I started this thread after looking at a number of reef tanks featured at Reefkeeping.com in their "Tank of the Month" section. What I found is that most of these spectacular tanks are well out of reach of the average hobbyist. Between the super sophisticated equipment, outrageous expense and the need to dedicate a whole wing of your house these tanks are simply not feasible for even a majority of advanced aquarists. Then I came across this 206 gallon tank:

  

Unlike a majority of the tanks seen in the "Tank of the Month" feature, this unit is self contained and holds all of its equipment under said tank. The only portion of this set up that is not under the tank is the RO/DI unit which is perfectly understandable. I find this to be extremely clean, well organized and easily operated compared to some of the beasts of a tank that I've seen.

For example, this is a beautiful tank, which is only 20 gallons larger, but good grief, look at the crap he has covering 2 floors for this one tank!!

 

Just like Tyler said, it takes a bit to dial in the dosing amounts, but once you do, stability is the norm.  I was always afraid of low Ph from calcium reactors and, therefore, never got into them.

I suggest you examine the costs associated with each method.   Depending on the size of your tank and the expected usage, one system may stand out over the other. 

 

With a calcium reactor, the bulk of the cost is in equipment.  After the initial hit, the maintenance costs are fairly reasonable.  Filling of CO2 bottles and replacement media is really all you need.  Both of which can be easily acquired locally.

 

I used a peristaltic pump for years to add kalkwasser to my system as top off.  The pumps are not cheap, but there is virtually no cost to run them.  You will have to replace the tubing occassionally, but it is super cheap.  The cost of liquid additives can be quite high, unless you find them in bulk from a chem supply store.

 

Let us know what you figure the costs will be.  I'm curious!

Has anyone tried the "balling method" for adding calcium, magnesium and other trace elements to their reef tanks? If so, how does it compare to a calcium reactor? 

Anybody have any thoughts on this?