Pax Bellum Algae Reactor?

[Gary Ellis]

I have a new Pax Bellum algae reactor coming and was wondering. Should I run the lights 24/7 or have them on a timer?

 

[725196]

Good morning. I have the n18 and so far I am really digging it. At first I was running the lights 24/7 but then I read some articles about over taxing the macro and it needing a break. To be honest I don’t know if that’s true or not. (I called algae barn about 6 months ago and asked them, they run the lights 24/7). What I will say I noticed, anecdotally, is that when I switched to 12 on, 12 off, the opposite of my DT lights, my nightly PH drop was not as low. I say anecdotally because I never tested it beyond setting it to 12/12 so it could be a fluke.

Whatever you sexy to go with I think you will be happy with the Pax!

 

[Gary Ellis]

Thanks, good to hear. I have the N18 coming. Looking forward to it. Oh, how do you determine how much flow you run through it?

 

[Gary Ellis]

Anybody else care to reply?

 

[Betex]

Anybody else care to reply?

I would guess it also depends on how your nutrients level are, I personally would not want to chance having them completely bottom out. I run on the higher side with 20-30no3 .08-.12po4 I just run my fuge on 12on 12 off setup so probably not best person to answer.

 

[Subsea]

I made my own algae reactor from 3” clear pvc and it stands three feet tall.

My focus was nutrient recycling of live food, so copepod & amphipod production was my goal. The grape Caulerpa is a matrix to grow pods. With that said, I run lower flow velocity so detritus remains in reactor as food for pods.

 

[Gary Ellis]

Got it, now I have the problem of how to determine the flow for it. I'm using an Apex Cor 20 split to pump water to a UV sterilizer and the Pax Bellum. They both require around 200gph. I can't really pump water out of my sump to measure for flow so I guess I'm just going to have to rely on my eye site and watch the flow. I don't know of any other way to do it. I've heard that too little flow is not good but, more than the required amount will not hurt. Is this correct?

 

[Subsea]

In both cases of uv sterilizer & chaeto reactor, optimum flow varies with your specifics. In the case of UV Sterilizer, if you merely want to sanitize/polish the water of bacteria & algae spores then high flow is best. On the other hand if you wish to kill parasites like ick then a longer dwell time with slower flow rate is required.

 

[Gary Ellis]

Yes, Thanks for that info on the UV but the Pax Bellum is my concern at the moment. Is it OK to have more flow than not?

 

[Subsea]

Yes, Thanks for that info on the UV but the Pax Bellum is my concern at the moment. Is it OK to have more flow than not?

If your priority is algae reactor as nutrient export than more flow makes sense until you compress chaeto with hurricane force velocity.

If your priority is nutrient recycling of live food than lower flow allows surface film on macro as ideal food for amphipods & copepods which uses your algae reactor as a refugium.