Pax Bellum ARID N24 or C30?

[Kengar]

I'm considering Pax Bellum ARID unit. (Also looking at other ATS products, this post is focused on the PBA unit.)

Tank is legitimately at 250 or 260 gallons when dual sumps are taken into consideration.

The sizing for the N24 ($750) says 120-250 gallons, 250-500 gallons for the C30 ($1395). Would N24 work, or would it be right at the fringes of its filtration capacity?

I don't intend to overload the system with fish. "Biggies" in the system will be desjardini and powder blue tangs (just bought today), pair of goldflake angels, and a supermale fairy wrasse of some sort (lineatus, perhaps). Will also have one -- two at most -- pairs of clowns, the falco hawk I have, lawnmower blenny I have, and a few bottom dwellers (e.g., gobies and mandies when tank is mature). Tank will be mixed reef, with SPS and LPS (e.g., acans, micromussas, etc.), and I intend to feed regularly, but not saturating it with food.

 

[Ted_C]

i bought the c36 for my tank (300 gallons) - but i feed three times per day 2x frozen (1 block of mysis and about 1.25" square piece of LRS reef frenzy per frozen feeding) (and one of those feedings is with an autofeeder mix of daichini / new spectrum / reef roids). I dont have the reactor hooked up yet - but once I added reefroids to my feeding mix - my nutrients got out of control - I've got green slime algae / blue green algae everywhere.

I have anthias (17 of em) - which is why I shoot for three feedings per day. Also have hippo, desjardin, and tomini tangs. Angelfish (Lyretail) (looking for a nice bellus too), 3 bared gobies, 2 barrier reef chromis, bangaii cardinal, 1 clown (looking to add a second eventually)

So if I were you I would plan for whatever future plans you may have. If you dont have enough fish poo to feed the corals - you'll be supplementing with something else.

I have a 150 gallon as well and am thinking about the c30 for that one (maybe). I dont feed near as much (2x per day) as all it has is a few frags and a firefish, pair of maroon clowns, purple tang and pajama cardinal. I say maybe because c30 might be overkill.

 

[Kengar]

Given my current (and anticipated?) stocking level, I think even the N24 -- which I bought -- will be far larger than I needed. Phosphates (per Hannah checker) have been .03 to .05. Nitrates (per Red Sea Pro comparator) have been at about .25. Even adding the supplement for two + weeks, still getting zilcho growth in the chamber. I will be adding a powder blue tang and a goldflake angel, and a trio of wrasses, and a bunch of substrate critters, but that's about it.

 

[paal]

I think the N24 would work, but in order to grow enough algae you will probably have to be careful when harvesting; if you leave too little in the reactor in each restart it will take some time for it to really take off again. The growth is kind of exponential if that makes sense.
For your system, I would for sure get the C30. It may not be truly required, but at least it will reduce the required maintenance intervals vs the N24.

I run the N24 on my 100 gallon medium stocked sps reef. It works great. I harvest roughly every 2 weeks and keep NO3 at 5ish.


(I wrote more details this thread's last page some time ago: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25557807 )