Kent Liquid Reactor

[JoJo]

Has anyone tried this stuff?? Is it any good or just a gimmick? Thanks!!

[Tau2301]

Here is a recent article by Randy Holmes-Farley.

Calcium Carbonate as a Supplement (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2002/chem.htm)

[Bob I]

I am probably a dummy, but upon reading that article, I really did not ascertain if that product is useful. The writer said he would tell us later in the article, but to me he did not really do so. I gleaned from the article that it might be useful to put some aragonite in the pail one uses for topup water, but really nothing more. Could someone tell me if I misread it?
Bob

[JoJo]

Hi Bob,

I didn't understand the article neither. But Ace and I have been using the LIquid Reactor since July. We haven't been dosing kalk very much, but we are getting very good coralline coverage and SPS growth.

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

I think what he is trying to say that stuff like Argamilk and Kent Liquid reactor don't work as well as what the manufactures claim. In other words, it doesn't really replace a calcium reactor in all cases. It is better than adding nothing, but the claims have been overstated.

Essentially, this is water with grounded up calcium carbonate...like calcium carbonate milk. It will work if you have areas in your tank that have low pH (say 6.8 or less) and lots of CO2...which do occur in sandbeds,refugiums, tanks with lots of fish or tanks with a calcium reactor. If you drip kalk or have a high pH tank...this stuff is essentially useless. The pH must be low to seperate the Calcium Carbonate powder in to its Ca++ and carbonates / bicarbonates. If the pH is too high, the powder just falls on to your sandbed...as sand.

If you believe in calcium carbonate sandbeds dissolving overtime, then this milk stuff will do better since it has more surface area. More surface area means more angles for the CO2 to react with the CaCO3.

A cheaper way to accompish the same thing is to use calcium sand bed and dissolve it in top-off water with an air pump.

Does that answer you question ?

- Victor.