I was thinking to myself wow Jake has some cool professional looking wiring chases for hiding the wires - 10 seconds later Jake pulls it off the wall - it’s cheap basket to hide wire. Genius Jake
I was using my CaRx on my nuvo 30 frag tank and it worked amazing. The one catch is I had a ton of sps. Even with a high amount of sticks, it was hard to tune initially. There is really a minimal threshold of uptake to entry. With a larger/higher consumer tank, for a dosing pump feed, you have a range of 1-100 ml per minute. My setting was 5ml @6.7 ph. If I change the ml/min, I either drop 25% or increase 20%. The ph controller is really what made it possible. If I was running it on a 180 at 50ml/min, I could make adjustments of 2% either way, allowing for easier fine tune. Overall stability and growth was amazing, but just something to note. The only reason I am not currently running the reactor is that I lost a ton of sticks in the move and don't have enough consumption to justify.
I haven't used a calcium reactor in a long time, one of the biggest problems we had back then was phosphate being released from the media, it was enough to ruin a tank, I'm guessing media has come a long way since? I hope it has!
Although I initially shared your concern, I haven't had any problems with the pumps, and in defense of the selection all the pumps, solenoid and controller are powered by a single DC power supply.
I had to upgrade my calcium reactor a few weeks ago, but I couldn't persuade myself to get a Twintech or a Dastaco. I'm still waiting for a calcium reactor that monitors the tank KH and adjusts CO2 automatically. Right now the most a KH controler can do is turn the CO2 on/off. I ended up getting a bubble magus CR-200 and using the CR-125 as an "active" second chamber. I also don't monitor pH and I feed the reactor by gravity. I do monitor KH with a Xepta Autobalance and I also dose Kalkwasser.
I would advise against KH as a controller CO2 dosing, use it to stop the CO2 flow or as an alarm sure, but your demands shouldn't change so radically from day to day to need to change what you're doing on your calcium reactor that frequently. Look at what the KH is every day and if you see it trending downward then increase the CO2 (or feed amount) accordingly.
@@Mike__B My experience has been that If you have a large coral load, alk consumption is anything but steady. I don't know what kind of tanks guys that say that a calcium reactor is "set it and forget it" have. Corals sometimes decide to enter turbo mode and other times they decide that they don't want that much alk that day. I control my calcium reactor by setting the number of CO2 bubbles/minute and the number of hours the CO2 is turned off at night and I have mess with this at least twice per week.
Nice vid jake! Are you growing these frags for personal or studio use or will you do contests or give away some of this stuff to viewers? Was just so jealous of everything and would gladly participate in a send Brian a coral and see how it made the shipping and survival rate in my tank here in Florida! Thanks for the awesome content
Nice video. The cheaper reactor seems much easier to maintenance. But neither really attract me with the CO2 and need to monitor ph. I started kalk slurry on small tank. Working great, no maintenance, just refilland dose. This video kind of makes want to just go the kalk slurry on the 200 gallon i am setting up. Dose some trace too, call it good. Bags of kalk are dirt cheap if avoid aquarium brands, and verify purity...
What do think of kalk slurry (as opposed to soluble kalk only) as a means of replacing calcium reactors? Ive found huge bags of kalk (like years of supply of even heavy demand) for well than $100
Cool video, I have a question that I struggle to find an answer to, I built a big calcium reactor that holds around one and a half bags of the triton media and has a venturi fitted to mix the co2 and reactor water, question I have is about rest gasses often quoted with calcium reactors, what are rest gasses?, and if not co2 why do they not appear in my reactor until I get below 6.1 to 6.2?. I have read super saturation reactors de gas to remove rest gasses yet in my reactor or the schuran reactors I have run in the past would not see any rest gasses building up until a ph of below 6.2 is reached . I do like the triton media but it takes a very low ph to get it to perform.
How often do you clean your reactor? I've got to clean mine every 3 to 4 months to keep the flow and sand that is made from the media from killing the pump.
Great vid Jake, I am going to try tritons reactor media next from my research its going to be perfect for the deltec and has the least phosphates of them all.
I have a full calcium reactor ready to go however, my set up is in my garage and I already have heigh PH due to the door alway cracked. If I add the reactor will this continue to increase my PH ? What would you do in my situation?
It’s way cheaper for maintenance and way less maintenance in general, instead of replacing a 2 gallons of 2 part every month you just top off your reactor every 3-6 months
On the deltec skimmer, two questions. What size system (gallons) and stocking levels would you say it can adequately handle. Then, why do you think there is that much algae growing on it, is it because your tank lights are bleeding over on to it? Thanks for the update and insight.
the Deltec grew about 9 months of thin film algae because nothing can grow in there to eat it, and yes it's fueled by spill light. I easily have as many corals in this 600 gallon system as you might have in a 1000 to 2000 gallon aquarium and I'm not even running it close to top speed
What do you think about running a big calcium reactor on a small tank. I will be updating tank to double my volume in next couple years rather buy once.
