Another kalk options thread

[Anonymous]

I use an osmolator, run through a DIY Tunze-style kalk chamber. I'm lucky in that my evaporation rate is quite high (open-top tank) and so is Ca/KH demand, so the kalk has so far been able to keep up with Ca needs.

That's the system I used to use (though with the expensive branded kalk chamber from Tunze, rather than a DIY version). Are you having any problems with the kalk back-siphoning into the pump/reservoir? I think that caused my pump to fail.

You need to use a regular airline check-valve in between the pump and the kalk chamber. But they still fail every now and then. I now have two together and they've been running fine for about three months now.

Also, what sort of tank do you have? I'm hesitating at the moment between the SPS, mixed and LPS/softie dominated tank options. For the latter, the Tunze osmolator based system would be fine I think, but I'm not sure it would cope with an SPS/clam system. For that, I might have to eventually invest in a Litermeter 3...

I have many small Acropora pieces, other assorted SPS and then a small selection of larger LPS, like Platygyra, Favia and Montastrea. At some point in the future my calcium needs may outrun my evaporation rate, and I'll probably get a Ca rector at that point.


I'm curious: Why do so many people (in this thread) seem to prefer the Litermeters over the calcium reactors?

 

[Anonymous]

I can't speak for them, but the prospect of running a calcium reactor fills me with dread. When I had the Schuran Pico when I was last in Tokyo it was a nightmare trying to get the CO2 bubble rate stable and there was a consequent impact on the acidity of the tank. My tank had been running and growing well up until I fitted the reactor and then things started to go downhill. Not helped by the fact that the regulator I ordered from the US didn't fit the CO2 canisters available locally. I got an adaptor eventually, but that all added to my feeling that calcium reactors were expensive and stressful pieces of equipment.

 

[Ben1]

I went back to two part becuase I feel it give me a better ca/alk stability, when dosed with my litermeter. I was using a Shruran Jetstream 1 and loved it but it seemed my alk was always either drifting up or down over several weeks and I wanted more stability. Since I was already using the LM3 for topoff I just needed to add 2 remote pumps, so for me it worked well.