2 part dosing vs. Reactors

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by tatted4ever, Oct 20, 2009.

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  1. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    At the time this was written, my time in the hobby was about a year. End of 2009. Here we are now, Feb 2013. Last month, yes, I finally had to replace the peristaltic tubing. So, I don't see that as a ding against 2 part for maintenance or anything. 3+ years between replacing it is not a big deal IMO. It lasted a good long time (and that tubing is very cheap)

    Again, here we are several years later, and I am finding my earlier prediction is true. My jugs last several months before a fresh mix. The material I bought from BRS. Well, I did just buy new buckets of dry material. Haven't opened them yet, as I haven't finished off the original ones. But it's getting pretty close. So lasted me almost 4 years or so. That's a good long time between having to buy more material.

    In the past several years, due to coral demand, I've had to increase by a second four or five times (which takes about 20 seconds to adjust).

    Glad to update the thread with this information.
     
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  3. AZDesertRat

    AZDesertRat Giant Squid

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    My Spectrapure peristaltic pump is over 5 years old and still on its first piece of tubing. There are varying qualities of silicone tubing and some last much longer than others.
     
  4. bicyclebill

    bicyclebill Plankton

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    I read the first three pages, then skipped to the last. I kept seeing that people were saying that 2 part dosing must be adjusted due to coral demand, but made it sound like that was not true for a calcium reactor. Just want to point out that calcium reactor must be adjusted to coral demand just the same; either by higher effluent output, co2 addition, or both. There are countless successful SPS dominant reefs running 2 part, so I would definitely not say that it is aimed at softies and LPS like some earlier posters mentioned.
     
  5. Daniel072

    Daniel072 Giant Squid

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    I have used both a ca reactor and 2 part. I personally think 2 part is easier and much more forgiving than a ca reactor. This is just my opinion though. 48 hours ago, I put my 2 part on dosing pumps with a reefkeeper and I am loving it. I hear many people talking smack about manual dosing but it's typically those people who have never done it. With all of that being said, it's much cheaper to use 2 part than it is a ca reactor. The mixes are n't that expensive. Once again, I have run both.