sen5241b
Reef enthusiast
Why do people start dosing calcium using reactors or drips? Is it so many corals that they start to deplete calcium? I know clams really suck a lot of calcium out of the water.
Why the Need to Dose with Calcium ?
- Thread starter sen5241b
- Start date
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Basically yes. If you have a lot of SPS corals, they will remove calcium from the water faster than you could add it manually. And swings in parameters aren't ideal. Reactors keep the calcium levels steady. Few tanks need calcium reactors though. Most tanks don't keep that much stoney corals, and if you don't have a lot, their needs are easier to take care of via manual dosing.
dcantucson
Reef pro
I bought a calcium reactor 1 1/2 years ago and still haven't hooked it up! I dose manually.
ndepratt
Equipment Junkie
A Guide to Using Calcium Reactors by Simon Huntington - Reefkeeping.com
check that site for a lot of great info.
I one time had a guy tell me he thought the name calcium reactor was a bit midleading... basically because the calcium rx does obviously add calcium to the water, but it also adds a TON of alkalinity (in the form of carbonates) into the water... so he preferred to call it an alkalinity reactor :P lol
basically yeah, it adds calcium and alkalinity to the water by taking low ph water (thanks to the Co2 being pumped it) and dissolving calcium carbonate media (a type of aragonite media, just more pure, if memory serves me right).
you have to be careful though.... all that adding of calcium carbonate into the water drags PH down, which is why many people prefer a kalkwasser reactor or a mixture of the two.
But yeah, all this because nice SPS tanks deplete calcium like crazy. A recent TOTM on RC talked about how his alk dropped from 5 whatever the unit is to like 3 in the span of just a few hours. There's even a guy here in KC who has the effluent out of his calcium reactor dumping into his tank like you wouldn't believe!
check that site for a lot of great info.
I one time had a guy tell me he thought the name calcium reactor was a bit midleading... basically because the calcium rx does obviously add calcium to the water, but it also adds a TON of alkalinity (in the form of carbonates) into the water... so he preferred to call it an alkalinity reactor :P lol
basically yeah, it adds calcium and alkalinity to the water by taking low ph water (thanks to the Co2 being pumped it) and dissolving calcium carbonate media (a type of aragonite media, just more pure, if memory serves me right).
you have to be careful though.... all that adding of calcium carbonate into the water drags PH down, which is why many people prefer a kalkwasser reactor or a mixture of the two.
But yeah, all this because nice SPS tanks deplete calcium like crazy. A recent TOTM on RC talked about how his alk dropped from 5 whatever the unit is to like 3 in the span of just a few hours. There's even a guy here in KC who has the effluent out of his calcium reactor dumping into his tank like you wouldn't believe!
