Calcium reactor vs Kalk reactor

Alright....it is coming up to the time that I do the thing I dont want to do....I need to get a reactor! Not only is money going to be an issue, but I am pushing the power limit on my circuit!

I am having a devil of a time maintaining my calcium, kH and pH. I have 7 clams...one almost 12" and a bunch of SPS. I am constantly dosing stuff in my tank to maintain it, so I think it is time to go more advanced.

But what is your all opinions between a kalk and a calcium reactor. I am going to admit I have zero knowledge on this....have looked and read but it seems like both will do what I want, and a kalk reactor looks like it is cheaper and easier to maintain. I do have a possible used calcium reactor that someone is wanting to sell that includes everything...a ph meter, CO2 regulater, 2 CO2 tanks, bubble counter. He is going to dosing pumps....

any suggestions would be appreciated. ;D

 

It sounds like you need a calcium reactor I'm not sure kalk alone would keep up with that much calcium demand.IMO

 

Hey schackmel. I've never heard of a Kalk reactor. ???

I know there's such a thing as a kalk stirrer that works to keep sediment on the bottom of a vessel containing topoff water and kalk mix. It's used in conjunction with a peristaltic pump (usually, but not mandatory) to dose kalkwasser (kalkwater) into a tank.

This is used to counteract the low pH resulting from running a calcium reactor in certain circumstances.

You don't have to run a kalk stirrer, but it becomes a great help if you experience a drop in pH because of your calcium reactor.

See, a calcium reactor uses CO2 to lower pH in order to liquefy aragonite or oolitic media, putting calcium in suspension in your tank so it's available to the corals. (Just like when we supplement calcium). Sometimes this results in lowering the tank's pH.

The way to counteract this is to either run a two-chambered calcium reactor to allow the CO2 to naturally off-gas more efficiently before the product water hits your tank. Another way is aerate the effluent from the calcium reactor and in adding O2, naturally driving out CO2.

The whole kalkwasser thing is the most common approach for counteracting the drop in pH caused by the ca reactor. It's a win-win situation. For one thing, kalkwasser is by definition high in calcium and alkalinity, and the other thing is that it "soaks up" the excess CO2, naturally raising the pH. So, the calcium reactor is used with a pH probe to turn it on when necessary. The kalk stirrer is put on a timer to dose only when the pH is bound to be low--at night and early in the morning, when the corals are producing CO2 (because they're not photosynthesizing when it's dark).

When these two approaches are used in conjunction, you get the best of both worlds. A tank with water rich in calcium and alkalinity, and no detrimental effects to the overall pH of the tank water.

Hope that helps.

 

I actually use only a kalk stirrer without a calcium reactor to maintain my levels,It works great for me as i have a lot of evap and not a huge calcium uptake ie heavily stocked sps,clams etc.I use it with an osmolator for all topoff.I think kalk reactor is referring to the pump style that circulates periodically on a timer.

 

I have run into this dilema also. I didn't want to spend tons of money right now on a calcium reactor and accessories too. I started looking into dosing kalkwasser to maybe decrease the amount of supplements I need to add. I'm not sure of your setup (how big, sump or not, ATO maybe?), but you might be able to just hand mix the Kalkwasser by hand and use the kalk mix as your top-off. That's what I plan to setup tomorrow once my shipment arrives. If you have questions about dosing Kalkwasser, check out my previous thread Kalkwasser info

Reef Sparky summed it up good, but if you want more details on Calcium Reactors check out A Guide to Using Calcium Reactors by Simon Huntington - Reefkeeping.com

Here's a good link to read up on to learn about Kalkwasser
What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Those two links are well writen and tought me more then I wanted to know. Both of these sites are not only informative, but fun to read. That is if you are interested in learning a thing or two...

 

thanks all!
I have a 135g tank with at least a 30g sump. Like I mentioned earlier, I had been dosing daily 2 part solution and then doing kalk supersaturation a couple times a week. I dosed magnesium also.

I was testing fairly regular and adjusting the freq of kalk and amount of 2 part solution. I THOUGHT I had it figured out so I did not test for a little over a week. Well that was when my kH dropped from 12 to 6, and pH dropped from 8.4 to 7.8.

I have stopped using the 2 part solution. I brought up the levels by dosing borate and am now at kH 11, pH 8.2 and calcium at 480. So now that my levels are where I want them to be, I am dosing daily kalk as part of my top-off. For the last 3 days, my levels have been stable!

Along with all my corals, I have a TON of coraline algea growing in my tank. I have to routinely soak all my pumps and powerheads in vinegar (about 1-2 months) and scrape it off the tank at least 2-3 times a week.

 

I would go with a Ca reactor then add Kalk if you are unable to keep Ca at a certain level. Too much Kalk between 10 to 12 pH will kill a tank quick. Just got to be careful.

 

How come I see so many adds of people selling their calcium reactor because they are switching to dosing? Seems like from what I've read the calcium reactor would be easiest.