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DIY CARX thoughts


Bpb

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so I happened across a free eheim 2213 canister filter. Not really having anything to do with it, I considered just giving it away. A friend suggested using it as a co2 reactor for my planted tank. Not a bad idea. Got me thinking though, could this be used as a calcium reactor? Then I found this picture.

Seems like with some basic pieces from lowes and another regulator I could make this happen. After all it's got an eheim circulation pump built in. I would need to drill a hole and install a ph probe socket.

Any major concerns I should keep in mind if I do this? Honestly the thread I found the pic on kinda ended without any updates and it was really old. I've not found any other accounts of this being done. Thoughts?

post-2651-0-84684400-1431476912_thumb.jp

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Ah nice. I like the idea of that effluent cup. This would be a long term project. Calcium reactors still terrify me. I hate how changing three different things will all have the same effect. Confuses the crap out of me

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Possibly no updates cause it doesn't work.

1-material too thin, drilled a hole to mount pH probe is not safe,I could leak.

2-that pump is not enough strong to circulate wmixed water/co2. U might end up low pH on top section, not through out unit, and that water go back out to ur tank...

I am sure there r some experts here will cime in.

Just my 2cent.

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Pump runs about 100gph I believe.

It's possible the idea didn't pan out, I would have thought the OP would have mentioned why if it didn't. I'll still think about it. Either way but not in any hurry to make it happen.

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I don't see a pH probe in that picture. I would not drill the canister to install one. I would build a pH probe housing like this one, or use a push connector to fit the probe into. I had looked into building my own reactor for a while and I may still do it when I find time.

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Honest opinion, if a purpose built piece of equipment exists, spend the money on the application specific tool ESPECIALLY if it can kill your tank if it malfunctions. Just my 2 cents.

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You know, I'll likely chicken out of doing such a thing, and probably never run a CARX anyway, because I don't have the dough to buy a GEO or Koralin unit presently, and functioning non-leaking, plug 'n play units of those brands are virtually never available on the used market, and when they are they're taken WAY before I'm able to get at them. I've been looking for a couple years now, and can count on one hand the number of working, decent CARX I've found between Austin and Houston on forums and on craigslist, within a reasonable used budget. They're always taken ultra fast.

By the time I found a good used one, My tank would have grown in to the point that I'd be too afraid to change something as big as Ca and Alk supplementation. You can easily nuke a tank trying to dial in a CARX. Rest assured, if/when I move to a new home, and do yet another tank start over, I'll be running a CARX from the beginning and wont put a single acro in the tank until I have one completely good to go and running already.

This eheim is going to be used as supplemental flow and a CO2 reactor/diffuser for my planted tank build.

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Many people have very successful tanks using two part additives. I got a reactor because I know that I won't keep up with the testing and dosing. I saved up for about a year by selling corals and putting that money into a piggy bank. I bought my controller the same way. If the money doesn't touch the bank account then you don't miss it when it comes time with make that purchase cool.png

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Oh i'm with you on setting cash aside for reef purchases, been doing it a while now. Sitting on about $400 that never saw my bank account or ever made it into the family money books, if you catch my drift lol, I could get a carx with that, but my bulbs are painfully old, and i need several other odds and ends that are going to account for most of that. I think by the time I had enough for a reactor and a new CO2 regulator, I'd be too afraid of crashing the tank during the fine-tuning process. My acros are finally starting to behave. I do have an Avast kalkwasser reactor hanging out in the garage waiting to be used once I'm up to an equivalent amount of 2 part in my daily dose. I'll then bring the kalk reactor online, and will re-introduce 2 part as needed. with fully saturated kalk and 2 part I should be able to maintain a tank my size without getting too out of hand on dosing powder purchases

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Haha you aren't kidding! I'm glad that I'm not the only one. I love living on a budget and it's nice to buy fish stuff guilt free.

I hear ya about the acros. A faulty solenoid fried my tank a few months back and I'm still recovering. That's what I get for buying used. Well, part of it was my fault. It's hard searching for 18 little bodies in huge mound of live rock. I'll never make that mistake again and I removed the majority of my rock to help me help my stupid self in the future. I wish I had done it when I first set up the tank.

I ran the reactor without a controller and that is what killed me. If I had had the controller to start with then I wouldn't have had a tank crash.

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  • 4 weeks later...

What are everyone's thoughts on running a calcium reactor off of a return pump vs an adjustable peristaltic pump like the master flex. The people on RC are more or less telling me it's pointless to run one unless it's on a $500 master flex pump. Interested in the aquamaxx calcium reactor as it seems designed to run without an additional feed pump entirely

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yeah, the peristaltics that are built for continuous use that have enough flow rate for CaRx use are pretty expensive. they can also be noisy. I'm pro aquamaxx for the exact reason you mentioned. i think its probably easier to maintain consistent flow (and by proxy alk/ca) by using a standalone pump vs a manifold. it's probably not enough of a difference to freak out about it, but I also like the idea of being able to apex off the feed pump, something you can't do in a manifolded system.

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I've run two different ones off of manifolds and also a maxi jet 600. Takes a little dialing but never needed a peristaltic.

