electroland Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 i am pondering the idea of running a calcium reactor on my 7gal tank. anyone have any experiance running on on this small of a tank ? what model your running? how hard is it to keep a small tank like this stable with a reactor ? thanks Electroland Link to comment
lgreen Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 why would you do that? what a waste of money! i dont think anyone runs a ca reactor on a nano tank really. Link to comment
electroland Posted August 7, 2005 Author Share Posted August 7, 2005 why is that a waste of money? yeah they have a high front cost but it could be better cheaper down the road i am asking the question to find out if it would be a good idea and to see if anyone else is doing it a few reasons why, stoping adding aditives grow sps everytank i have ever seen with a CR has looked perfect. downfalls i see on such a small tank ph could be a issue the cr i think is the smallest one i have seen is this one http://www.myreefcreations.com/cahot.htm Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 i think its not a bad idea, i dont know if id want to do it on a tank that small due to the ph fluxuations though. i know ive seen peopel do it on 20 gallon systems and even a 10 gallon +sump systems, i just cant think of who. on this tank you would have to figure out how to balance kalk and reactor additions to balance everything out. i think a kalk reactor might be a better choice Link to comment
electroland Posted August 8, 2005 Author Share Posted August 8, 2005 yeah that is my thoughts. i think most of the systems available are just to large for a system this small. it would be a interesting thing to try. Link to comment
supernip Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 you'd prolly have problems balancing the ions put out by that thing. It's all about balance. I recommend B-Ionic for your case. I'm using it on my bow Link to comment
Kogut Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Gotta also remember that tanks w/ reactors are also tanks that have a lot of $$$ and time put into them... A reactor would be nice for my tank, but I can't front the cash for it right now. : If y'all wanna pitch in, I'll test one out. rofl. Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Sweet! MRC makes a HOT calcium reactor! I'm gearing up to upgrade to a 20L and have had some concerns about calcium uptake in an SPS- and clam-heavy nano. Cost would certainly be an issue, as would be hiding the CO2 bottle but that really gets the ole' noggin working in overdrive.... If I'm not mistaken, Lunchbucket had a calcium reactor on his 20H in addition to the 400W MH. Link to comment
ReeferMonkey Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Could someone expound on the pH fluctuation issues from the reactor? Wouldn't a steady effluent rate keep the pH stable? If not, would a reverse-lit fuge help solve the problem? Link to comment
lgreen Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 i have seen people really screw up even a large tank w/ a Ca Reactor. CO2 can be very dangerous if not monitered very closely. i will never own a calcium reactor. "more biology, less technology" Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Reffer, you are right, with steady effluent you could hold the ph fairly stable, however since the ph of effluent is around 6.8-7.2 or so youre steady will be very low. in a nano that may drop to well not gonna guess but in large 100+ gallons ive seen it drop to about 7.6 7.7. way to low imo. although this can be ok as long as alkalinity is kept above average it is not recommended. it may work if it was possible to drip the effluent into the injector side of a skimmer to airate the hell out of it before it hits the tank but who knows if it would work for a tank this small. a reverse lit fuge would really do nothing for keeping the ph up, but it would help stay stable during the nighttime hours. it will be consistantly very low hoever Link to comment
oogie Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 OK, i have used MRC nano calcium reactor on my 13 gal. Problem is not the reactor itself, its solonoid. So far I haven't found one that will do like a bubble every 3 or 4 seconds reliably. They are reliable when you do several bubble per sec but our small tanks require much less co2 then that. I needed to re-adjust needle valve like every 30 minutes or it becomes very random. I have PH controller so it shuts of solonoid when PH gets to low, so cal reactor stays shutoff if i don't control the co2 flow. PITA! Link to comment
mirkus Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Oogie do you think a nano reactor would work on a 30 gallon? Link to comment
oogie Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Originally posted by mirkus Oogie do you think a nano reactor would work on a 30 gallon? I would imagine so. But again, it all depends on your need for calcium. If you have 30 gal JAM PACKED with acros, then it will serve you well! But if you have couple of sps and rest softies, I think you are better off not using one. Link to comment
Reefer Addict Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Originally posted by lgreen i have seen people really screw up even a large tank w/ a Ca Reactor. CO2 can be very dangerous if not monitered very closely. i will never own a calcium reactor. "more biology, less technology" No need for a CA reator when all you keep are zoo's and mushrooms. Link to comment
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