herring_fish
06-02-2011, 12:32 PM
I have been using a dump bucket style ATS for many years but thought that I would add a kalk reactor after I saw the terrific growth in a friend's tank. He uses a skimmer and some cheato but he added a reactor and his growth rate went up quite noticeably.
I have been doing a major overhaul of my system and am planning to add a Kalk reactor but I was reading in another forum and I ran across this answer from Randy Holmes, to a question about the pros and cons of going skimmerless:
I experimented without my skimmer for several months. The primary issue that was immediately apparent was that the pH rose too much. I use limewater, and without the skimmer to aerate and bring in adequate CO2, the pH was too high.
Since I have a dump bucket that drops 2 gallons of water 1 foot, I get a good splash. I don't think that I will have an issue with not enough air exchange and the algae should keep the oxygen levels high.
Does anyone have experience using reactors? I know that the ATS community goes for a more natural environment when ever possible but how should a good reactor interact with a good ATS system?
I have been doing a major overhaul of my system and am planning to add a Kalk reactor but I was reading in another forum and I ran across this answer from Randy Holmes, to a question about the pros and cons of going skimmerless:
I experimented without my skimmer for several months. The primary issue that was immediately apparent was that the pH rose too much. I use limewater, and without the skimmer to aerate and bring in adequate CO2, the pH was too high.
Since I have a dump bucket that drops 2 gallons of water 1 foot, I get a good splash. I don't think that I will have an issue with not enough air exchange and the algae should keep the oxygen levels high.
Does anyone have experience using reactors? I know that the ATS community goes for a more natural environment when ever possible but how should a good reactor interact with a good ATS system?