I know Ol Aggie has a peristaltic and it's quite loud... reminds me of my water sampling days. Luckily he has all his equipment in a closet away from the tank.

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Ty, what do you currently run your carx off of? If I go forward with this I'll need some serious help to figure out tuning. I'm at a bit of a fork in the road. I tend to set aside and water my pennies for several months and do one or two big purchases for the tank a year. At this point I'm really just in upgrade mode since there's not really anything new that I lack and need.

My options are to

A: ($290 estimated total cost) Buy another set of used BRS dosing pumps to have spares for when mine die ($100-120 depending on how patient I am), along with 2-5 gallon buckets of Ca and Alk ($170). This should be enough to set me for 2 years most likely, pending catastrophic pump failure

B: ($570 estimated total cost) Buy a Neptune DOS, and know that even if I double my current dose rate, I can expect at the very least 6 years of run time before the pump heads are rated to fail. That's pretty dang good ($400, yikes. Thats expensive for 2 part, but the stability would be about as good as you can get due to the stepper motors which dose via volume not time), 2-5 Gallon buckets of Ca and Alk ($170)

C: Calcium Reactor. ($550-570 estimated total cost)Pending finding a nice used unit, which I havent asked around too much about on here, I expect to pay between $350-400 for a brand new one [Looking at the GEO 612(amazing track record, simple and effective), Aquamaxx S1(basically zero online reviews after extensive searching, sure looks pretty, vacuum feed style worries me about constant clogging), Skimz Monster CM 122 (lots of videos and info on BRS about this one, but no online reviews to be found)] Price point on all of these are pretty close, with the aquamaxx being the cheapest I believe. The Korallin is comparable in size and capability, but at 50% higher price tag, I'm not sure I'm even interested in entertaining one of those as an option, considering there is nothing groundbreaking about the design to set it apart from the other 3. I already have a spare 20# CO2 tank to use, but don't have a regulator or feed pump. As mentioned before several people are telling me to not even bother unless I buy a masterflex. If that's the case, I wont even bother. On my budget that just won't happen. You people that I trust say it can be done with as little as a MJ600, so that's a super cheap option I may entertain, or possibly a Sicce 0.5 or something comparable in size and output. Regulator has me totally stumped. I could easily go pick up myself another Milwaukee reg and solenoid for $100 and be done with it, or a SS single stage Tunze pressure regulator without solenoid which would be slightly more robust. I am lusting over the custom SS dual stage regulators floating around, but the $350-500 price tag makes that a pipe dream as well. What can I say, I'm a reefer on a budget. I know the hobby isnt cheap, but I'm not quite in that tax bracket sorry to say. Do I absolutely NEED to be to have a working calcium reactor that will allow me to grow large acros, even if it means checking the lines every day or two? Also plan to get a vertex micro needle valve for effluent control if I go this route. Forgot media

Don't know if I'm necessarily seeking brand advice, just brainstorming. I've only got a few fluid gallons of 2 part left so I'm going to have to make some sort of decision at some point on which direction to go. I know I'll need to keep up with very high demand

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I don't have any data to back this up, but I'm a big fan of CaRx just on a philosophical level, because it literally dissolves old coral to build new coral. You KNOW that everything they need will be there. You also don't get long term salinity creep like you do with 2-part dosing.

WRT to the aquamaxx, i think if you have the ability to put the Rx in the last (read cleanest) chamber of your sump, that your clogging issues should be pretty minimal. if you're looking at this from a budget perspective (CaRx specific), the best bet is a used reactor manifolded to your return pump.

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Marine depot does have a package deal on the aquamaxx with reactor, 8 lb of media, and cheapo regulator for $470. $100 under estimated cost. Seems a pretty good deal. The GEO would cost a touch more to buy new. I agree though on a fundamental level a calcium reactor seems like a healthier choice of dosing vs 2-part. With the cost involved though I don't want it to be a lateral move or a step down in consistency, stability, and reliability. It is looking like the feed and CO2 regulator will be ultimately the limiting factors here, with reactor chambers all being pretty similar. Acrylic cylinder with media and a pump circulating it.

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SIR!!!! Product purchases of this magnitude and cost are not made impulsively. Weeks to months of careful research and opinion gathering, a touch of mulling over, chewing on, sleeping on, and general thinkedness MUST be applied. Plus I have to find appropriate shipping carriers. Some of these nitwits ship USPS which throws a great big crescent wrench in my plan

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LOL its all fine and good for you to say "do it." You just purchased an entire reactor setup with reactor, tank, ph controller, and dual guage regulator...for a price that would be LESS than a USED dual guage regulator alone. The regulator is officially my current hangup. Until I decided what I'm gonna do there I'm in limbo. Its one thing if my cheap chinese made single stage brass milwaukee fails and kills a few guppies on my planted tank. It's another thing if one were to fail on a CARX, melt the media, and nuke a years worth of sps growth.

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how much that run you dan? i've been lurking on those regulator build threads literally all day as well as browsing lab gear surplus sites

Thats awesome of you josh, and it makes me a terrible person for considering it. LOL

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