calcium doser vs. reactor

[acsi]

I have finally gotten through the cycling and have a few corrals and just added a few fish to my 90g reef tank-in-progress. I 'm going to be on vacation for three weeks and I know the family will not be able to manage the b-ionic. Right now I add 10 ml of each part per day. I have an Octopus. 4000 controller just installed to run lights, wavemaker etc to I could run a dosing pump or calcium reactor off that. Any suggetions on which would be better? I am concerned mainly about reliability and ease of use. What do you use and how do you your systems?

[bertoni]

I'm leaving tomorrow morning on vacation, so I identify with this problem. Mine is relatively short.

I use kalkwasser (limewater) for topoff, which helps automate the maintenance. IMO, the strength of the limewater needs to be adjust carefully, and then you might be able to use it for long vacations. That's what I intend to do. There are two parameters for limewater dosing: the amount of lime, and the amount of vinegar. Once that's dialed in, maybe your family could do that, or you could premix enough to last.

Using a dosing pump with B-Ionic should be feasible. I use a two-channel peristaltic pump, which could be used to deliver the B-Ionic. I think a timer should be enough to get a reasonably close dosage.

In either case, teaching a family member or two how to run a pH and alkalinity test, so they could watch for signs of problems, might save a lot of pain.

[adrinal]

might cause a lot of pain too...
choose your trusted family member wisely