Kalkwasser and Calcium Reactor

[reefer74]

My question is that if I am running a calcium reactor on my 120 gallon tank, would It still be a good idea to dose kalkwasser as well? I currently dose kalkwasser via a peristaltic pump on an icecap timer, but am going to be adding a calcium reactor here in the near future. Just wondering how some of you guys do it, and what types of success you've had either using just one or both of these components at the same time.


Johnny G.

[Instar]

That would be double dosing. Ca++ reactor simplifies things so you don't have to worry about kalk and buffer so much.
My sponges and gorgonians always hate me when I dose kalk or very much buffer. (Mixed reefs with sps, so that is why the Ca++ sources.)

[Jimnorris]

For awhile I used both kalkreactor and calcium reactor. I used the kalkreactor only at night to keep my PH up. After awhile I removed my calcium reactor and now use my kalkreactor 24/7. I like this better.
Jim

[matt]

I use a CaCO3 reactor only. My ph stays between 8.0-8.2, occasionally dipping to 7.9 I have noticed NO deleterious effects with running a lower ph; in fact, it seems like my coral growth and health has increased with the lower ph. When I was dosing KW, it was in the 8.3-8.4 range. I think a lower ph has gotten a bad rap because it's associated with other water chemistry problems, like poor gas exchange or DOM increases. Does anyone know of a problem caused by ph in this range, as opposed to problems that are indicated by ph?

Oh yeah, to answer your question, when I switched from KW to a reactor I ran both for a long time to allow the water chemistry to change gradually. There's no problem with doing this. Lot's of people run reactors 24/7 and dose KW at night.