Pet Habitat South Africa

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20 Apr 2019

The Mother Of All Calcium Reactors

Posted By : Guest

Filed Under : Marine Aquariums | Deltec

Reefbuilders recently reviewed the new Deltec Twin-Tech Calcium Reactor and called it the “Mother of all Calcium Reactors.” The CR Twin-Tech is a new automatic calcium reactor from Deltec with a lot of bells and whistles, like all of them. At first look the CR-Twin Tech is a lot for the eyes to take in, but there’s a nice serving of German engineering with each and every piece.

The first big difference between the CR Twin-Tech and other automatic calcium reactors is the inclusion of an extra tube which is separate from the mixing chamber itself. This allows the water level to remain more stable even as the CO2 mixing chamber has aggressive water flow moving through it.

Some other innovative features include a special venting tube on the topside of the main calcium dissolving chamber, pH control for more precise control of dissolution rate and a high quality solenoid valve specially chosen for this application. The system itself is not fed by a peristaltic pump – even if very precise tends to drift in accuracy – but instead uses a tiny controllable DC feed pump with a small flowmeter in order to very finely control the feed rate to the CR Twin Tech.

All of these bells and whistles are connected to a central controller to make the solenoid valve, recirculation pump, feed pump and float switch all work together in perfect harmony. The body itself is made with Deltec’s renowned craftsmanship and uses schedule 80 pipe, with union valves everywhere, and very handy quick disconnect flange lids for easy access to both the reactor body and gassing chamber.

This heavy duty calcium reactor is practically a self-contained mini aquarium system unto itself with a controller to manage two DC pumps – one for the feed and one for recirculation – a float switch, a solenoid, a timer, and some programming to make it all work together. Although there’s a lot of bells and whistles on the Twin Tech, this device is fundamentally the same as any other calcium reactor, but how it handles CO2 injection is where it takes a different approach.

Instead of using a pH probe and controller to set the desired acidity of the water in the reactor, the Twin Tech uses the CO2-saturation approach and a float switch to determine when more CO2 is required. This is akin to how some other reactors like the DaStaCo & AquaCare operate, using a gassing chamber to drop the pH as low as the seawater will go. However the Deltec is a much more modern assembly with controllable pumps, quick access lid, and a more holistic design overall.

The new Deltec CR Twin-Tech calcium reactors and Deltec protein skimmers is now available in South Africa.