180g Tank Build - 11 mos. and counting.

very nice, I love the Montipora Cap, I am a huge fan of the way those grow but mine grows so slow that I will probably be dead when it actually does something worth looking at how long have you had that one and what it it's growth rate? love the close up fish shots, i know that is not easy

Thanks Cyano. You know, I started that montipora cap with a 4"x4" frag I purchased from a gentleman at a MASC frag swap for $5 about 8 months ago. I remember him having about 10 such sized frags from his main tank and a comment that went something like "Get this out of my tank - it has reached plague proportions!" It was a slow grower for me until I added my Ca reactor and now it's by far the fastest growing stony in my tank - really sucks the calcium out of the water. All of the shelves you see are new growth.

very nice blennyman beautiful stuff

Absolutely beautiful, blennyman!!

did you have to add the calcium reactor because of the Ca demand from so many corals you couldn't keep up with the dosing? or did you just decide to add it one day? I just recently changed salt to a reef salt so I am hoping that does the trick for me, otherwise I will have to get some Ca reactor advice soon, ha ha

Thanks chuck and hat!

Cyano - Well, I'm learning like everyone else - and here's how my learning experience went: I thought I could get away with a lot of water changes and still keep nice coral. Spent a lot of time hauling buckets, zero time actually testing for Ca and Alk. It's a fine solution to grow softies, and soon they overtook my tank. Never could get the stony corals to grow. Finally I broke down and started testing my water params and found that I was very low on Ca and Alk. I'm big on automation and ease of use, so I decided the most bomb proof method of stabilizing these params was by obtaining a Ca reactor. I have to say that it's paid for itself by reducing the need for water changes and dosing. the media is cheap and CO2 is cheap. The startup cost can momentarily give one indigestion. Read melev's page about setting one up when/if you decide to get one - it's very helpful.

I can agree to the indigestion part for sure I know my coralline grows so much it must be taking quite a bit away from the coral growth, I will look at Melevs Ca reactor page for sure, in the meantime though i had heard that a Ca reactor is for very heavy uses, as in if you can't keep up with dosing anymore then that is the next step, but can it be turned down low as an option as well for a low dosage and turned up as needed?

Originally Posted by blennyman

Read melev's page about setting one up when/if you decide to get one - it's very helpful.

on this website or the Melevsreef site? I tried to look a DIY Ca Reactor on Melevsreef but the link does not work

For sure. They seem complicated at first - but Ca reactors are relatively simple when you get the ropes. The basic concept is that you have crushed coral in the reactor and you add CO2 (acidic) to dissolve the coral. The two knobs you have to balance are the amount of CO2 and the amount of flow through the reactor chamber. It's rather like walking a bit of a knife edge - low CO2 and low flow maintains relatively low pH in the chamber and adds low amount of calcium to your system. High CO2 and high flow through the reactor maintains the same balance of pH in the reactor, but delivers more Ca and Alk to the system. Low CO2 and high flow won't get the pH low enough to dissolve the media, and is harmless - but doesn't grow coral. High CO2 and low flow pushes the pH too low and dissolves your media way too fast - and results in Ca deposits falling out of the water column (messy).

Personally, I haven't gone the dosing route - so I can't comment on whether you "need" to get a Ca reactor or not. It always seemed like a hassle to have to measure that stuff out all the time. Now, I have a pH probe to monitor the effluent (output from Ca reactor) and that's what I use to tune the system - along with weekly Ca/Alk measurements. Weekly - ha! I giggled when I re-read that. Weekly is a good target, but I must admit that I forget from time to time. After a while, you tend to get settled in with a Ca reactor and not mess with it much...

@chuck - Try this one:

http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

It's a great springboard for Ca reactors.

Thanks blennyman that one works

very interesting article

I just finished reading that article, went back to working, then took another break to find you had posted it, lol anyway I am a little squeemish to think about anything lowering my ph since i have a hard time maintaining it anyway, what test kit do you use and where does your ph tend to stay?

CO2 tends to bubble out of turbulent water whereas the ALK/CA is left behind. You should end up dumping the effluent into your sump return area where the water is moving fast. I haven't noticed the pH lowering in my tank with the Ca reactor. If you have reactor levels set properly and have a reasonable amount of air turnover in the room, your pH should be fine.

FTS nice looking pics. I'm liking your rose bta

Those macro shots are great. I enjoy having a ca reactor because there are days when I am not able to enjoy the tank. As in not home during most of a day. some days the fish don't get fed and I don't get to see the tank with the lights on. So automation is the key for me. And yes you can Dial in the ca/alk output pretty low if necessary.