Do you turn off the calcium reactor at night? And how do you avoid dropping the PH too much so that the reactor media doesn’t melt, and also keeping the ph low enough to actually melt the media?
I don't turn the reactor off at night to avoid a big alk swing, but you're giving me an idea: I could turn it off at night and dose all the kalkwasser in that period instead of all day long. Thank a lot for the comment, I will give it some extra thought and maybe try it. I would need to increase the CO2 bubbles per minute during daytime to compensate for the off period at night. At the moment I am doing 3 things to reduce the PH drop at night: - Dosing kalkwasser (hourly, 24/7). - Having the refugium light on at night instead of day; - I have an air pump outside connected to an airstone at the bottom of the overflow 24/7. Regarding the possibility of melting the media too fast, I keep an eye on my alk. If it stays stable, the media is melting at a proper rate. If I only run the reactor at night, I will run that risk, because I will have to increase the CO2. But maybe it's worth trying it out.
Alfredo Reis Deus Thanks by the way your tank is a massive inspiration to me, I am planning a 54”X28”X24” tank and your visual design cues I am keen to follow. I bought two calcium reactors on clearance so I have spare parts (
@@nornicle2 I never turn off the calcium reactor. When I turn the return off, there's still enough water in the overflow to feed the calcium reactor for at least half an hour. Regarding the new tank, research how to make a tank look deep. It's the biggest reef aquascaping sin and it's something we can learn from the freshwater master aquascapers.
@@DuzzyDobbin It can be done commercially, but it's extremely difficult at home. I do breed Banggais though, even without wanting to. Some fry have found shelter in the anemones and survived.
I have been having a hard time justifying the purchase of a calcium reactor. I also dont have any controllers and dont plan on getting them. I feel like they are required with the calcium reactor to monitor the ph so you do not completely melt the media in the reactor. To do it right fully controlled with monitors it came out to be about 1500$ which is insane. Was looking at the aquamaxx calcium reactor. I also looked at the dastaco model and it just appears incomplete and in the USA still uses euro plugs and voltage for $1400. Its like some kind of sick joke.
My reactor costs 170 euros and you would have to spend less than 100 euros on a CO2 system, including the 1st CO2 bottle. The media costs around 30 euros. I am still using the same media and CO2 bottle after almost 8 months (and I still have media left). I also used a few dead corals I had. I don't feel the need to get a pH controller and I doubt I ever will. As I said in the video, the only thing I care is the alkalinity in the tank and I adjust it with the CO2 bubbles per minute and that's it. The pH in the reactor will be whatever is necessary to keep the alkalinity in the tank stable. I don't know (or need to know) what's the pH inside the reactor. I continue to measure alkalinity at least once per week and if needed I adjust the CO2 bubbles per minute. It's not a set it and forget it solution, because the alk consumption of the tank has bumps. For me the ideal calcium reator would have an alkalinity monitor in the tank, and adjust the CO2 rate to keep the alkalinity stable. There are alk monitors out there that can control calcium reactors. They can turn off the CO2 if the alk exceeds the value you choose, but they can't adjust the CO2 rate. And they are expensive. That being said, the cost of this setup will be too high for a small tank.
@@LightSearch I understand better now what you are doing. I see you are using kalkwasser to help the ph in the tank. What would the ph be if you did not use kalkwasser?
@@MoeReefs It would be .2 to .3 lower. For a time I had no pH variation from day to night because I was only running kalk at night. The disadvantage was that I was having an alk swing everyday because I was dosing kalk during the time the tank was not consuming it, so now I am dosing kalk 24 during daytime too. I have only a small pH swing, because the refugium light is on at night with chaeto and bta's.
This is my first calcium reactor and when I was researching what model to get, I decided to get a simple one to play with and learn more about them. I don't feel the need to change, at least until there is one available that measures alkalinity in a simple way and regulates itself. The Dastaco, arguably the most advanced reactor out there, still can't do this and would cost 6 times more than this Bubble Magus.
All rip off brands! No brands are better! They all do the same thing! The only thing to make it work precisely is a good CO2 regulator. The Bubble Magus is good enough! Just because the name brands are made in Germany doesn't make it better than a Chinese made one!
Животные
Beautiful tank and a great video. Can you tell me what those orange colored corals are?
Thanks. On the left at the back? They're bubbletip anemones.
Do you turn off the calcium reactor at night? And how do you avoid dropping the PH too much so that the reactor media doesn’t melt, and also keeping the ph low enough to actually melt the media?
I don't turn the reactor off at night to avoid a big alk swing, but you're giving me an idea: I could turn it off at night and dose all the kalkwasser in that period instead of all day long.
