ARID E18 reactor (Phosphate Control!!!)

Ahh...thank you for that then. I still have a long way to go before I've got a tank I'm proud to show people....but this has definitely shown me a way to get there.

Rotating shifts for work suck.
I'd be deliriously happy to be able to get paid to stay at home and get up at 9am like a normal person.
 
Food processed

Food processed

Interesting. This might be the answer to sumpless setups.

I wonder how much food per day one of these can keep nitrates and phosphates in check?
 
05-29-2015

Just tested the tank today:

NO3 is the highest I've recorded since setting up the ARID - 0.3 to 0.4 ppm (salifert"¦cant tell for sure. It's definitely between 0.2 ppm and 0.5 ppm)

PO4 is also the highest I've recorded since setting up the ARID at 0.03ppm (Hanna 96713).

These are the levels I'd like to keep the system at long term.

The cyano got so bad I had to hit it with Chemi-Clean. This wiped it out completely, but could also be the cause of the increase in NO3.

I goofed and raised the magnesium levels too much. Note to self"¦.don't fool with the tank when sleep deprived"¦.

I don't know that 1600 ppm is the cut off where Chaeto growth gets stunted. But I can verify that 1700 ppm definitely stunts its growth and pretty much causes growth to come to a standstill.

Between the Chemi-Clean and the magnesium levels, I had to do some water changes.

Magnesium is now down to 1500 ppm and my skimmer is back to working normally. Cyano is eradicated.

In the past two days, I've noticed a slight increase in the chaeto in the ARID reactor. So I expect my NO3 and PO4 levels to drop further and the chaeto to continue growing.

I don't think I'll pull as much chaeto out as I did before. I'm pretty sure I pulled too much out last time.

Basically, I'm figuring out that Tristan's recommendations from the get go are correct.

Reading is Fundamental kids"¦"¦
 
The cyano got so bad I had to hit it with Chemi-Clean. This wiped it out completely, but could also be the cause of the increase in NO3
Click to expand...

Yes killing a bunch of any organisms will put the nutrients back into the water.
 
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of cyano was no longer processing the NO3 in the water column.

There has been a huge growth in chaeto in the past two days. At least 40% or more.

NO3 was tested this morning and measured between 0.3 and 0.4 ppm. I'm leaning more towards 0.3 than 0.4, but it's tough for me to differentiate between them to any degree of certainty. PO4 measured at 0.00 ppm.


The ARID E18 has been running on my system for almost 6 weeks now. And I'm still very happy with it. Even when chaeto was not growing due to high magnesium levels, PO4 levels are at the lowest levels I've ever been able to manage.

I'm not going to harvest chaeto for at least another week, and this time, I'll be sure to remove no more than 1/3rd of it. Last time I pulled to much I think.
 
06-14-2015

Pulled Chaeto out a few days ago. Pulled less than the first time, but still probably pulled more than I should have. I figure I pulled out about half of the chaeto this time.

Naturally, it went to the LFS for store credit.

Shortly after I harvested about half the chaeto in the reactor, the feed hose, (connected to a Maxijet 900) popped off the pump, draining the reactor and leaving the chaeto exposed, while the lights were running. This burned a fair amount of the cheato, turning it white and looking like over cooked spaghetti.

This is the second time this has happened, but it appears to be worse this time around. I will be adding a plastic locking hose clamp to the Maxi-jet end of the hose to prevent this from occurring again.

NO3 is at 2.5 ppm, (due to dosing NO3).
PO4 is at 0.00 ppm via Hanna 96713.

I did notice a slight growth of nuisance algae when I first started dosing NO3. However, as time has gone on, the nuisance algae in the tank is looking sickly and brown.

It's just a few days early, but after running the ARID E18 for almost 2 months, (Started April 17th), I have to state that I'm very very happy with the results and how it's working out.

Corals are looking much better and I'm seeing growth in the few acro frags I have. Over all, this is showing itself to be worth the money IMO.
 
Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks for the review, really great info here! Threads like this keep the hobby evolving. please keep this thread updated with your results, failures, improvements, etc. :beer:
Subscribed!
 
Purple slime

Purple slime

It has a longer name, Tristan told me what it is. Told me to do the 20 mule team to get the boron up. I didn't have much success. I had ran it for about.3 weeks. Will be getting more chateo in a day or two and will try again with my 90 gallon I previously had it setup with my 200 gallon. I don't have any corals at this time but it is my goal to have corals. I will see what happens this time and also get some plastic hose clamps.
 
So my reactor is still going. My chaeto growth has slowed dramatically, about 1/3 of what it used to be. I think the excess nutrients have been removed from the tank and now it is just pulling out what ever excessive amounts I get on a daily basis.

My levels from the other day are NO3 5ppm, PO4 0.02ppm. I still dose about .5ppm daily of KNO3 to keep levels where they are.

My tank was rebooted less than 10 months ago, so there is not much large corals in the tank but lots of SPS frags and smaller LPS that are all doing fine. Still no algae in the display tank. These are pictures from a week or two ago.

20150904-_D711007.jpg


20150904-_D711015.jpg
 
Very interesting to say the least. This is definitely something I should consider for the 230 i am building. Lets keep the updates coming. Oh, JBNY, great looking tank.
 
Thanks, I tried to make the rock work as open as possible for the fish to swim.

I clean the glass every 4-5 days
 
This seems to be a great little device. I really like the idea of using cheato. I have been looking for a good way to stop the carbon dosing but the idea of setting up a refug on my tank is almost out of the question due to the size of refug I would need for my 300 gallon. Thanks for sharing your results.
 
This is genius.I had never even considered running cheato thru a reactor like that. I have a transparent unused nextreef reactor that could be modified to do this, except lights on the outside, and wouldnt look anywhere near as cool.
 
Do you get any cyano inside the reactor or is the flow through sufficient to ensure it doesn't occur. My refugium does a great job of keeping nitrates and phosphates in check but I can't ever seem to create enough flow in it to keep the cyano in check.
 
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