Help Me Plan MY Next Upgrade!

[meschaefer]

I would think that your not having to dose Mg, is due to your constant water changes . I don't do nearly as much water changes as I should ( 20% a month), but I find that when I do dose Mg, I only need about 1/2 of what Randy suggests. I use only IO salt.

As indicated I am thinking of going with the Aquamedic Twin Reef Doser, anybody have any thoughts on these?

 

[cali_reef]

Hey Chris, how much are those calcium pumps? How much does it does per hour?

 

[cali_reef]

Matt, one more positive to the two part dosing; supposedly it will not affect your PH value like a CO2 driven Ca reactor.

I am a reactor guy, too scare of dosing too much of one component due to a failure in the system and spiking the tank.

 

[meschaefer]

Matt, one more positive to the two part dosing; supposedly it will not affect your PH value like a CO2 driven Ca reactor.

I am a reactor guy, too scare of dosing too much of one component due to a failure in the system and spiking the tank.

Do you run into PH problems?

That's another thought. My PH tends to run really low (7.85 - 8.15 ). I wonder what a Ca reactor would do to that. I just try to maintain my Alk and Calcium and I let the PH fall where it will.



That being said, a calcium reactor would probably require some corrective action, such as a Kalk stirer to bring the PH back up. I hate the thought of using two seperate devices to maintain Ca/Alk. I think it would be hard to keep an eye on your levels, that is why I stopped topping off with Kalk water. You never know how much two part is really needed when the amount of kalk water varies daily with evaporation. You could very easily end up overdosing or underdosing Alk.

 

[meschaefer]

Hey Chris, how much are those calcium pumps? How much does it does per hour?

I thing that they are tied in with his Dialyseas.

 

[loismustdie]

Pierce, they are tied into the Dialyseas. I can set them to dose as little as .05 GPD (189 ml) or as much as 5 to 10 GPD. I'm set at .10 GPD (379 ml). The Dialyseas doses 48 times per day to get to 379 ml. I can dose throughout the day, or only at night. I chose to dose all day. I run my Ca and alk on the high end. It cost me $500 for the set.
Matt, the Aquamedics are fine. Just remember that there can be some discrepancies between pumps, even if they are on the same unit. You can easily adjust the times just by running it for 24 hours and figuring out how much each one doses. I know Jon has been running his for some time and he has had no problems.
All the reactors confused me. "They have to have 2 chambers" "they have to have a kalk reactor tied in"... blah, blah, blah. Mine wasn't easy to dial in. I hated having the CO2 tank in the house. I was tired of getting the tanks filled. The media in the reactor turns to sludge and I didn't feel the work I put into it showed positive enough results in my tank to make me go that route.
Someone is telling me that great things are being said about the smaller model Deltec reactors, but you know my opinion that Deltec users tend to hype up how great their stuff is just to justify the high cost they paid. I've never seen a Deltec live up to what I've read in threads. If you want to spend the money and give it a shot, I say go for it. I don't know enough about it to shoot it down.

 

[cali_reef]

Someone is telling me that great things are being said about the smaller model Deltec reactors, but you know my opinion that Deltec users tend to hype up how great their stuff is just to justify the high cost they paid. I've never seen a Deltec live up to what I've read in threads.

I agreed, the Deltec praises on RC are mostly from groupies. They are not that great for the price they charge.

I like the Ca reactor because I can go almost 6 months without refilling the reactor or Co2 tank. I do have to play around with the drip rate every other day, my AquaController taken over the bubble count control for me.

 

[meschaefer]

I agreed, the Deltec praises on RC are mostly from groupies. They are not that great for the price they charge.

I like the Ca reactor because I can go almost 6 months without refilling the reactor or Co2 tank. I do have to play around with the drip rate every other day, my AquaController taken over the bubble count control for me.

Having never used a Ca reactor, could you explain what is involved in playing with the drip rate every other day. Are you performing a full battery of tests, and then adjusting the drip rate to keep up with demand, or is it that the drip rate slows/speeds up and you need to bring it back to where you had it set a few days earlier.

How does yout AquaController handle the bubble count.

 

[cali_reef]

There are verity of reasons why the drip rate needs to be adjusted. I am feeding my reactor by tapping of the main return pump and valving it down to drips, the opening in the valve is very small and gets clogged by detritus and Ca built up easily. A good HD peristaltic pump like the one Chris uses for his two part will eliminate that problem, I am trying to buy one off ebay. Ideally, You should only adjust the drip rate to compensate for the Ca requirement of the tank, after each test.