The amount of time spent to service each reactor says a lot doesn't it... Too bad seachem will not be upsizing their Aquavitro line of equipment. They are very well though out and easy to use. Also.. No one seems to be putting the fresh top up water through the calcium reactor. Running fresh water through will require less CO2 to lower the ph to 6 and make a small reactor a lot more effective with dissolving the calcium media...
@ReefBuilders Hey Jake I’m in the market for a calcium reactor for my reef tank build and was going to go with Geos but after watching this video, since you have used both brands, would you still choose Deltec over Geos? I’m stuck at a crossroads and I want something where I’m going to buy once and I cry once. Thanks a milli 🙏🏻
Geo makes probably some of the best calcium reactors short of being automatic style like Deltec, I'll be adding some Geo CaRx to my tanks in the future.
I still use my old 1st gen Geo618 for over 10 years and has not miss a hitch. The only mod i did was tap a hole in the top to recirculate the gas back in. The Gen 2 has this already.
@@ReefBuildersVideo lol making sure i did not miss your video whilst cooking food is a nightmare, i missed the sister company bit, i just looked at the shell of the light :) thanks for that though
which type of calcium reactor would you recommend to someone who has never used one? Better to go simple and learn the ropes, or jump in with a unit like the Deltec? 400 gallon system. mixed reef. Getting sick of mixing up two part.
I was thinking to myself wow Jake has some cool professional looking wiring chases for hiding the wires - 10 seconds later Jake pulls it off the wall - it’s cheap basket to hide wire. Genius Jake
Brilliant!
I don't have a calcium reactor as my tank is too small. But I find this video very informative and and educational.
Thank you Jake.
I was using my CaRx on my nuvo 30 frag tank and it worked amazing. The one catch is I had a ton of sps. Even with a high amount of sticks, it was hard to tune initially. There is really a minimal threshold of uptake to entry.
With a larger/higher consumer tank, for a dosing pump feed, you have a range of 1-100 ml per minute. My setting was 5ml @6.7 ph. If I change the ml/min, I either drop 25% or increase 20%. The ph controller is really what made it possible. If I was running it on a 180 at 50ml/min, I could make adjustments of 2% either way, allowing for easier fine tune.
Overall stability and growth was amazing, but just something to note. The only reason I am not currently running the reactor is that I lost a ton of sticks in the move and don't have enough consumption to justify.
As a novice, it is great to watch an expert’s technique.
Thanks for the information, insight, and wisdom,
Jim
I switched from budget to deltec yesterday. Man, what a difference.
I haven't used a calcium reactor in a long time, one of the biggest problems we had back then was phosphate being released from the media, it was enough to ruin a tank, I'm guessing media has come a long way since? I hope it has!
Great video, never thought of the fuel filter, always a problem for me, Genius!
Great video Jake, very informative. I will say it's a bit disconcerting that the high end Deltec calcium reactor uses a Jebao feed pump.
Although I initially shared your concern, I haven't had any problems with the pumps, and in defense of the selection all the pumps, solenoid and controller are powered by a single DC power supply.
I need to get one of these before long. My 2 part usage is getting pretty high.
I had to upgrade my calcium reactor a few weeks ago, but I couldn't persuade myself to get a Twintech or a Dastaco.
I'm still waiting for a calcium reactor that monitors the tank KH and adjusts CO2 automatically. Right now the most a KH controler can do is turn the CO2 on/off.
I ended up getting a bubble magus CR-200 and using the CR-125 as an "active" second chamber.
I also don't monitor pH and I feed the reactor by gravity. I do monitor KH with a Xepta Autobalance and I also dose Kalkwasser.
I would advise against KH as a controller CO2 dosing, use it to stop the CO2 flow or as an alarm sure, but your demands shouldn't change so radically from day to day to need to change what you're doing on your calcium reactor that frequently. Look at what the KH is every day and if you see it trending downward then increase the CO2 (or feed amount) accordingly.
@@Mike__B My experience has been that If you have a large coral load, alk consumption is anything but steady.
I don't know what kind of tanks guys that say that a calcium reactor is "set it and forget it" have. Corals sometimes decide to enter turbo mode and other times they decide that they don't want that much alk that day.
I control my calcium reactor by setting the number of CO2 bubbles/minute and the number of hours the CO2 is turned off at night and I have mess with this at least twice per week.
Nice vid jake! Are you growing these frags for personal or studio use or will you do contests or give away some of this stuff to viewers? Was just so jealous of everything and would gladly participate in a send Brian a coral and see how it made the shipping and survival rate in my tank here in Florida! Thanks for the awesome content
Wow, is that small aqua vetro calc reactor really able to to support that large frag tank???
Good tips here based on a lot of experience.
abit off topic , can you share your radion schedule , or link a video if you have already made one
Nice video. The cheaper reactor seems much easier to maintenance. But neither really attract me with the CO2 and need to monitor ph. I started kalk slurry on small tank. Working great, no maintenance, just refilland dose. This video kind of makes want to just go the kalk slurry on the 200 gallon i am setting up. Dose some trace too, call it good. Bags of kalk are dirt cheap if avoid aquarium brands, and verify purity...
