his room like his old man.I do not feed my fish much either, that job falls on my sons for the most part... Sorry about trailing off there, like Lex said the reactor would only go on a single system so I was thinking my 210 would be the guinea pig for me, but not until I get the sump plumbed in and that is a different story for this summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I switched from two part to calcium reactor a year ago. Dosing was fun, but I had to keep up on the gallon jugs monthly. With reactor, I have refilled media twice now and one bottle of c02. Tank looks and grows the same. One thing I have noticed though; my pump impellers do not cake up with calcium like they did while dosing. I say that because I dose at work and my impellers still seize up every few months. Same alk/cal levels both tanks. Go figure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 I switched from two part to calcium reactor a year ago. Dosing was fun, but I had to keep up on the gallon jugs monthly. With reactor, I have refilled media twice now and one bottle of c02. Tank looks and grows the same. One thing I have noticed though; my pump impellers do not cake up with calcium like they did while dosing. I say that because I dose at work and my impellers still seize up every few months. Same alk/cal levels both tanks. Go figure. Good stuff thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroberts Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 As a newbie in this activity I am dosing with two part and after an initial period of finding out how much I really need it has really perked up the tank. I also started dosing iodine for my zoa color and that has really brightened up the tank. I still do this manually and I know that is not the most consistent way to do it. At some point I am going to not get it done and then be short. A reactor would not do that I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 As a newbie in this activity I am dosing with two part and after an initial period of finding out how much I really need it has really perked up the tank. I also started dosing iodine for my zoa color and that has really brightened up the tank. I still do this manually and I know that is not the most consistent way to do it. At some point I am going to not get it done and then be short. A reactor would not do that I suppose. That makes allot of sense Steve. I knew a guy who lived in town that had an amazing tank and only manually dosed. Gotta admit though getting a doser means one less thing to worry about on a day to day basis. There are articles out there that say iodine does nothing for a reef, I strongly disagree! Glad to see you are adding it. Salifert makes a great test kit to make sure it is not overdone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Thanks everyone for the responses, I value and appreciate local information. Many of you who I know and have seen your successful tanks. I am still on the fence but have new information, better than just a google search to work off of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombertech Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I started listing the reasons for a reactor but the reasons are already on the web. Both methods work (dosing vs reactor) I just find the reactor to be less hands on and more reliable as in less likely to fail-my apex is able to be programmed to catch more out of line readings. I also believe you get more benefit from melting coral skeletons than some man made powder. I remember reading about a build up of "something" over the years when dosing-it's been to many years so I don't recall exactly but since I've used both methods I find the reactor easier and less hands on. I'm not sure if it's my media or my salt but I don't have to dose mag either. I doubt it's my salt since I only do a water change of about 50 gallons every month or two at the most unless I'm treating for cyno or some other user error like my doser dosing a 5 month supply of amino acids in 48 hours-that was a treat. I hate dosers for me they are less idiot proof. I find a common "factor" in reading those threads "my tank crashed and I lost everything" being "dosing" wether it's Kalk, Alk or whatever. Like Robert said there are many ways to skin a cat, for me my tool for skinning is a reactor Off topic..... Robert you get my text about the acans?? Per Randy Holmes Farley it is a build up of Lithium and sulfates over time. Funny because that is what the Triton tests are showing now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Salinity is another big one. I guess some of the serious balling users will actually use their dosing pumps to remove tank water daily along with the parts dosed. Then the ATO supplies freshwater back. Interesting stuff! Residue Remaining from Recipe #1 when using Recipe #1, Part 3A After one year of adding 8 ppm of calcium and the accompanying 0.4 meq/L (1.1 dKH) of alkalinity per day (41 mL of both parts per day or 4 gallons of both parts per year in a 50-gallon aquarium, including the effect of the magnesium part #3A, 2440 mL/year), the following residue (Table 2) would remain after calcification and adjustment for salinity (there is roughly a 32% rise in salinity over a year using this addition rate without water changes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Add me to the Calcium Reactor side. I switched over from dosing a while back and have really enjoyed it after the initial dial in period. I used to dose cal/alk/mag, and both certainly do the trick, I just felt I was missing that extra little something. I just assumed it was the trace elements not normally found in the alk/cal/mag that I used to dose, but seeing as those are the only 3 I tested for, I don't have any concrete proof other than the growth rate and polyp extension. Seeing as I travel quite a bit it is nice to not have to worry about a doser staying on and wiping out my tank, someone knocking a jug of whatever into my tank, etc. Worst case is the reactor runs and slowly raises levels if my controller were to crap out, or it kicks off and they slowly lower. Neither would do much harm over a couple day period in my case. And for stability purposes, the SPS seem quite a bit happier as I am not constantly fiddling with parameters any more. For smaller tanks I think dosing is a very effective method, heck for larger tanks too, I just prefer running a calcium reactor. I am lazy, I don't test parameters often, and I am REALLY bad at doing water changes, so its nice to be able to test for the first time in 3-4 months and see all my parameters right where i want them, as that just happened a few weeks ago for me when I did test. Its fun to me to go off of the eye test, how are the corals looking, and then react from there and not chase numbers. Stability is the key!! Jump on the calcium reactor bandwagon, you know you want to! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 (edited) This has been a very informative thread, thanks everyone for sharing. I think I am making my way over to the dark side... Edited March 16, 2015 by theclark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroberts Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I just added a calcium reactor to my tank. You all convinced me that it had more to offer than dosing alone. I added a calcium reactor and a small secondary reactor with gfo and charcoal. I now have to spend some time and try to balance the system to my tank needs. That is going to be a bit more difficult due to the fact that I do not have a PH probe and test manually (except salinity). The controller is probably next on the long list - that keep getting longer My decision to use the reactor was based on trying to gain consistency in the calcium/alkalinity side. Once I am more stable I will begin venturing into the hard corals (it's hard to be patient). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Well you must have some patience as most of us have had many stony corals both LPS and SPS long before we get calcium reactors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Well you must have some patience as most of us have had many stony corals both LPS and SPS long before we get calcium reactors. I was lucky, the used setup I bought when I got back into the hobby 7 years ago had a calcium reactor and a Marine Pinpoint controller. I will totally honest I saying it was the biggest headache to dial In because I didn't know anyone locally (never even found this group until a year after being into the hobby) but I found a very patient reefer who helped me get it dialed in. @ sroberts if you need a hand start a thread, I'll try and help as other would-I need to pay it forward-oh and IMO/E you made the right call 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I will say the single most favorite thing I've added that isn't "standard" is a Dwyer flow gage. This makes it so simple to simply glance at ph and flow and know that it's right where I want it. [language filter] can't I take pictures in tapatalk anymore btw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 That's a cool idea how many Ml's/min do you run? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Let us know what model your using Bill, would be interested in trying one out in my setup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Dwyer MMA-36 or MMA-37. I run about 50 ml/min. I had the RM SERIES, but they have some stainless steel inside and actually started rusting somehow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peng Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I should pick it up as soon as possible. I have been using ReefBuilder and Advantage Calcium for a long while and with coral growth they are depleted very quickly. They are very expensive too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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