2 part dosing vs. Reactors

I am on the fence at the moment between two part system and a Ca Reactor. I have always lead to beleive Ca Reactor are the way to go in a Stoney tank. Please help me choose to either stay with a two part system or go with a reactor.

What are your experiences?

Pros and cons of both?

 

A reactor will constantly keep up on CA and alk, while with a doser you have to do a lot of testing to make sure you are dosing enough.

You can get great results from dosing, but it is more labor intensive.

 

Thats how I currently feel. I am always testing just to make sure I am not overdosing....

 

If Ron Popeil had a reef tank, he would have a Calcium reactor.

"Set it and forget it" LOL

 

I'm dosing two part daily. I just test weekly. I've had to slowly increase the amount I dose each morning. I use the little hand pumps from bulk reef supply on 1 gallon bottles. I'm up two 4 squirts of calcium and 3 of alk. Started with one squirt of each.

Manual addition is simple and risk free IME.

 

So how do you control a reactor. Off of PH right?

My perception is that some have more problems with PH and one part not being where it should.

I dump my Ca in the morning. I dose Alk all night long to keep PH up. I test every now and then, but would do the same with a reactor. Two dosing pumps and a couple of jugs. Much less equipment to malfunction, run, and maintain.

 

I dont think my problem is the labor time involved in the two part.... but what would be the advantages of switching over beside long term cost.

 

bump...

 

Reactor you can leave on vacation and it still run...dosing 2 part.... not going to happen. If you never plan to leave your house for the night then it will be fine.

 

Well, over time the initial cost of a reactor will pay for itself with less tests needing to be run. As you know, test kits are not cheap, and weekly tests will go through test kits quicker than once a month.

But, the tank will be more stable with a reactor, and you will get more growth from a reactor driven system because the CA and Alk are does as needed, not as you have time to or think you need that much with dosing.

As corals grow they will use much more CA. And the corals will use the nutrients in an exponentially increasing curve. So, you might need to do daily testing to keep on top of it after a while.