We use kalk and calcium reactors
What do think of kalk slurry (as opposed to soluble kalk only) as a means of replacing calcium reactors? Ive found huge bags of kalk (like years of supply of even heavy demand) for well than $100
@@bigbearmeetslittlebear3401 I've always been a regular CaOH user so the slurry aspect never really appealed to how I reef
Cool video, I have a question that I struggle to find an answer to, I built a big calcium reactor that holds around one and a half bags of the triton media and has a venturi fitted to mix the co2 and reactor water, question I have is about rest gasses often quoted with calcium reactors, what are rest gasses?, and if not co2 why do they not appear in my reactor until I get below 6.1 to 6.2?.
I have read super saturation reactors de gas to remove rest gasses yet in my reactor or the schuran reactors I have run in the past would not see any rest gasses building up until a ph of below 6.2 is reached .
I do like the triton media but it takes a very low ph to get it to perform.
another great informative video jake
How often do you clean your reactor? I've got to clean mine every 3 to 4 months to keep the flow and sand that is made from the media from killing the pump.
really depends on what kind of media you use, and this is why reefers have gravitated towards medium and coarse medias
Great vid Jake, I am going to try tritons reactor media next from my research its going to be perfect for the deltec and has the least phosphates of them all.
Or you could just get marble paving stones for 5% of the cost
I have a full calcium reactor ready to go however, my set up is in my garage and I already have heigh PH due to the door alway cracked. If I add the reactor will this continue to increase my PH ? What would you do in my situation?
No CaRx will decrease your pH a little bitn
Jake man love your videos !
What is the benefit to a calcium reactor? seems to me like using a dosing pump with 2 part or kalk is way easier in so many ways.
really depends on the size of your tank, for a larger volume with lots of stony corals or heavy demand, a calcium reactor is cheaper in the long run.
It’s way cheaper for maintenance and way less maintenance in general, instead of replacing a 2 gallons of 2 part every month you just top off your reactor every 3-6 months
On the deltec skimmer, two questions. What size system (gallons) and stocking levels would you say it can adequately handle. Then, why do you think there is that much algae growing on it, is it because your tank lights are bleeding over on to it? Thanks for the update and insight.
the Deltec grew about 9 months of thin film algae because nothing can grow in there to eat it, and yes it's fueled by spill light. I easily have as many corals in this 600 gallon system as you might have in a 1000 to 2000 gallon aquarium and I'm not even running it close to top speed
@@ReefBuildersVideo awesome, ty for the response.
Great Video. What calcium media are you currently using and would you ever do a top 5 media for calcium reactor?
What do you think about running a big calcium reactor on a small tank. I will be updating tank to double my volume in next couple years rather buy once.
yeah you can use a massive Calcium Reactor chamber as long as the effluent rate matches your aquarium needs.
The amount of time spent to service each reactor says a lot doesn't it...
Too bad seachem will not be upsizing their Aquavitro line of equipment. They are very well though out and easy to use.
Also.. No one seems to be putting the fresh top up water through the calcium reactor. Running fresh water through will require less CO2 to lower the ph to 6 and make a small reactor a lot more effective with dissolving the calcium media...
@ReefBuilders Hey Jake I’m in the market for a calcium reactor for my reef tank build and was going to go with Geos but after watching this video, since you have used both brands, would you still choose Deltec over Geos? I’m stuck at a crossroads and I want something where I’m going to buy once and I cry once. Thanks a milli 🙏🏻
Geo makes probably some of the best calcium reactors short of being automatic style like Deltec, I'll be adding some Geo CaRx to my tanks in the future.
I still use my old 1st gen Geo618 for over 10 years and has not miss a hitch. The only mod i did was tap a hole in the top to recirculate the gas back in. The Gen 2 has this already.
Make a tank in his honor with reborn as substrate 😢
Greate video Jake. 👍
Great video thanks
Fiilex looks like a sister company of kessil
ruclips.net/video/GCZWOyd3O68/видео.html
@@ReefBuildersVideo lol making sure i did not miss your video whilst cooking food is a nightmare, i missed the sister company bit, i just looked at the shell of the light :) thanks for that though
AHHH the joys of being able to work on equipment NOT under the tank in the cramped stand. I could not imagine
What are you using for a ph controller?
we're not ruclips.net/video/GCZWOyd3O68/видео.html
reefbuilders.com/2021/10/15/using-chemical-ph-indicator-to-monitor-calcium-reactor-ph/
@@ReefBuildersVideo Thanks!
which type of calcium reactor would you recommend to someone who has never used one? Better to go simple and learn the ropes, or jump in with a unit like the Deltec? 400 gallon system. mixed reef. Getting sick of mixing up two part.
Twin tech is pricey but it negates the need for a ph controller and probe, and comes with a solenoid.
Lommmk
Lommmk