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Reactor or Doser


spectra

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I would go with a reactor to be honest. Once you figure out the consumption, they are nice to be able just set it and forget it. More money upfront but I think very much worth it in the long run.

 

I've had my single 5 pound bottle going for 4 months and still have not had to refill it. I'm no sps expert or coral expert at that, but my tank is doing the best I've ever experienced, and this is the first time I've ran a reactor.

 

I dosed in the past and my corals have never grown like this before.

 

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

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Well scott i for one prefer reactors as i feel there is more Apex controll to them with monitoring ph in the reactor etc and i have heard that all dosers go at so point and and csn empty your whole contsiner of whatever you are dosing in one dose causing a complete tank crash or killing most of your precious gems i prefervthe control and constsnt mobitoring and email/alerts if sometjing in the reactor goes wrong. Just my .02

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I have used both. It can take a while to get a calcium reactor to get dialed in but once it is there is much easier maintenance and in the long run cheaper when you have a large system. You're not having to remember to mix and add calcium mg and alk. 

 

Calcium reactors can have their own set of problems too. Like we had the solenoid go out a few times of course when out of town. Or when the effluent dripped out all over the floor instead of the sump. 

 

Also what you read about getting them up and running like trying to make changes based on bubble count was not helpful at all. Bicyclebill and Higher Thinking had some really good things to say about getting one set up properly. 

 

I would set up a calcium reactor again in the future. I would just make sure it is a good quality one.

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I use dosing but have never used a reactor.  It's pretty easy to set for consumption and I literally use digital timers attached to BRS 1.1mL peristaltic pumps because I don't like computers making decisions for me.  I am definitely not the normal case though.  It's only set up this way so that I have even more fine control and eyes on with my chemistry levels.  It's probably more work in the long run.  That said, what I do works great!

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I'm in the same boat as Kim. Reactors are less maintenance longterm in my experience. Im dosing my 55g Elos right now but soon I'm going to have Charles build me a smaller reactor because I'm dosing a lot more and it's a PITA to keep up with.

 

I'd say anything below 50g- doser and anything above 50g- reactor.

 

Sure was nice for the first 6 months only having to dose every few days. Not so much anymore...

Edited by chewie
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