kalk phophates and carbon reactor??

[khoivo1]

i just wonder if all of these reactor is the same unit

kalk reactor
and phophate reactor
and carbon reactor
all of the reactor above is same or not,,,,i alway thinking they all same thing,,,but not sure
i have a kalk reactor that i don't use much,, should i use it as phophate reactor or carbon reactor? which is more important?? thanks

[xenon]

you can use a phophate reactor for carbon but a kalk stirrer is totally different.

[Sk8r]

No. By reactor they mean a cylinder or other sealed area.
And into same, they put some medium designed for the problem.

A phosban reactor is meant to absorb phosphate out of the water and attach it to the medium: this only works if there IS free phosphate [not inside the algae, where it normally is] in the water.

A carbon reactor is meant to absorb the things carbon absorbs: ammonia, metals, medicines, other chemicals.

A calcium reactor puts something out instead of absorbing: it uses a CO2 injector to help water aggressively dissolve calcium bits into the water it then outputs.

A kalk reactor or kalk drip system is much the same as a calcium reactor, except that it uses a natural property of your topoff ro/di water to dissolve the calcium in lime powder [Mrs. Wages Pickling LIme, et al.] to a precise saturation [which happens to be 2 teaspoons a gallon] and then your system uses this for topoff at a ph of around 12. It can satisfy the calcium AND alkalinity needs of most systems of 120 gallons or smaller, down to and including nano tanks. Actual kalk reactors have timed stirrers to help kalk dissolve, as fresh water is always entering the reactor via topoff pump: it is just as effective to dissolve 2 level tsp per gallon of kalk powder into your topoff water reservoir and just let it run as topoff in the ordinary way. [The stirrer is THE moving part, and it is prone to failures.] Personally, I have a huge reservoir with no stirrer and don't even measure: if the kalk didn't dissolve yet---it will, ultimately, as I dump more water in. Undissolved kalk just sinks to the bottom: as long as your pump is sited above that area where undissolved kalk is, you will pump only properly dissolved kalkwater. It is the simplest method of handling the calcium and alkalinity needs of a tank, and also very safe: a kalk accident shoots too much in---and the worst that will happen generally is a ph spike, which sinks rapidly to normal, with little to no loss of life. If it is particularly bad, a very small dose of club soda, carefully monitored, will start the trend downward and help it get back to normal.

[khoivo1]

thanks

[khoivo1]

so how do i know when i should run phophates reactor?

[Sk8r]

If you have an annoying amount of algae in your tank you have excess phosphate.
There are several ways to get phosphate into your tank.
1. feed fish seaweed: it's abundant in seaweed.
2. feed fish pellet food. Ditto.
3. use conditioned tapwater. It's often abundant in drinking water.

There are 2 ways to get phosphate out of your tank.
BOTH require the tank area to have some of its algae destroyed, either by a fish eating it, or by turning the lights out for a few [3] days so it dies back a bit [you can only do this once a month. If you are using mh, you must do a day of actinic to not shock your corals, if any.
The two ways:
1. phosban reactor.
2. a refugium lit 24/7 will get it out nearly as fast, while producing copepods some fish like.

[khoivo1]

got it now,,so i do you a refugium setup ,,,i will lid it 24/7 then,,thanks