Neptune Aquatics

Kalkwasser and SPS dominated Tanks 150-200g

Turkeysammich said:
It makes all the 3 major elements extremely flat.
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Big one for me. With 2/3 part solution, I was always testing and fiddling with adjusting the individual dosing of ca, alk, and mg and they were often out of balance, but maybe that's my tank's problem.

With a carx you can add in magnesium chips so you get alk, ca, and mg all in one. I only test alk now because I know the other two are balanced.
 
CaseyP said:
Big one for me. With 2/3 part solution, I was always testing and fiddling with adjusting the individual dosing of ca, alk, and mg and they were often out of balance, but maybe that's my tank's problem.

With a carx you can add in magnesium chips so you get alk, ca, and mg all in one. I only test alk now because I know the other two are balanced.
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Exactly, that's why the better term some people use these days is alkalinity reactor. The old way was adding some dolomite if Mg was deficient in the coral bones you're using.
 
ReyDeFarts said:
You would still be dosing the eff of the CARX...correct? So still dosing. Also, depending on which dosers, the little spikes you speak of are insignificant if done in small doses spread throughout the day. Especially when "flash mixed" in high flow areas.

Also, speaking of old school and the "old is new" perspective, they used to hand dose (bolus) back in the day for massive spikes and their tanks did good. As are a lot of folks jumping on that Bolus trend now.

Based on cost alone, personally, I see no benefit to setting up a CARX. I do say that with a bit of ignorance because I have never set one up. But from what I have seen, I could easily replicate what a CARX produces with solutions and dosers. CARX is only providing Ca and Alk, primarily correct? And a depressed pH solution along with it? Unless ran through another chamber to offset it (another expense). Or am I wrong in my perception of these?

I don't have the desire to spend that much money for equipment to experiment and compare with my current dosing solution which has proven effective. It would be years before I see the difference in costs. If I come across a good used CARX unit, then I would consider it. Just so I could have the experience to speak about it with more confidence.
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Carx media will provide alk, ca and some trace elements. You can add Magnesium chips to the media to provide magnesium as well. pH effects of the acidic effluent can be managed by a secondary chamber with reactor media, co2 scrubber or dosing kalk.

The cost probably doesn't balance out until you have around a 75+ gallon acro dominated tank. For me though, it was more about the maintainance of kalk solutions or alk/ca. I started hating mixing powders and the little spills here and there that had to be wiped up otherwise they leave precipitate stains. And unless you mixed large quantities (for acro tanks), you'd have to make/refill containers every couple of weeks. Kalk is hard on pumps and keeping tubing and sump clean from kalk crust can be a pain to clean.

Two/three part and kalk are great solutions that work, but I personally just got sick of the mixing and filling containers of stuff. Especially with multiple tanks running. So the extra cost even for small tanks was worth switching to a carx so I only have to clean the setup and change media once or twice a year of a carx. On a smaller mixed reef tank without much uptake, I think I went almost a year and a half without having to touch the carx once. However, if you're going purely on a cost/money basis, it might not be worth it for most reefers.

But money isn't the only thing I weigh in the decision. If it saves me time and stops me from having to do things I don't like to do, that adds a lot of value to me.
 
RandyC said:
Carx media will provide alk, ca and some trace elements. You can add Magnesium chips to the media to provide magnesium as well. pH effects of the acidic effluent can be managed by a secondary chamber with reactor media, co2 scrubber or dosing kalk.

The cost probably doesn't balance out until you have around a 75+ gallon acro dominated tank. For me though, it was more about the maintainance of kalk solutions or alk/ca. I started hating mixing powders and the little spills here and there that had to be wiped up otherwise they leave precipitate stains. And unless you mixed large quantities (for acro tanks), you'd have to make/refill containers every couple of weeks. Kalk is hard on pumps and keeping tubing and sump clean from kalk crust can be a pain to clean.

Two/three part and kalk are great solutions that work, but I personally just got sick of the mixing and filling containers of stuff. Especially with multiple tanks running. So the extra cost even for small tanks was worth switching to a carx so I only have to clean the setup and change media once or twice a year of a carx. On a smaller mixed reef tank without much uptake, I think I went almost a year and a half without having to touch the carx once. However, if you're going purely on a cost/money basis, it might not be worth it for most reefers.

But money isn't the only thing I weigh in the decision. If it saves me time and stops me from having to do things I don't like to do, that adds a lot of value to me.
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This is how I am thinking about it. I think the folks who can't make sense of Carx just don't have a tank that demands one yet. They never made much sense to me either until my tank got to the point where I am now having to dump enormous amounts of liquid (kalk, alk, ca) into the tank every single day to keep up.

It's more pumps to manage, more dosing to stay on top of and calculate, more containers to keep filled, etc etc etc. Carx start to make a ton of sense - I haven't really calculated cost or anything as an input, just looking for less maintenance.
 
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The most cost effective solution in our hobby is to not be in it. Everything after that is not the optimal solution so it’s just a matter of value of the cost vs what you are getting or avoiding for your money. And of course time value vs money value is different for everyone. Such personal choices. The discussions of what is the most cost effective solution can be valuable when 1 person is deciding for themselves, but often miss the point when it is 1 person telling another person what they should do.
 
Newbies installing CA-RX
 

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Here is another opinion on Carx and using kalk slurry to replace it. Luca Martino (Mahina Corals) on Reefbum podcast


He started this thread on R2R:

www.reef2reef.com

Say you could slowly dose dry calcium hydroxide (kalk) in a reef tank water mixing chamber.....

Ok please hear me out. Let’s just say you found this amazingly precise dry powder metering gizmo where you could fill a small hopper with dry kalk (aka calcium hydroxide) and it would meter the powder into a mixing chamber that contained your reef tank water. @Randy Holmes-Farley I know you...
www.reef2reef.com www.reef2reef.com
 
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