diff --git a/controllers/k8ssandra/secrets.go b/controllers/k8ssandra/secrets.go
index dd75dbc7b..7b0cad301 100644
--- a/controllers/k8ssandra/secrets.go
+++ b/controllers/k8ssandra/secrets.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package k8ssandra
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	reaperapi "github.com/k8ssandra/k8ssandra-operator/apis/reaper/v1alpha1"
 
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
 	api "github.com/k8ssandra/k8ssandra-operator/apis/k8ssandra/v1alpha1"
@@ -64,8 +65,8 @@ func (r *K8ssandraClusterReconciler) reconcileReaperSecrets(ctx context.Context,
 				uiUserSecretRef.Name = reaper.DefaultUiSecretName(kc.SanitizedName())
 			}
 			kcKey := utils.GetKey(kc)
-			if kc.Spec.Reaper != nil && kc.Spec.Reaper.ReaperRef.Name == "" {
-				// ReaperRef presence indicates we use an Control Plane Reaper, which talks to C* via mgmt API, so we don't need a CQL user
+			if kc.Spec.Reaper != nil && kc.Spec.Reaper.StorageType == reaperapi.StorageTypeCassandra {
+				// We reconcile the CQL user secret only if Reaper uses Cassandra to store its data
 				if err := secret.ReconcileSecret(ctx, r.Client, cassandraUserSecretRef.Name, kcKey); err != nil {
 					logger.Error(err, "Failed to reconcile Reaper CQL user secret", "ReaperCassandraUserSecretRef", cassandraUserSecretRef)
 					return result.Error(err)