• Ask the Expert: When to set up a Calcium Reactor?

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    melev
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    Published on 06-29-2011 03:28 PM
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    Marc,
    Thank you very much for all the help you have given to all of us involved in the saltwater world.

    I just finished reading your Calcium Reactor setup tutorial (For the 10th time), I bought a GEO 818 Reactor and I want to set it, but my tank is new (2 month old) and as of now has only 12 fish in it and a 1 soft coral, I have read somewhere that there are two schools, one that suggest installing the reactor at the beginning of the system's life and the other suggests until the system is well settled, what should I do?

    Thank you very much for taking your time in helping me.

    Sincerely, Juan S.
    Hi Juan,

    The purpose of the calcium reactor is to replace alkalinity and calcium in the water. Based on the current livestock list provided, you don't have anything taking these up much, if at all. You'd have to test the water weekly (at least) to determine the consumption rate. What is your end goal with this tank? Is it going to be fish and soft corals, or is it going to be a reef tank with a variety of stony corals? If the latter, you'll be glad you have a calcium reactor.

    This year I set up a new reef that is 400g. It has a lot of tiny frags just starting to grow. By comparison to my 280g reef that was a 6-year old full-blown system, these frags aren't soaking it up like my colonies were. So I had to dial my calcium reactor back significantly to avoid adding too my Alk and Ca to the tank. The reactor media I use is the larger chunks by Tropic Eden, rather than Caribsea's ARM that is much finer. (The size of the media does determine the proper pH level within the reactor to dissolve it adequately.)



    280g reef: the pH level in the reactor was set to 6.5, and sometimes as low as 6.2
    400g reef: the pH level in the reactor is set to 7.4, maybe slightly lower to about 7.2 as things grow in at this point.

    By keeping the pH in my reactor higher than previously set, the media doesn't dissolve as fast and the dKH of the tank doesn't rise too high too quickly. I use a pH controller with my calcium reactor to lock in the reactor's pH level I want. With the 400g system, my aim is to maintain alkalinity between 8 and 9 dKH. I want this as steady as possible.

    Your goal is to maintain a stable system, which means water parameters stay within a tight range day after day after day. A calcium reactor can definitely do this when dialed in correctly. So to answer your question: I've had mine set up since the day I filled up my tank.

    Happy reefing,
    Marc

    Additional Reading:
    Maintaining Good Water Quality - http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...-Water-Quality
    Setting up a Calcium Reactor - http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html
    Comments 6 Comments
    1. dahenley's Avatar
      dahenley - 06-30-2011, 06:10 PM
      Marc, i was under the impression that CA reactor media needed 6.9 and lower PH to disolve (i dont know why, but it was my impression)
      Does the media dissolve at such a high PH? thanks.
      and how do you know the required PH that dissolves X brand media? and im assuming that the lower the PH the faster the dissolvement of the media.
      thanks
      Reply
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev - 06-30-2011, 10:45 PM
      If you'll check the packaging of the various brands of reactor media, it will list the recommended pH level needed to dissolve it correctly. ARM was good at 6.5, but I think I read on the container that you could have it much higher and still get dissolution. Reef Bones (or Sechuran) media was dense and required pH to be 6.2 to get results.

      I can tell you this based on personal experience since I've run a calcium reactor for seven years and used 5 kinds of media, you can go higher to dissolve it more slowly. It was pretty challenging trying to get this set up correctly with such a lack of demand initially with my new reef. As it gets more grown in, this will change and I'll have to make adjustments to increase the supply.

      If you let the pH drop too much, the media will turn to slush and the reactor will look milky white. The good news is that your reef is fine, but you'll have to dump out the reactor and set it up with new media. That may cost $12 - $20 in media, but your livestock won't suffer.
      Reply
    1. Mustang's Avatar
      Mustang - 07-02-2011, 09:44 AM
      Thanks for posting this Marc i was starting to wonder when i would need to consider a calcium reactor and this gives me a rough guide line.
      Reply
    1. tiny2383's Avatar
      tiny2383 - 07-09-2011, 11:08 AM
      i have question related to this topic. i have just setup my 2nd reef system and its just a few weeks old. it has live sand and dead rock. i just bought a piece of live rock in hopes to seed the rest. the tank is a 28 nano cube. i have the skimmer running that came with it. it has hqi light. and on top of the two pumps/wavemaker system that came with it i have two other power heads. now here is my question. i would like to keep mostly sps and lps in this tank but im worried about the ca and alk gettin out of wack if im gone a day or two. is this a reactor that could safely hang on a nano or is dosing about the only way to do it...? in my 55 i dosed but i only had soft coral.
      Reply
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev - 07-10-2011, 12:38 AM
      Marine Depot does sell a tiny HOB Calcium Reactor, which we featured in our video interview with them. You might want to take a look at that one. Link: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...ERS-AT-THE-END

      A reactor runs all the time, and you set it up so it maintains the numbers (water parms) so you don't have to worry about dosing daily. Initially, you'll have to test the water frequently - daily most likely) - to dial it in precisely.
      Reply
    1. tiny2383's Avatar
      tiny2383 - 07-18-2011, 10:51 AM
      thats a nice system but right now i cant afford that. so it looks like im dosing for awhile. any recommendations on what the best calcium/carbonate products to use. right now i have seachem stuff. i dont have to use a lot of it because i dont have corals in yet. i working on getting the levels where they need to be, before that event happens
      Reply