I have been planning on my tank and the direction I want to take it. I would like to see a friendly debate on Calcium reactors and 2 part dosing, Pros and cons of each. I know a little about each, but would like to hear your opinions.
Thanks

I just started 2 part dosing with Brightwel reefcode A and B yesterday

Never used a calcium reactor so I can only comment on 2 part. I've never had any issues with growing coraline algae. The only issue with 2 part is that you can dose it too fast and have a precipitation event. If you use an automatic doser, it is so much easier than dosing by hand. I think its alot cheaper in the long run to use a calcium reactor because you only need to change the media yearly and refill the CO2 canister. Depends which route you want to go but looks like everyone is going towards 2 part dosing.

I see a lot of people that go 2 part, partially because you can do it by hand, but is there a clear benefit?

I'm sure someone who has been in the hobby a long time can chime in. I've seen TOTM and more people have been going to 2 part systems. I know Vivid is doing 2 part on their frag systems.

if vivid does it you should do it haha

coryg wrote:if vivid does it you should do it haha

Along those lines, if popular opinion means anything, I dose with seachem 2 part using my reef controller and it has been going very well.

I think there are lots of pros and cons to each method.

Cost wise Ca reactors have high initial cost and very low maintenance costs. Alternatively, 2 part is cheap to setup (manual) to medium cost (dosing pumps) and has a much higher long term cost. I also think that aquarium size should play a big role in the decision.

I have been running a Ca reactor for years with no issues and now my only costs are the occasional CO2 fill and media replacement.

Don't you have both? Which would you recommend for my tank(90 Total water volume) I can get either in the sump/ side stand I will be making.

No, I dont dose calcium in my tank via CaCl. I dose MgCl though. I also supplement my buffering with Kalk.

oh ok,
Which would you recommend for my tank(90 Total water volume)

I think it depends on how much you want/have to invest at the start and what your ultimate goal is. At 90gal you can go either way, though dosing would probably be a bit of a better option.

It may take a while to digest, but once it makes sense, this'll answer just about any questions that may come up.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/2/chemistry

For us, we LOVE our calcium reactor.. Along with our kalk reactor that feeds 4g-5g of top off water daily. Low maintenance, low operating cost, got a good deal on a used setup, replenishes things other than Cal + Alk.. Already bought a second CaRX (same exact model) for our soon-to-be-set up display tank..

good stuff

dwolson2 wrote:oh ok,
Which would you recommend for my tank(90 Total water volume)

My total water volume is about 90 gal as well, and really it depends on your Ca/Alk load. I dose about 6ml of ca/alk with my system nightly so I decided to use a 2 part dosing solution instead of ca reactor/kalk ato solution because my coral load is fairly minimal. Down the road my coral load my increase such that dosing 20+ml of 2 part solution is not very cost effective and I would then invest in the ca reactor/kalk ato option and maybe use the the dosing pumps for mag or something else.

I still dose 2 part by hand. I would love to get a doser in the future. But for right now I'm still doing it old school. I haven't messed with reactors but it all seems like more of a hassle in the initial set up

reefer87 wrote:I still dose 2 part by hand. I would love to get a doser in the future. But for right now I'm still doing it old school. I haven't messed with reactors but it all seems like more of a hassle in the initial set up

Yeah, I'm not delving into reactors until I have to. I just got annoyed having to run 2 part night day by hand, and going out of town for more than a couple days turned out to be a problem. Setting up a 2part doser isn't very hard once you dial in your dosing amounts/freqs. I'd have to say running an ATO and doser is probably the most convenient thing I've setup. Plus they keep my sg and alk/ca/ph much more steady.

Having the bubble magus doser was the second best investment I made after my controller.

+1 After the doser is dialed in you just have to increase when the corals are demanding more (through testing), which is as easy as setting a daily increase of 3-4ml.

I've done both.
I used Seachem products on my 72G bowfront and tried a reactor on my 400G.

Seachem: For manual dosing, I did not use a dosing pump but merley mixed some up with RO water when I wanted to add some and poured it into my sump. My 72G grew just about any and everything in it.

As for a reactor, I built a home made one using a design I found on line and looking at other factory designs. It was a good design but I could never seem to get it to run right. I wound up pulling it out and going back to dosing. Corals grew but not like they did in the 72G tank. I switched to a two part after some time as it was less expensive but I didn't see any change by doing that.

Right now I'm in a rebuild process. Once I'm back on track, I'll probaly start back with the Seachem products as that has always worked for me. I will look into a reactor but can't definatly say I'll buy one as of yet.

Of course with anything, your milage may vary.