Pax Bellum Arid Reactor Experience

[Bob Loblaw]

...

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I feed very heavily and with the dosing other substances cheato will grow without there supplements

 

[Bob Loblaw]

...

 

[iReefer12]

I’ve read this before, but great to refresh.

Right now I have a massive imbalance then with No3:12ppm/Po4:1.03ppm

Nitrate came down rapidly, so may need to think about dosing Nitrate

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I do notice when I do there recommended dosing of there components the algae on my glass needs to be wiped dailey rather than every three days

 

[iReefer12]

Almost 3 weeks running. Did my first chaeto harvest today.

First I tested Po4, came to 1.01ppm, was hoping to be under 1 haha

Now, the chaeto!

I noticed a bit of detritus building up, wondering whether to use more flow? Currently at 400gph? Should I ramp up to 450gph?

 

[iReefer12]

3rd week in.

Here’s test results, disappointed as Po4 went up considerably, presumably because I pulled out a bunch of Chaeto?

Po4: 1.16ppm
No3: 10 ppm

Here’s the chart comparison for Po4 & No3. I’m wondering, do I need to bring up No3 to try and reduce Po4?

 

[iReefer12]

Tested water again today.

Po4: 0.96ppm
No3: 6ppm

Amazing to see the difference in my Nitrate, wish it was more effective with Po4, but going to dose some Nitrate to try balance it more to see if that helps pull down Po4

 

[iReefer12]

Water test update, 3/12/19

Po4: 0.81ppm
No3: 3ppm

I’ve now started dosing Nitrate to keep it high enough to hopefully pull out more phosphate.

It’s running really well so far.

 

[reeftivo]

i have an N18 on a smaller 80 gal total system. it works very well and i feed the iron molybdenum supplement with a pipette directly into to feed pump after the reactor lights come on (only 4 drops). i have to harvest weekly.
I've had mine running since early November. one thing to note on mine is that it likes to grow GHA that roots off the twisted lanyards and intertwine into the chaeto. I need to reeeealy clean those lines because if i dont when harvesting, any missed GHA grows quick and chokes off the light to the outer layer of chaeto and it bleaches/slimes and that raises my nitrate and PO4.

 

[iReefer12]

I wish I could discard those strands, I might remove a few so it’s a little cleaner next time.

 

[reeftivo]

Water test update, 3/12/19

Po4: 0.81ppm
No3: 3ppm

I’ve now started dosing Nitrate to keep it high enough to hopefully pull out more phosphate.

It’s running really well so far.

yours is breaking in fine. I would dose a little phosphate (not much-maybe only a few drops) and don't dose it directly into the display. When i dose i use a small cup and take a pipette full of tank water, then squirt it in the cup then only dose a few drops in the cup, then stir. Then i use the pipette to suck up the mixture and dose that right into the feed pump intake. If you dose the display your rocks may suck up some of it and hold it before it can be used by the chaeto.

 

[iReefer12]

Why would I dose phosphate? Isn’t the ration between Nitrate and Phosphate way off already right now?

My Po4 is 0.84 not 0.084

I’m dosing Nitrate daily, will test params again tomorrow to see how the first week of Nitrate dosing has effected things.

 

[reeftivo]

my mistake

i meant nitrate.

 

[iReefer12]

Test today

Po4: 0.71ppm
No3: 6ppm

Dosed 4 ppm of Nitrate since Monday, so it’s encouraging to see only 6ppm Nitrate. I will test again on Tuesday and harvest the chaeto then again, it’s quite full but I’d like to get 3 weeks between harvests.

So pumped, my Po4 has never been this low before.

 

[iReefer12]

Test today

Po4: 0.73ppm
No3: 6ppm

This is 3 weeks of growth so I assume it is now full an no more growth is able to take place, causing the Po4 to flatline.

Will be harvesting chaeto today.

 

[iReefer12]

Had some cyano and film algae growing around the light tube and the strands, did a deep clean last night and took a scrubbing brush to it.

That’s the only downside to this, how dirty it really gets.

But it cleaned up pretty good. Took me about an hour to remove the chaeto clean the internals and put it all back together. I guess an hour once a month is not so bad. Looks shiny again now

 

[iReefer12]

It seems like every time I harvest, Po4 takes a huge jump.

Tuesday readings were 0.73ppm, harvested that day. 3 days later tests show:

Po4: 0.91ppm
No3: 10ppm been heavily dosing Nitrate, so not concerned with this number

 

[reeftivo]

how much do you harvest?

 

[iReefer12]

how much do you harvest?

80%