Cal Reactor question
 

Do you have to replace the media in the cal reactor? Or do you just top it off when is starts to get low?

Thanks

I've just added more.

Yup
 

the media actually disolves in the acidic environment of the Rx thus it needs to be replaced...
D

Depends on what media you're using, if you have the finer grained ARM stuff I'd replace it all as it gets pretty slushy after awhile. Usually I'd let the reactor run to within 3-4" of the bottom, then replace it.

Now I'm using the larger grained stuff, its almost like 1/2-3/4" chunks of coral, I just top it off when it gets down about half way or sometimes if its looking pretty gunky I just empty the reactor and give it a rinse, clean out the reactor and put it back in with new mixed in.

I always liked the finer stuff better though. :biggrin:

care to expand why

After hearing about the larger grained media and how "fantastic" it was I switched to that from the ARM. At that time I was using an Ocean Aquatics reactor and well, the fiddling about with the controls was a serious pain in the arse to get the media to melt. It seemed that I could never get it consistent, would have to use a ton of CO2 to get the stuff to melt. Previously I'd never had an issue with the ARM media, even when I had to clean the reactor and refill it, I just put it back together and turned on without having to fart around with it. ARM melts at a pH of about 7.4 or something while the new larger stuff needed about 6.2 (from what I remember). During this dial in time with the new media, my tank really suffered and wasn't doing well. A friend suggested I try a new Schuran pico reactor that also used the larger media but not the caribsea stuff, they had their own Schuran media which was supposed to be better. My reactor is pretty tiny, albeit more efficient I suppose (although not with the CO2, unless I still haven't figured that out either). So I add media when it gets down to about half (which is about every couple of months, it goes through it like crazy, but then it only holds about a pound of media).

I dunno, I guess both types of media get the job done. However with this new reactor I have to get my 10lb CO2 bottle filled every 4 months versus every 8-9 months with the other one. I think its due to the melting pH being lower for the larger grained stuff.

Thanks Christy.
I am using the large stuff as well. But I find I need to run it at about 6.5 to get it to melt.

Yeah the pH has to be fairly low. I think I've tried running mine at about 6.5 and it wasn't as efficient, that was a couple years ago so I can't remember. Perhaps I'll have to run a little experiment :wink:

Thanks.

Been using the fine ARM without problems but also reading/hearing the wonders of the large media and getting tempted to switch.