Blog Comments

Did you go the phosban reactor route?

I hear ya I really didnt want to run carbon but the odor of my tank forced me into it

curtains! I ended up getting some cheap black felt curtains from Lowes and hanging them with a cheap piece of PVC tubing. The downside is that I now have to move them out of the way to see the fish, and I can't get them COMPLETELY out of the way, but it's a good tradeoff for the price and functionality. Here's some pics:

Oh - those are some good tips. I have a hard time asking a friend or neighbor to look at things because I don't know my neighbors well enough to impose and all of my friends live 15 mins away or more - it's a pain in the rear for them. Maybe I can put a couple of them on rotation or something... Having the pro company come every so often anyway is a good suggestion. I do have a 5 gal ro/di res that is automatically filled each night. I like the idea of the webcam and I do have a controller with the option of displaying the limited params online - haven't set it up, but it would be a good idea. Thanks for the input!

As cyano said, i would recommend getting the tank on a controller if it is not already, if you can add an online setup it would be even better,you could check up on it yourself, I would also recommend getting a larger RODI reservoir.

Do you have anyone who would not mind checking the tank every 2 days? neighbor, friend ,co-worker, LFS worker? If you did that would be ideal, you could portion out the food in plastic cups in the freezer. You can tell them if anything looks, smells or sounds different just call the tank maintenance company, they could also use your mag float to entertain themselves
That being said I would still have the maintenance company come every 2 or 3 weeks to fill your FW reservoir, clean the skimmer cup and take care of any levels needing to be adjusted…that sorta stuff

also what i plan on doing when i go on vacation is buying a wireless network webcam that can be viewed from another computer or iphone so i can always see my tank and sump

I would say get you some type of controller such as a reefkeeper elite (what I use) for your lights, temp monitor, all that fun stuff assuming you go with relatives that live an hours away (saves them from having to come and turn lights on and off and babysit to watch for temp spikes) them they just have to feed and top off daily which is only about 30 minutes worth of work if they take their time and before you go teach them what they need to know. otherwise a reputable company sounds good just i would feel weird giving a stranger a key to my house but thats just me. do you have any neighbors that you trust nearby or friends?

Not to sound mean but the first thing you need to do is accept the fact that you might lose your whole tank. Once you get past that point its time to figure out how to minimize the damage....

I would start by getting some small snack baggies, cups etc... and rationing food for 8 weeks to keep in the freezer. Then I would figure out how much water evaporation you have per day, then get some containers to hold ro/di water. That or put a tape line on the sump for a fill level. Now I would find a neighbor or friend who lives close by, and have them come over and watch you feed and top off the water. Before you leave do a huge water change and clean everything. Now hide all your scrapers, saltwater etc.. Only leave what is needed for the tank to survive. Sure when you come home the glass will be covered in alage, the water will most likely need another huge water change but if your sitter only feeds and waters your tank most likely it will survive. By having someone close they don't have to travel as far and more likely to do it, and if the power goes out they can call for instructions.

That or have the tank maintenance company watch it.

Forgot to mention - my anthias are not on pellet food and so far only take frozen options. I've left them for up to a week in the past and they've fed themselves with what comes out of the fuge. I'm interested in learning what's common for a vacation feeding/cleaning/maint/water param check schedule.

Those macro shots are great. I enjoy having a ca reactor because there are days when I am not able to enjoy the tank. As in not home during most of a day. some days the fish don't get fed and I don't get to see the tank with the lights on. So automation is the key for me. And yes you can Dial in the ca/alk output pretty low if necessary.

Thank you for your experience, it was very colorfully written.

FTS nice looking pics. I'm liking your rose bta

CO2 tends to bubble out of turbulent water whereas the ALK/CA is left behind. You should end up dumping the effluent into your sump return area where the water is moving fast. I haven't noticed the pH lowering in my tank with the Ca reactor. If you have reactor levels set properly and have a reasonable amount of air turnover in the room, your pH should be fine.

I just finished reading that article, went back to working, then took another break to find you had posted it, lol anyway I am a little squeemish to think about anything lowering my ph since i have a hard time maintaining it anyway, what test kit do you use and where does your ph tend to stay?

Thanks blennyman that one works

very interesting article

@chuck - Try this one:

http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

It's a great springboard for Ca reactors.

For sure. They seem complicated at first - but Ca reactors are relatively simple when you get the ropes. The basic concept is that you have crushed coral in the reactor and you add CO2 (acidic) to dissolve the coral. The two knobs you have to balance are the amount of CO2 and the amount of flow through the reactor chamber. It's rather like walking a bit of a knife edge - low CO2 and low flow maintains relatively low pH in the chamber and adds low amount of calcium to your system. High CO2 and high flow through the reactor maintains the same balance of pH in the reactor, but delivers more Ca and Alk to the system. Low CO2 and high flow won't get the pH low enough to dissolve the media, and is harmless - but doesn't grow coral. High CO2 and low flow pushes the pH too low and dissolves your media way too fast - and results in Ca deposits falling out of the water column (messy).

Personally, I haven't gone the dosing route - so I can't comment on whether you "need" to get a Ca reactor or not. It always seemed like a hassle to have to measure that stuff out all the time. Now, I have a pH probe to monitor the effluent (output from Ca reactor) and that's what I use to tune the system - along with weekly Ca/Alk measurements. Weekly - ha! I giggled when I re-read that. Weekly is a good target, but I must admit that I forget from time to time. After a while, you tend to get settled in with a Ca reactor and not mess with it much...

Originally Posted by blennyman

Read melev's page about setting one up when/if you decide to get one - it's very helpful.

on this website or the Melevsreef site? I tried to look a DIY Ca Reactor on Melevsreef but the link does not work

I can agree to the indigestion part for sure I know my coralline grows so much it must be taking quite a bit away from the coral growth, I will look at Melevs Ca reactor page for sure, in the meantime though i had heard that a Ca reactor is for very heavy uses, as in if you can't keep up with dosing anymore then that is the next step, but can it be turned down low as an option as well for a low dosage and turned up as needed?

Thanks chuck and hat!

Cyano - Well, I'm learning like everyone else - and here's how my learning experience went: I thought I could get away with a lot of water changes and still keep nice coral. Spent a lot of time hauling buckets, zero time actually testing for Ca and Alk. It's a fine solution to grow softies, and soon they overtook my tank. Never could get the stony corals to grow. Finally I broke down and started testing my water params and found that I was very low on Ca and Alk. I'm big on automation and ease of use, so I decided the most bomb proof method of stabilizing these params was by obtaining a Ca reactor. I have to say that it's paid for itself by reducing the need for water changes and dosing. the media is cheap and CO2 is cheap. The startup cost can momentarily give one indigestion. Read melev's page about setting one up when/if you decide to get one - it's very helpful.

did you have to add the calcium reactor because of the Ca demand from so many corals you couldn't keep up with the dosing? or did you just decide to add it one day? I just recently changed salt to a reef salt so I am hoping that does the trick for me, otherwise I will have to get some Ca reactor advice soon, ha ha