what's the used of calcium reactor?

[koux]

Hi ,

Have been hearing abt calcium reactor. but has no idea what is the purpose of having that!

is it a must that we must have a calcium reactor ?

where can i get more info on that?

[Tanzy]

A calcium reactor is a device where carbon dioxide is dissolved into the water( to lower pH), passed through a column of aragonite or crushed coral and dissolving it to produce calcium bicarbonate. It helps maintain the calcium and alkalinity level of a system. Problem is, it is hard to tune and to make it work properly. It is quite a hassle to use.

It is not necessary to have a calcium reactor unless you have a lot of fast growing hard coral under bright light that depletes the calcium in the water rapidly. Dosing kalkwasser to 2-part solutions as top-up water will be sufficient most of the time unless you have very low rate of evaporation.

[Achilles Tang]

It's not a must to have a calcium reactor as it is expensive unless you DIY your own and get a pump and CO2 canister plus bubble counter and needle valve.

It helps automate calcium dosing... so once setup right... you won't really have to care about your calcium levels, alk and PH levels to a certain extent...

Dosing kalk may be more beneficial as it has other side benefits of raising PH (low PH is a prob with many tanks) and also helps to precipate out phosphates... a common problem too.