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Randy's Red Sea Reefer 250

It's not really about how much. I started the CaRx on my 40b when I was only dosing 35ml of Alk. It's the stability that really affects the corals. And I was dosing alk every 10mins but still had better results from the CaRx.


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Yeah, 2-part wasn't a problem for me. Keeping it in a range of a few hundredths of dkh during the day was doable. While I am obviously interested in increased stability, not having to make 2-part and adding back trace elements since I get lazy about WC sometimes is what pushed me over. Plus, new shiny toy to play with!

I am currently dosing about 40ml of 2-part per day.
 
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Coral reefer said:
I see you got a fancy feed pump, what about the regulator? Get a nice fancy one of those too?
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Using the one I got from scuzy. Totally forgot to include that in the picture and post.

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Care to explain how it works for us non ca reactor folks? Is this some fancy digitally controlled solenoid or something? Ime with older regulators the issue is when the tank is full it puts out more co2 at the same setting than when it's lower on pressure.
How does this carbon doser solve that? Is this what most people are doing now as appeases to the double stage(?) regulators that I've read about? If so why? Is it cheaper? More reliable?
Thanks for the info. Love the idea of ca rx, just never felt like it's been affordable for me, mainly due to the crappyness of low quality fees pumps and single stage regulators. Expensive feed pump and regulator cost is seeming less and less prohibitive the older I get and the more I spend on my tank inhabitants.
I also find ph probes annoying...cleaning and calibrating etc...but once you have it set that shouldn't really matter much I guess.
Congrats on taking the leap!
 
If you want to fine tune your bubbles then a nice dual stage is the way to go. The carbon doser is better than regular single regulator since it has an electronic solenoid that open and closes really quick so it only releases a set size bubble each time. That's my understanding. Although end of tank dumps can happen it's issue is mitigated by the carx pH probe, your apex and the way the carbon doser works. Every cycle it's on it releases a set about if bubble. Like flaps on then off in micro seconds.
 
scuzy said:
If you want to fine tune your bubbles then a nice dual stage is the way to go. The carbon doser is better than regular single regulator since it has an electronic solenoid that open and closes really quick so it only releases a set size bubble each time. That's my understanding. Although end of tank dumps can happen it's issue is mitigated by the carx pH probe, your apex and the way the carbon doser works. Every cycle it's on it releases a set about if bubble. Like flaps on then off in micro seconds.
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Oh I see. So maybe a dual stage regulator is still better then?
 
Coral reefer said:
Oh I see. So maybe a dual stage regulator is still better then?
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Depends on setup if it's better for you. Solenoid will be controlled by pH probe and apex so bubble count/size doesn't really matter. Once effluent gets to a certain pH, just shut off the power to regular and the solenoid will close.
 
RandyC said:
Depends on setup if it's better for you. Solenoid will be controlled by pH probe and apex so bubble count/size doesn't really matter. Once effluent gets to a certain pH, just shut off the power to regular and the solenoid will close.
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That's not how you would use a dual reg/peristaltic setup.

Setup the pump to feed a steady rate, adjust the reg to give you a steady pH in the Rx. Dial up or down till you get to where you need it.

The solenoid and pH probe/Apex is just there for fail-safes. You don't use it to control effluent levels.



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Vhuang168 said:
That's not how you would use a dual reg/peristaltic setup.

Setup the pump to feed a steady rate, adjust the reg to give you a steady pH in the Rx. Dial up or down till you get to where you need it.

The solenoid and pH probe/Apex is just there for fail-safes. You don't use it to control effluent levels.



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Click to expand...

Yeah...I agree in theory....I'll get as close as possible with the regulator, but I'm slightly lazy. ;)
 
Dual stage is definitely the way to go if possible, with a nice solenoid. I was contemplating scuzy's setup since it was such a good price, but then after finding out the footprint of that sucker I decided to opt out. I'm already at 55mL of alk daily, which isn't high and it's not hard to mix the solutions with a stirrer, but that's another toy to consider.
 
Ibn said:
Dual stage is definitely the way to go if possible, with a nice solenoid. I was contemplating scuzy's setup since it was such a good price, but then after finding out the footprint of that sucker I decided to opt out. I'm already at 55mL of alk daily, which isn't high and it's not hard to mix the solutions with a stirrer, but that's another toy to consider.
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Definitely a big unit. I may never have to add new media for the life of my tank. No way it'd fit in the stand of a reefer 250 with a masterflex. It's going in the pantry/fish room.
 
Yeah, I thought so as well. The dimensions that was stated was already quite large without the masterflex and I wanted it all to fit underneath the stand.
 
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