Refractometer, tds and Ca Reactor ?'s

[Samper]

Taxes are coming and I'm gonna go ahead and finish piecing my 75g together even though it won't be setup for atleast 3 more months. I need suggestions on a nice refractometer, tds meter and also a Ca reactor that I can use on my 20g for now but that I will be able to use on the 75 later. Dual chamber would be awesome and if it could come with bubble counter and tank for a good deal I'd buy it tonight. If any of you have any contacts and could help me find a nice deal so I can have a little of my taxes left over I'd be very grateful.

Other than that all I need is one more halide and a sump which I think I'm gonna skimp a on little, 50 more lbs of live rock, pvc for plumbing and I'm done.

[Poseidon]

I haven't seen one around lately, but GEO makes/made a heck of a nice reactor!!! BTW How did you get so lucky to get your taxes back ALREADY!!!???

Here you go...

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=creactor

[zhenya]

I haven't seen one around lately, but GEO makes/made a heck of a nice reactor!!! BTW How did you get so lucky to get your taxes back ALREADY!!!???

Here you go...

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=creactor

I run GEO reactor on my 75g tank and been happy as long as I owned it. Very easy to dial in and operate.

Don't skimp on a sump if you can help it, Samper. Make it as big as you can fit under your tank, it will go long way for you.

Forgot to add a pic of my GEO reactor for you.

[Samper]

You don't think I need a dual chamber?

Also the reason I said I was skimping on the sump is cause I was just going to use a very large rubbermaid with a frame around it. I'm putting a refugium up above the display so I don't need one in the sump. Basically I need a skimmer chamber and a return pump chamber. What else would I need? I think the very large brute containers can handle a mag 24 do you disagree?

also about the tds and refractometer, which brands should I be comparing?

[Samper]

Oh and I haven't gotten them back yet but the irs website says that my return should be back by 28 Jan so I'm doing some quick research.

[zhenya]

You don't think I need a dual chamber?

Also the reason I said I was skimping on the sump is cause I was just going to use a very large rubbermaid with a frame around it. I'm putting a refugium up above the display so I don't need one in the sump. Basically I need a skimmer chamber and a return pump chamber. What else would I need? I think the very large brute containers can handle a mag 24 do you disagree?

also about the tds and refractometer, which brands should I be comparing?

Samper, to be honest, I'd like to add another chamber solely for the purpose of blowing off excess CO2 and not letting too much of it get into the tank/sump.
Other than that the simgle chamber delivers enough alk/calcium for my tank.

As far as tds and refractometer goes, I use in-line tds meter that I bought from reefgeek and refractometers are pretty cheap this days. I think Jason at diyreef sells them for 35-40 bucks if I remember correctly.
I bought mine few years back that cost me 99.00 .
I would also check with the sposors here like the customaquatics and premiumaquatics for refractometers.

here's a pic of that tds meter




How large is that brute container that you want to use for the sump?
I think more than likely you'll be able to to use your MAG-24 but what about the buffles for bubbles and stuff?

[dougc]

I am running an MRC CR-2 reactor, which has the second chamber. I have a valve inline between the two chambers so I can test the effluent after the first chamber. The second chamber only raises the pH about 0.2, so I am not convinced that it is terribly important. I also run a kalk reactor, which mitigates the pH drop from the calcium reactor.

[Samper]

Doug I'm sure I'll be adding a kalk reactor also since I have massive room in my cabinet. I designed it to hold the kalk and calcium reactors, sump with external pump although I won't be running one as well as an ro unit and a chiller which aren't going in there either so I have plenty of room. I've heard nothing negative about the dual chambers only positive and so so responses like yours. I'd like to get one if possible but if enough people chime in that I don't need one I may do without.

Zhenya, I can fit a massive rubbermaid in the cabinet, I haven't determined exactly what size I need but if I place the return pump far enough away from the skimmer I really don't think I'll have many micro bubbles. What are your thoughts on this? The Euro Reef I have is pretty good about catching most of them and I'm hoping that what it doesn't catch won't make it all the way across to the return pump. How do the in line probes work? If possible I'd like to plumb everything in aka ph probes, tds meter etc and make it as nice as I can. I've seen some that look like the guy drilled holes in some of his plumbing, stuck the probe in and then sealed it somehow but I don't know how this all works/ties into the system. I want to minimize the posibility of leaking in as many places as I can.

[ereefic]

I'm running a Korallin 1502 CR and it is working very nicely. I made a small little ghetto 'second chamber', basically it was a funnel with some media that the effluent dripped through and it raised the effluent pH by 0.2, didn't make an impact on the tank pH. Then again, i'm not running my reactor very hard right now either, so don't know if that'll make a difference when I have to crank it up or not.

Refractometer we got at Dr. Foster and Smith at the RC price of $35 i think. Works well.

TDS meter we got with our Airwaterice.com RO/DI unit, it's a cheap one ($25) but seems to work just fine.

[zhenya]

Zhenya, I can fit a massive rubbermaid in the cabinet, I haven't determined exactly what size I need but if I place the return pump far enough away from the skimmer I really don't think I'll have many micro bubbles. What are your thoughts on this? The Euro Reef I have is pretty good about catching most of them and I'm hoping that what it doesn't catch won't make it all the way across to the return pump. How do the in line probes work? If possible I'd like to plumb everything in aka ph probes, tds meter etc and make it as nice as I can. I've seen some that look like the guy drilled holes in some of his plumbing, stuck the probe in and then sealed it somehow but I don't know how this all works/ties into the system. I want to minimize the posibility of leaking in as many places as I can.