The bubble count is a function of PH control within the reactor. You need to maintain a specific PH for the media you are using, too low and you will have a reactor full of fine silt, too high you are not getting enough(or any) Ca out of the media. I have a PH probe mounted in the reactor and it controls a solenoid valve to open and close the Co2 supply, maintaining the desired PH level in my reactor.

My fail safe in the system are the ACIII shutting off the Co2 solenoid at certain reactor PH level, then an alarm will go off with an email to me if the PH continues to drop. The tank's PH will also shut off the Co2 solenoid if the tank water PH is below my safe level. With a dedicated pump, I can also shut off the supply water to stop the low PH water from getting into the system, this would happen if the Co2 solenoid failed.

 

[PalmTree]

Hey Matt.. Very exciting project you are taking on! I have a 180 now and I love the size and depth it offers. I'm a calcium reactor guy too and its been very good to me. Before that I use to dose 2 part B-IONC. The reactor frees me up to do other things with the tank. Feel free to come over when you get a chance. Cali pretty much summed it all up on his post above mine.

 

[meschaefer]

. Feel free to come over when you get a chance.

I am going to take you up on that offer pretty soone. There are a couple of people with larger tanks, who have offered to let me come take a look at them and I will soon start a tour of what MR has to offer.

 

[meschaefer]

I'm a calcium reactor guy too and its been very good to me. Before that I use to dose 2 part B-IONC. The reactor frees me up to do other things with the tank.

Did you notice a change in your tanks PH when you switched from 2 part, to a Calcium reactor?

As I said, my PH already runs on the low end, I don't know if moving my tank to the basement will help, ....actually I think it could hurt as CO2 is heavier than air. I wouldn't want to do anything that would drive it down even further as I think I would start to run into problems.

If it gets to low, all my sand and rock would dissolve!!! :smash:

 

[jhale]

Before that I use to dose 2 part B-IONC. The reactor frees me up to do other things with the tank.

if you want to go back to 2 part just get a aquamedic doser :cheers:

 

[PalmTree]

If it gets to low, all my sand and rock would dissolve!!! :smash:

LOL My Ph before adding the CA reactor always hovered around 8.4 to 8.5 w/ all lights on and running. I guess I never really had any issues with falling PH for whatever reason. Now with the reactor I can honestly say that it has not changed one bit. I have been running a fairly large Koraline CA reactor for almost 9 months now and it has been pretty good to me. Fairly easy to set up and I've changed the media out once at the 6 month mark as the manufacturer recommends. You are more than welcome to stop by and check it out. I only wish I had a sump room to show you but my co-op board may not like that very much! :lol2:

 

[meschaefer]

LOL My Ph before adding the CA reactor always hovered around 8.4 to 8.5 w/ all lights on and running. I guess I never really had any issues with falling PH for whatever reason. Now with the reactor I can honestly say that it has not changed one bit. I have been running a fairly large Koraline CA reactor for almost 9 months now and it has been pretty good to me. Fairly easy to set up and I've changed the media out once at the 6 month mark as the manufacturer recommends. You are more than welcome to stop by and check it out. I only wish I had a sump room to show you but my co-op board may not like that very much! :lol2:

Screw the co-op board, we can keep the tied up in court for years.

 

[PalmTree]

if you want to go back to 2 part just get a aquamedic doser :cheers:

True!! Always a good option!:chef:

 

[PalmTree]

Screw the co-op board, we can keep the tied up in court for years.

LOL I guess I'd be talking to the right person for that! :biglaugh:

 

[meschaefer]

Allright some progress is being made, and it is happening faster than I had counted on. Construction (Demolition) on my basment is going to start on Friday. I will have a dedicated "Fish Room" that is aproximately 7 x 10. I am going to run two dedicated cricuits in the room, and need help deciding where to place them. I figure that I will have each circuit run to a seperate set of outlets, I was thinking of putting one on either side of the tank. Any other ideas?

Here is a mock up of how the room is laid out. A lot of my heating/oil pipes and other stuff run across the back, next to the oil tank, so that wall is pretty useless, I will be able to put a bench there but not much else. I may want some power there, but I am not sure.