Anyone successfuly keep sps without ca reactor?

[NancyPichette]

I would like to know if anyone keeps sps corals without a calcium reactor or pumping system and if so what do you do for your success? I really love the sps corals and have a few in my 29 gallon that seem to be doing great but maybe this is just temporary. I was reading all the debates on the calcium reactors verses the dosing system and frankly I don't want to do either. My 29 gallon has tons of purple coraline algae growing and I thought I read somewhere that was a good sign of calcium levels. It usually test around 380 to 400 and when I add purple up that brings it up a little. Is this number okay to grow sps long term? This aquarium has 150 mh lighting and a Aqua Remora hob skimmer. I do about 10 to 20 % water change ever couple o weeks. It has lots of live rock and live sand and I also run chemi pure and filter floss in the back. Temp is about 78-79 degrees. RO water and ATO.
Thanks Nancy
If I missed the thread already discussing this topic my apologies and please send me the link.

 

[afboundguy]

I don't use a reactor and I'm keeping SPS and they're growing pretty fast (at least what I think is fast I know they are slowish) I just drip kalk water, do twice a week magnesium additions and weekly to bi-weekly water changes. I also usually do a weekly calcium addition when I do bi-weekly changes but not when I do them weekly. I can't remember the last time I added alk.

I used to do just 2 part when I first got some easy SPS (caps and such) then I did kalk (battle with dinos) and kept doing kalk with less 2 part now I'm just doing 2 part and as I've mentioned I have good growth of my SPS and all the others...

Calcium is not the only thing to worry about with SPS. You need the alk and mag in range plus you need almost perfect water quality which IMO means undetectable nitrates and phosphates. Keep in mind the more corals you add the more they suck up so you have to keep adjusting when you add corals.

The lighting should be more than enough for your tank. I'm running 4x54W T5's on my 55 gallon for referance

 

[NancyPichette]

Dave,
Thanks, you give me hope I will test for the alk and try the mag ( I have that test but I'm no scientist and it looks very complicated) and see where I'm at.
Nancy

 

[Dave McReeferson]

It can certainly be done. Issue #! IMO is trying to keep ALK in range and most importantly stable. Alk swings are a killer, if calcium or magnesium are off a bit, it is no big deal to make a reasonably large correction, try that with ALK and it is game over. Regular testing, and a commitment to sticking to the "program" are a must for long term success with dosing.

 

[marine mike]

I think Dave hits it right on the head here. The alk swings are the most important factor in keeping sps that thrive, the calcium and mag can vary slightly but the alk has to be spot on and stay there. That can be the issue with dosing vs. calcium reactors. With a reactor, you get it dialed in so your alk is right and then it pretty much stays there. With dosing it is a daily commitment to keeping it stable manually, so to speak, instead of having the reactor do it for you. It can be done, but requires much more input on your part.

 

[stingythingy45]

There's only large stands of monticap in my tank,but coralline out the wazzoo.
I use 2 part(Randy's) and occasionally drip some kalk at night.Nver had a problem with any swings,but I do have a large volume of water(160+ gals).
Most folks with smaller tanks just use water changes weekly(with a good reef salt) to keep parameters stable.

 

[Blueflu1]

Currently I have SPS in my tank and I don't use a Ca Reactor. I am however getting one today. I dose two part. I do have a problem with my Alk though. I need to dose two part 1/2 the time and just calcium supplements 1/2 the time because my alk is normally on the high end. I also supplement Mg. My SPS isn't growing fast but they are definately healthy.

 

[Reef55]

I think Dave hits it right on the head here. The alk swings are the most important factor in keeping sps that thrive, the calcium and mag can vary slightly but the alk has to be spot on and stay there. That can be the issue with dosing vs. calcium reactors. With a reactor, you get it dialed in so your alk is right and then it pretty much stays there. With dosing it is a daily commitment to keeping it stable manually, so to speak, instead of having the reactor do it for you. It can be done, but requires much more input on your part.

Without getting into to much of an argument here, I completely disagree. A calcium reactor output will drift over time.

With a dosing pump (ala the one's Greg Hiller has available right now), I only have to measure my tank's alk / calcium consumption rate, and do the math from there to figure out exactly how many minutes a day to run my pump (I made an excel file to do it for me if anyone wants it). I can accurately measure how much alk / calc my tank consumes, and I know exactly how much I am dosing back into the tank automatically with a dosing pump. So my levels due to this stay completely rock steady.

I've had a few calcium reactors in the past... you just can't get the precision you can with dosing using a reactor.

 

[NancyPichette]

Thanks everyone for the replies but I'm thinking these corals may not be for me as beautiful as they are. I like my vacations and though I do have someone to do the work while I am away I am trying to make everything as simple as possible. I have added the ATO and the chillers and the correct lighting system on timers and have everything on outlets that will automatically kick on in case the power should fail. I realize with all this things can still go wrong and have to be watched and as responsible as my daughter is I think worrying about a dosing system or ca reactor may just be more than she can handle.
Thanks again
Nancy

 

[Dave McReeferson]

I think Nancy is specifically looking for input on dosing manually, without either a reactor or a dosing pump system. With such a setup, I think it really comes down to the diligence of the reefkeeper. Sure reactors and dosing systems are great, but neither are not a requirement of success.