Samper, I think you should be fine with that rubbermaid, I've seen it in action and it was fine in my friends tank. The only bubbles I was talking about, becides the ones from skimmer, is the bubbles that you get from drain line. My friend used some live rock and an pvc elbow on the end pointing up to eliminate most of the bubbles.
The inline TDS meter comes with the "T's where you put your "out" and "in" hoses on your RO/DI unit. You can see in the picture one of the T's. It also has a switch that you can switch to show you tds from the source and tds coming out of your filter, which I thought was useful for me.

As far as securing probes, there are some probe holders that people sell, I can't find the link now but I will try to find it for you later(this way you can see it and maybe do one yourself). I think it was just some acrylic bracket with holes for various probes.The bracket( shelf-like) was hanging on the lip of the sump, if I remember correctly.

[Samper]

Alright Zhenya thanks a ton.

For the drain line I was thinking of using another rubbermaid bowl full of LR rubble and sitting the skimmer right beside it.

[zhenya]

Alright Zhenya thanks a ton.

For the drain line I was thinking of using another rubbermaid bowl full of LR rubble and sitting the skimmer right beside it.

You can also use a container with the lid for this(drainage), drill a hole in it for your line and with the elbow pointing up the bubbles will all go to the top, small hole with a pvc pipe in it will let the bubbles escape. I saw this done by Ryan Baker(rbaker) in the RC TOTM for this month. Check out this picture in his thread on RC.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=2

[Samper]

I like that design a lot and you can bet I'll be using it only modified to my tastes a bit.

[middlemark]

I use PA's refractometer, AWI's tds meter ... both fairly cheap, to my knowledge accurate. Hmmm.

On my 58 SPS tank I've been selling frags for B-ionic ... not the easiest/best solution, but on a 20 something to consider. Maybe when the 75 shows you'll want it - but my vote goes for doing the sump/etc right and putting off the reactor if that means going with `just enough' in terms of skimmer, flow, or light [or sump].

I'm looking to up last year's consumption of 4 months per gallon-jug set to three this year ... gotta get a reactor. But - worked great for about two years - until growth is now demanding more.

Go for the reactor if you can ... I would if I could. But if it's stretching, I'd make sure you're doing everything right first - as there's other ways of supplimentation. Skimming, water movement ... needed from the get-go.

Anyway - back to the intelligent reactor conversation - as I'm looking for one in maybe 6 months [praying for a deal on one at IMAC, else after] ... I'm tuned in for the duration

[Samper]

The skimming is covered

I already bought a Euro Rees Es 8-2 with the Sedra 5k pump.

For circulation I'm using a mag 24 and a couple of MJ 1200's possibly 4 on a wavemaker if I decide I need it. I'm still torn between a dsb and bb for the 75. So far I like the bare bottom and am leaning towards that since I'll have a nice refugium setup above the display. I plan to put a very deep dsb in it.

[middlemark]

Well, the skimmer's covered

Flow ... you'll just have to see. IMO, it's one of the more tank-aquascape-specific parts of this hobby. [also livestock dependent]

Personally, as someone running a BB tank, I wouldn't mix the refugium concept and the BB concept - unless as a BB 'fuge. Whether remote or in-tank - IMO it's either a DSB system or a BB system.

I thought removing my small DSB 'fuge very much helped my BB adventure, but then again it's one, single, anecdotal report. But any fuge will act as a settling area - not what you're looking for with the BB, but that's just IMO.

You could run it without the DSB ... but might not be what you want. And probably would work as a settling tank to a degree, needing upkeep.

Just thoughts thrown out, feel free to disregard.

---

Sounds like the reactor is right in time, now that I know the whole story [thanks] - given you have everything else nailed down pretty solid IMO. Should be a sweet setup, looking forward to watching it grow.

[Samper]

I don't expect to have too much deitrus end up in the fuge so you could be right. I've seen some beautiful refugiums browsing around on the net and I really like the idea behind running one but my display I feel should be BB. The stand I designed has the fuge up above the main for a gravity feed so the fuge will actually be part of the display. I'd like to make it as nice as I can and as diverse as possible since it'll be out in the open. Would the small sand bed not act as a better breeding ground for more pods or even have a small buffering capability? I had planned on buying some of the sand kits that I've seen online to seed it. I'd appreciate everyones imput on this small matter and will take all factors into consideration.

pics of my stand are in my gallery if you want an idea how I designed this system.

[ereefic]

I do run a small BB fuge with chaetomorpha in it only. There is a small powerhead in the return area of the sump that feeds it and there is alot of detritus that collects there, but it's easy to syphon out.

[Samper]

For some reason I've had my heart set on a dsb in the fuge with some LR rubble and cheato, one day I'll run some mangroves but not in a 20g. Someone else put some thoughts into this and please list pros and cons for me running or not running a dsb in the fuge with a bare bottom display. My flow won't be great enough up to the fuge to even worry about stirring up the sand. I planned on seading it with a couple of live sand activator kits that I will purchase online. I also plan on eventually keeping a mandarin so I'll need the maximum amount of pods possible draining down to the display. I don't really plan on keeping any algaes that go sexual so I'm limited.

[ereefic]

Why is your heart set on having a DSB fuge?

If it is because you want pods for a mandarin, you don't need a DSB for that. Some LR rubble will be enough for the pods.

Is it because you want the denitrification effects of a DSB? In a 20 gal. tank there probably isn't enough area to be beneficial. And I would expect it to 'fill up' in very short time.

The whole idea behind BB tanks are to remove the detritus before it has a chance to break down in the tank. By adding a DSB, anywhere in the system, you won't be doing that. You'll be sinking them into a DSB only to return later on and haunt you.