Calcium reactor vs Dosing pump dosing 2 part

badgerlaw · 11/20/2006, 05:38 PM

For simplicity sake and keeping PH, Alk and calcium constant which is a better method, a calcium reactor or a dosing pump dosing B-Ionic or some other 2 part mix?

manderx · 11/21/2006, 12:24 PM

as long as you have good controls on the dosing pumps, 2-part is much easier. problem is it's also much more expensive unless you DIY it. just to experiment i took my reactor offline and used my litermeter to control 2 ebay peristaltics for a month dosing b-ionic. ended up using the entire gallon of each within that month ($30). right now i'm trying biocalcium as another experiment, but it's looking like it will be just as if not more expensive than the 2-part was. so when i run out of this i'll go back to my reactor for sure, even though i was getting better results with the b-ionic and much better results with the biocalcium. i think it's due to the 'other stuff' in them, i've never had a problem maintaining the exact same numbers (pH, Ca, Alk) regardless of which i use. i've also been using kalk the whole time (all topoff through a kalk stirrer).

11/20/2006, 05:38 PM	#1
badgerlaw Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: SOCAL Posts: 247	Calcium reactor vs Dosing pump dosing 2 part For simplicity sake and keeping PH, Alk and calcium constant which is a better method, a calcium reactor or a dosing pump dosing B-Ionic or some other 2 part mix?

11/21/2006, 12:24 PM	#2
manderx Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Christiansburg, VA Posts: 4,893	as long as you have good controls on the dosing pumps, 2-part is much easier. problem is it's also much more expensive unless you DIY it. just to experiment i took my reactor offline and used my litermeter to control 2 ebay peristaltics for a month dosing b-ionic. ended up using the entire gallon of each within that month ($30). right now i'm trying biocalcium as another experiment, but it's looking like it will be just as if not more expensive than the 2-part was. so when i run out of this i'll go back to my reactor for sure, even though i was getting better results with the b-ionic and much better results with the biocalcium. i think it's due to the 'other stuff' in them, i've never had a problem maintaining the exact same numbers (pH, Ca, Alk) regardless of which i use. i've also been using kalk the whole time (all topoff through a kalk stirrer).