Do I start the calcium reactor now?

[dbmaybee]

I'm about to start a 150g tank in my house with ~100 pounds of live rock and a 4 inch DSB. I plan on cycling the tank without any corals for about 4 months to make sure everything stays stable (I've been burned before). Should I start the calcium reactor right away or wait until I start adding SPS corals? Thanks.

 

[Len]

Wait a bit. It's not that you don't need it now (but you don't ). Rather, you don't want to saturate your Ca media with water that is cycling. No point trapping all that nutrient then releasing it back later.

 

[dbmaybee]

Thanks. Makes sense.

 

[Anonymous]

Are calcium reactors expensive? Is there a good place to buy one?

 

[ChrisRD]

They are expensive to setup initially, but very cheap to run in the long term.

Check out places like Marine Depot or Premium Aquatics for quality setups.

If you're into DIY you might be able to save a few bucks building your own...

 

[Anonymous]

Would you recommend this for a 55 gal, or should I do Kalkwasser?

 

[ChrisRD]

For a smaller tank I would start out using a two-part additive and/or kalkwasser (careful not to spike pH with the kalk). If you accumulate lots of stony corals/clams/etc. and your Ca/Alk demand gets really high you can always add the Ca reactor later.

The only real downside to two-parts is the expense and the tedium of dosing. Both of those drawbacks can be overcome, however. Lots of people seem to be using Randy's DIY two-part with good success now and that solves the cost issue. The dosing part can be automated in a variety of ways - for example a dual channel medical feeding pump (search eBay for "peristaltic pump").

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help.