Another thing to keep in mind is that as you add corals, and as your existing corals grow, they will consume what they need faster and faster, making parameter swings much more dramatic in a shorter period of time.

 

[dedfish]

You say you have an ATO. You could use that to top off with kalk water. This is what I do. I have a few of the easier to keep sps, or at least I think they are easy to keep, and all I do is top off with kalk water.

 

[NancyPichette]

Dave,
your right, I was hoping I could just test what needs to be tested and add a few drops of something out of a bottle as needed . It sounds like from your statement that though my corals seem to be doing fine now that when they start to grow or I add more that I will start to have problems I will keep a eye on them and if things start to go downhill and I don't do the dosing or reactors I will find them a new home.
Nancy

 

[Mr.HaHa]

I am not running a CA reactor. Here is what my setup looks like
-75G tank with pretty strong flow (two vortechs).
-10G fuge
-carbon and gfo reactors

stock:
two maxima clams
two large colonies of acros (6" or so)
many smaller acro and monti colonies that have just started to take off (2-4"across)
a few baseball sized zoo rocks
whitefaced tang
melanrus wrasse
flame angel
true perc pair

my due diligence:
Kalk drip
i add magnesium and calcium twice week.

as of now my growth is steady. my superman and blue milleopora grow very fast in my tank. the other corals, tricolor tort, slimer, sunset, gomezi, stylo are a little slower but add maybe an inch a month to growth.

i test maybe once or twice a month and parameters are all in the standard ballpark for kh (8), ca (450), mg (1400).

i will certainly 2nd Dave McReeferson and his position on KH swings. KH is prob the most difficult parameter for me to keep so i have to be diligent on kh buffing.

i am pretty stocked at the moment and i certainly do not intend to add anymore clams or sps.

a ca reactor is certainly in my future but right now i do not have the space for one.

hth

 

[NancyPichette]

You say you have an ATO. You could use that to top off with kalk water. This is what I do. I have a few of the easier to keep sps, or at least I think they are easy to keep, and all I do is top off with kalk water.

How do you do that? I actually have a bottle of kalwasser (?) but I never used it after reading about it I got nervous that I could overdose and kill everything. Do you just add it to your ro water and it gets dosed when the pump kicks on to add water to the aquarium?
Nancy

 

[Mr.HaHa]

How do you do that? I actually have a bottle of kalwasser (?) but I never used it after reading about it I got nervous that I could overdose and kill everything. Do you just add it to your ro water and it gets dosed when the pump kicks on to add water to the aquarium?
Nancy

that is what i do as well BUT you must constantly stir the water/kalk mix. otherwise a sludge will collect at the bottom of the reservoir tank and when the pump doses a higher concetration of kalk water will pump into the tank.

i just add a pump into the reservoir and have it turn on on a timer for 15 minutes every hour.

 

[NancyPichette]

That doesn't sound to bad, I guess you would have to be really accurate in how much water you add to your top off water and keep adding the kalkwasser mix. If you added 2 gallons then add additional mix for two gallons. Wouldn't it be really helpful if a test was available to test the water and make sure it was the correct strength? I guess you just keep testing the aquariums water and if it's a little high then add more water to the top off without the Kalkwasser Mix and vice versa? I have never added mag or calcium but have added purple up . I'm going to go and test these things now and will see how bad things really are. Thanks again
Nancy

 

[marine mike]

My point exactly was about dosing by hand vs. calcium reactors, not dosing with a dosing pump as Nancy is not looking to do. Dosing by hand IMO is a much more inexact science than dosing with either a pump or a reactor. IMO setting a reactor bubble count and effluent output, then checking my alk every couple weeks (and very rarely finding any variance) was a lot easier than constantly finding slightly different alk readings, readjusting, redoing the math, and lastly constantly buying and/or mixing two part. I touch my reactor about once every 2-3 months, that is how much "drift" I experience. Bottom line here is that I think we all will agree sps with hand dosing is 100 percent possible, but IMO it is a lot more work on the part of the reefkeeper vs. a reactor or pump dose system......

 

[dedfish]

How do you do that? I actually have a bottle of kalwasser (?) but I never used it after reading about it I got nervous that I could overdose and kill everything. Do you just add it to your ro water and it gets dosed when the pump kicks on to add water to the aquarium?
Nancy

In my case the tank is located next to a closet. So inside the closet is a 20 gal brute that I use as my auto top off reservoir. I have a pair of float switches in my sump that control an aqualifter pump. The pump is set on a timer and comes on 3 times a day. If the sump level is low it fills the sump with the kalk water in the reservoir. I don't stir the kalk and I'm actually not very specific on amounts I dose. I sometimes don't even use kalk water as the top off. Sometime I may do it every other time I refill the top off. The aqualifter never pulls directly from the bottom of the reservoir, the tubing is set up in a way that won't allow this.

If you need more of an explanation or picture or whatever let me know.

Jason

 

[dedfish]

Oh and as far as the correct strength...the water will only 'absorb' so much of the kalk. I know the rough estimate of how many tablespoons per gallon that is for my kalk to reach the saturation point and I never add more than that to the water. With my tank and it's requirements so low I'm usually mixing at about half to 3/4 strength.

 

[marine mike]

According to Randy, water will take Kalk at about 2 teaspoons per gallon. Any more and it will start to percipitate out of solution. Adding vinegar as well can allow more Kalk to be dissolved but that gets a little involved more so than necessary.......