Pax Bellum Frustration

stacksoner · Jun 2, 2019

I had a refugium with a Kessil H380 and was throwing away about a gallon of chaeto overgrowth every month. It was a set it and forget it setup and I looked to switch because I liked the idea of a contained macroalgae growth system.

The Bellum seems to be great at turning chaeto into mushy slime and fouling up my tank. I'm told that I need to jump through hoops for success with this (ex: maintain a 1/100 ppm Nitrate: Phosphate ratio, dose iron, dose iodine, and even dose nitrate). I think I could grow chaeto in my tennis shoe if it was filled it with water containing those parameters.

The searches on this forum yield results with people selling used ones, which is not a good sign. There are most other posts of people trying to understand why they can't get this thing to work.

So what's the real deal? Is it that the light quality sucks? The limited flow/exposure to nutrients? The inside out lighting design? Combo of all?

I can't even get this thing to become make-shift gh algae scrubber...and (like most reefers) I'm great at growing gha.

stacksoner · Jun 3, 2019

So I tried another round of new chaeto and tested it for 2 weeks. I put 1 of the portions in a small Tupperware container filled with wet skimmed water, no lighting, no flow, no food.

Here's the result.

Hemmdog · Jun 3, 2019

That’s a shame, those aren’t cheap, I figured they worked well. My wife would kill me if I put that on our rug lol, you are bold. Hahha.

Stanzo13 · Jun 3, 2019

I wish this would get more comments, could you list all parameters, maybe the light was too powerful in the beginning?

Stanzo13 · Jun 3, 2019

Hemmdog said:
That’s a shame, those aren’t cheap, I figured they worked well. My wife would kill me if I put that on our rug lol, you are bold. Hahha.

Maybe he secretly doesn't like the rug and his wife loves it lol [emoji23]

stacksoner · Jun 3, 2019

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Pax Bellum unintentionally creates the ideal conditions for microalgae growth, which slowly turns chaeto into a decomposing, muddy, slime clump.

That rug is in our kitchen and moonlights as my dirty aquarium equipment bullpen when wifey passes out. There's nothing I can spill on it that will make it look worse.

Stanzo13 · Jun 3, 2019

Their was a small recent studdy on the spectrum requirements for chaeto, more of a red that purple look. I'm not smart enough to quote things, but here's a video link to why I recently purchased the chaetomax

stacksoner · Jun 3, 2019

These things are so expensive and seem to get good resale value, so it's almost worth not telling the world the real reason why you're getting rid of it...there's no shortage of images by other users who seem to have had identical issues (ex of one below).

stacksoner · Jun 3, 2019

I removed the chaeto from the Pax Bellum death contraption and put it in a bowl with tank water. Looks like shredded wheatgrass martini with extra gha

Hemmdog · Jun 3, 2019

slewrock1 said:
I removed the chaeto from the Pax Bellum death contraption and put it in a bowl with tank water. Looks like shredded wheatgrass martini with extra gha

Yuck lol

Stanzo13 · Jun 3, 2019

Your description was hilarious, I did see someone remove
The shell and wrap a super long led strip all over the outside of it, that is if you don't mind the 157,000 lumen burning tree in your house

flexiblewater · Jun 6, 2019

May want to try Skimz reactor, here’s mine grows algae very well and all I do is feed frozen food to my fish and it costs 75% less.

stacksoner · Jun 6, 2019

flexiblewater said:
May want to try Skimz reactor, here’s mine grows algae very well and all I do is feed frozen food to my fish and it costs 75% less.

I swear I have made more bad decisions in this hobby than anyone, and they're all a result of my vulnerability to great photos. I've taken the bait for new equipment, electronics,corals, livestock, h20 storage, RODI,resins, powders, salt mixing, fancy broadfield failed overhauls, trident, reefbot, modifications, treatment regimens, wire mgmt, lighting schedules, you name it.

I'd like to propose a new formula called "Maintenance Required for Optimal Results" for everything this hobby costs in time and effort. This consists of 3 variables: Hours Per Month, # of times per Month, and 1-10 Ranking from Easy to Difficult.

jefra · Jun 17, 2019

This is surprising since as you've said these are not cheap pieces of equipment. They're really sleek and nice looking and I've considered buying one multiple times. Thanks for the warning.

Scurvy · Jun 17, 2019

I had bought an N-18 and wound up selling it off before ever using it because I couldn't keep chaeto growing in a DIY reactor for more than 2 harvests before getting into the same situation you are here. Ive since upgraded tanks and moved to a chaeto fuge/Kessil/Triton combo and harvest a shopping bags worth every 3 weeks. Though I am not dosing any of the Triton elements yet I am dosing iron which I never did previously. Seeing PaxBellum sells both iron/manganese and molybedium/Nitrate supplements I think the iron may be the key in some situations.

I may try your tennis shoe experiment though and report back

CMO · Jun 17, 2019

I had the same experience with my Pax unfortunately and sold it. Chaeto grows wonderfully under the same conditions with an H380.

Acuario · Jul 14, 2019

Unfortunately I have not been successful with my Pax Bellum N-18 after several tries with Chaeto and red Ogo Gracilaria.
This is the cumulative advice Pax Bellum has given me, perhaps it might be helpful to others?
"Lower the salinity so that it tests 34ppt.
Raise your boron to 4.5-6ppm, without boron your algae cannot fix carbon.
Raise your iodine to at least .06ppm and target 0.1 ppm.
Your nitrate and phosphate are much too low. I don't recommend going below 0.03 ppm PO4. Feed your system more and keep your nitrates at least 20x the level of your PO4. Use our nitrogen supplement if necessary to accomplish this.
After adjusting your water chemistry start your new chaeto off with 4hrs of light and work it up 1-2hrs weekly.
The faster your effluent flow the higher your ALK should be. Running the effluent slower increases Ca level over Alk. You should try to run the effluent as slow as allowable while still keeping up with ALK demand."

stacksoner · Jul 16, 2019

CMO said:
I had the same experience with my Pax unfortunately and sold it. Chaeto grows wonderfully under the same conditions with an H380.

Exactly. It's a full time job to follow these instructions @Acuario shared. Who in their right mind would ever want to take on this commitment just to grow chaeto in a tube?

Ecvernon · Jul 21, 2019

slewrock1 said:
Exactly. It's a full time job to follow these instructions @Acuario shared. Who in their right mind would ever want to take on this commitment just to grow chaeto in a tube?

Have you tried to reach out to Pax Bellum?
I had a similar experience as you. I did not sell it yet, as I would like to give it a second chance. I've seen the reactor in action years ago maintaining a full SPS system and it indeed replaced a skimmer on that system. If I didn't see it I would have discounted the claims.

I have reached out to Pax Bellum after performing a Triton test. I have not done the recommendations as I would like to Overhaul my sump and electronics cabinet.

Here is a thread where I posted the interactions I had with Triston. I hope it helps.

Any success with the Pax Bellum N18?

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. Please do post. I'd be really curious what his thoughts are about your problems.

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