Any success with the Pax Bellum N18?

[slosoak]

Full light from the start

 

[oldcoach7]

do you leave the pump on 24 hrs to run water through algae or is your pump on only when light is on? thx

 

[pecan2phat]

You need to run the pump 24/7 unless you're doing maintenance on the reactor.

 

[mwilk19]

The pump runs 24/7.

 

[BigHildy53]

My pump runs 24/7 also.

 

[Ecvernon]

My n24 started great during the 1st four months. I've been dosing the iron supplement daily. After that, I have been unable to get it to grow like I used to. I am about to send out a Triton test to see if there is anything going on with the trace elements.

This picture is how the harvest was for the 1st few months. I have a ton of fish and No3, and Po4 has always been >10 and >0.05 respectively

 

[Ecvernon]

now it ends up like this every time

 

[mwilk19]

now it ends up like this every time

Contact Pax Bellum. Maybe they can tell by your pictures what is going on.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

now it ends up like this every time

I have the same issue. Curious what might be the cause.

 

[Ecvernon]

I did my water change and maintenance tonight and decided to clean the Arid. I collected some of the brown detritus/slimes that was covering the dying cheato in the reactor and put it under my toy microscope.

To my surprise, there was a lot of ostreopsis dinoflagellates. I've dealt with them briefly in my display tank and got rid of them using a Jebao UV sterilizer. I rinsed the cheato and started to run the UV before the Arid. Hopefully ill see some changes. I also have a Triton test in the mail; I'll contact Paxbellum when I get the results.

 

[mwilk19]

I did my water change and maintenance tonight and decided to clean the Arid. I collected some of the brown detritus/slimes that was covering the dying cheato in the reactor and put it under my toy microscope.

To my surprise, there was a lot of ostreopsis dinoflagellates. I've dealt with them briefly in my display tank and got rid of them using a Jebao UV sterilizer. I rinsed the cheato and started to run the UV before the Arid. Hopefully ill see some changes. I also have a Triton test in the mail; I'll contact Paxbellum when I get the results.

I went through the dinoflagellate scourge a couple of years ago. Like you, I ran the Jebao UV sterilizer to get rid of them. Please keep us informed of what you hear from Pax Bellum.

 

[dodgerblew]

I run mine on a reverse light schedule and cheato grows great for me except when my nitrates are to low and I don’t dose the iron or nitrate that’s provided. Not purposely, I just don’t think about it

 

[SantaMonica]

My n24 started great during the 1st four months. I've been dosing the iron supplement daily. After that, I have been unable to get it to grow like I used to.

What is your Alk ?

 

[mwilk19]

What is your Alk ?

8.2

 

[Ecvernon]

What is your Alk ?

About 8.5 Dkh

 

[mwilk19]

Last try. Cleaned the reactor out,cleaned the pump, fresh chaeto, made sure I added Pax Bellums additives. If I don't have success this time, someone's going to get a good deal on a N-18.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

following just set mine up hoping it takes care of my crazy high nitrates

 

[Wrasse-cal]

I had some trouble with mine that I believe I may have recently resolved. I suspect the issue impeding growth was that hair and slime algae would grow along with the chaeto, smother the chaeto and kill it.

My inelegant solution was to rinse out my chateo a few times to dislodge any dead matter/slime/hair algae. Then I took out the algae holder and cleaned it with a bleach solution. I then rinsed the holder really well, neutralized any remaining bleach with chlorine remover, and then returned the chaeto. Seems so far to be working.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

Contact Pax Bellum. Maybe they can tell by your pictures what is going on.

@Ecvernon you should contact pax bellum. Tristan is really responsive: [email protected]

 

[Ecvernon]

@Ecvernon you should contact pax bellum. Tristan is really responsive: [email protected]

Thanks!
You are correct he is very responsive, I just received my Triton results and emailed him at 3 am. I received a detailed response by 9 am.
I've been in contact with him, so I expect to post about it later.