Thank a lot for the comment, I will give it some extra thought and maybe try it. I would need to increase the CO2 bubbles per minute during daytime to compensate for the off period at night.
At the moment I am doing 3 things to reduce the PH drop at night:
- Dosing kalkwasser (hourly, 24/7).
- Having the refugium light on at night instead of day;
- I have an air pump outside connected to an airstone at the bottom of the overflow 24/7.
Regarding the possibility of melting the media too fast, I keep an eye on my alk. If it stays stable, the media is melting at a proper rate.
If I only run the reactor at night, I will run that risk, because I will have to increase the CO2. But maybe it's worth trying it out.
Alfredo Reis Deus Thanks by the way your tank is a massive inspiration to me, I am planning a 54”X28”X24” tank and your visual design cues I am keen to follow. I bought two calcium reactors on clearance so I have spare parts (
@@nornicle2 I never turn off the calcium reactor. When I turn the return off, there's still enough water in the overflow to feed the calcium reactor for at least half an hour.
Regarding the new tank, research how to make a tank look deep. It's the biggest reef aquascaping sin and it's something we can learn from the freshwater master aquascapers.
Great content. My question is do your angels eat coral? What species are the yellow ones and do they fight, the yellow ones I mean.
Regards Duzzy 🇦🇺
Thanks. They are heraldi angels. They like clams and fleshy corals like trachyfilias. They spawn every night and never fight.
@@LightSearch you should try breeding them they’re spectacular. Are they easily sexed? Shame they eat clams and fleshy stuff.
@@DuzzyDobbin They can change sex both ways, so the best route is to get a pair of different sizes. Breeding them is extremely difficult.
@@LightSearch I think more and more will try as more bans come in on wild removal. If I had the room I’d be trying to breed marine fish for sure.
@@DuzzyDobbin It can be done commercially, but it's extremely difficult at home. I do breed Banggais though, even without wanting to. Some fry have found shelter in the anemones and survived.
I have been having a hard time justifying the purchase of a calcium reactor. I also dont have any controllers and dont plan on getting them. I feel like they are required with the calcium reactor to monitor the ph so you do not completely melt the media in the reactor. To do it right fully controlled with monitors it came out to be about 1500$ which is insane. Was looking at the aquamaxx calcium reactor. I also looked at the dastaco model and it just appears incomplete and in the USA still uses euro plugs and voltage for $1400. Its like some kind of sick joke.
My reactor costs 170 euros and you would have to spend less than 100 euros on a CO2 system, including the 1st CO2 bottle. The media costs around 30 euros. I am still using the same media and CO2 bottle after almost 8 months (and I still have media left). I also used a few dead corals I had.
I don't feel the need to get a pH controller and I doubt I ever will.
As I said in the video, the only thing I care is the alkalinity in the tank and I adjust it with the CO2 bubbles per minute and that's it. The pH in the reactor will be whatever is necessary to keep the alkalinity in the tank stable. I don't know (or need to know) what's the pH inside the reactor.
I continue to measure alkalinity at least once per week and if needed I adjust the CO2 bubbles per minute. It's not a set it and forget it solution, because the alk consumption of the tank has bumps.
For me the ideal calcium reator would have an alkalinity monitor in the tank, and adjust the CO2 rate to keep the alkalinity stable.
There are alk monitors out there that can control calcium reactors. They can turn off the CO2 if the alk exceeds the value you choose, but they can't adjust the CO2 rate. And they are expensive.
That being said, the cost of this setup will be too high for a small tank.
@@LightSearch I understand better now what you are doing. I see you are using kalkwasser to help the ph in the tank. What would the ph be if you did not use kalkwasser?
@@MoeReefs It would be .2 to .3 lower.
For a time I had no pH variation from day to night because I was only running kalk at night.
The disadvantage was that I was having an alk swing everyday because I was dosing kalk during the time the tank was not consuming it, so now I am dosing kalk 24 during daytime too. I have only a small pH swing, because the refugium light is on at night with chaeto and bta's.
Many better the calcium reactor by Dastaco, Deltec, GroTech, Korallin, Schuran...
This is my first calcium reactor and when I was researching what model to get, I decided to get a simple one to play with and learn more about them.
I don't feel the need to change, at least until there is one available that measures alkalinity in a simple way and regulates itself.
The Dastaco, arguably the most advanced reactor out there, still can't do this and would cost 6 times more than this Bubble Magus.
All rip off brands! No brands are better! They all do the same thing! The only thing to make it work precisely is a good CO2 regulator. The Bubble Magus is good enough! Just because the name brands are made in Germany doesn't make it better than a Chinese made one!
I learned the hard way not to blindly trust a piece of equipment (or person) just because it's made in whatever country.