2 part dosing vs. Reactors

it will take you that month to get it all dialed in.. its dialed for your corals at that moment. time goes on and corals get bigger with larger needs. than its about raising dosage. more testing to make sure you still have it dialed in at the sweet spot.

 

that's what i said (more or less)... but it seems like you're thinking my corals grow like the grass in my front yard... that moment in time holds for a nice long time. Any adjustment can be made for the increase in coral needs without really testing any more than I am now.

I mean, I've had my Ca stable at 440 for quite some time. Eventually, I'll catch it at 430... eventually. When that time comes, I'll add one second to the daily dosing and I'll test again in 3-4 weeks. At that time it will either be 420, 430, or 440 (whatever). And I can adjust by another second if need be...

it's not crazy fluctuations where you have to get it exactly right right now... it's still well within range...

It's not as if you can setup a reactor and completely walk away from it. For one thing, (AFAIK) you have to redial in a reactor whenever it runs out of media... you don't with the autodosing (assuming you make = solutions which is straightforward and easy to do).

 

then you have definitely hit that sweet spot..... it does take some time to find that though....

what two part sytem are you using???? and what dosers? BRS?

 

I never had to do much to my reactor either. Set up was very simple, and a tank of co2 lasts quite a while. I still have yet to refill mine.

I still contend that those that had reactors and went to dosers never had it set up right, due to one of many factors, the most common being a reactor brand that is not the best quality/ design.

I would never go back to dosing, while I did the simple 2 part type and not an automated doser pump on my previous tanks.

 

I now test for those 3 every 2 months or so. I used to test more often when I got my reactor set up, but every time it was exactly as it was before after I had to add a little turbo calcium to get it where I wanted it. Ron Popeil is my friend.

Thanks for the reminder, as now on my new 200g I need to see where it is at after adding a little more turbo calcium to get it where I want it. Once I get that dialed in, I probably won't check it for 2-3 months, or as long as all the corals are happy and growing well, which seems to be the case as my stags have really taken off since moving tanks.

 

that was what I was thinking.....

obviously you have GEO.... is that like the mercedes to calcium reactors?
or chevy? But a geo in cars.... ha ha ha not the best car

there are quite a few of different mfg for reactors....

what seperates a good reactor from a bad reactor? I know that a vague question. but I have never seen it asked

 

definitely hit the sweet spot and it took me a good month to find it and another 2 months of testing to be confident I'm there. But once you find it... basically done.

As far as your questions here, the answers are there: http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/2-part-dosing-vs-reactors-74496-2.html#post721027

It's all from bulkreefsupply (BRS)

that's exactly how I'm feeling with my auto dosing. I've currently expanded to testing every 3-4 weeks, but that time is going to get further and further apart the longer it reads identical and i get use to the Mg timing of things.

I'm not saying autodosing is superior in any way - just so I'm clear.



I know with my testing and daily dosing of Ca and Alk, about every two months my Mg drops 100 points. So I set my Mg dose pump to dose for 10 minutes and 5 seconds and that raises Mg exactly 100 points according to Salifert test.


In this entire thread, we haven't really touched on Mg. That has to be handled a bit differently than Ca/Alk in autodosing (it's not daily)...

For those that use a reactor, how do you maintain Mg? Another reactor?

 

Geo has the most experience in building reactors. The design uses the CO2 very efficiently, and they like the ARM media which has a lot of other goodies like strontium in it.

Geo's like mine use eheim pumps, and are just well designed, and built well with quality materials. There are more $$ ones than geo's, but you won't beat their quality for the price. Things like the top are easily removed to replace the media. Little things like that that you don't think of until later are all worked out on the geo. Plus GEO's customer service is excellent if you ever need help/ parts.

I say they are the lexus of reactors. Hard to find a fault with them, never let you down, and work well.

 

It is in the ARM media, along with strontium and all the other good stuff.

 

Those I was referring to can be found here. Setting up a reactor does not seem over their head. There is a ton of variance in this hobby, and plenty of ways to skin a cat. Not every alternate is due to operator error.

Calcium Reactor vs 2-Part in a 200g+ SPS tank - Reef Central Online Community