Arid c30 & e24

[pecan2phat]

Yep,
You are correct as always Tristan. Found out a couple of hours later today that too much flow can happen and not a good thing. Lid seal started to leak so I caught it with just a little bit of cleanup. When I decided to put the Mag3 back on, I looked at the valve on top after disconnecting it and low and behold, flow was impeded by a clump of Chaeto. The Mag3 is rated at 350 gph with zero head so I'm probably pushing 250 gph after running 4' of tubing to it. Well after I cleaned the valve and putting the smaller pump back on, flow exiting looks good now.
I noticed that the 1/2" fitting has the cross marking inside of the threaded side which will cause a clog like I just had but on the 3/4" fitting on the C30 is free of cross marking. Is there a reason for the cross section or is this just how the fittings were made?

Also in reply to your PH question, yes the PH has risen while the alkalinity was decreasing. I've bumped up the drip rate on the CaRx and also the C02 and have noticed the DKH has risen slightly from Tuesday.
I plan to tie a kalkwasser reactor into SystemA to combat the decreasing alkalinity.
Tank inhabitants look the same at this point but water clarity seems improved overall.

 

[Pax-Bellum LLC]

Glad to hear you caught the leak before it got out of control.

The cross is just how the quick disconnects are made. I just make sure they're clear as part of routine cleaning during harvest.

I thought about putting in a foam filter pad but it would obstruct the view of the Chaeto. Perhaps a half disc of foam. Let me know if it is an on going issue. It hasn't been an issue in other reactors once the Chaeto is established and has long strands.

Was curious about the Ph. Usually with lower Alk the Ph goes down but I had a thought that your tanks dissolved CO2 levels might be dropping.

Flocculation is another benefit of the ARID system. Water clarity should continue to improve.

 

[MIKE NY]

Warren I'm tagging along, thanks for the write up. I'm also thinking of getting the 30 model as a space saver option for my system, but you know me I'm old school and a firm believer in ... If it's not broken don't fix it. I 've been using GFO/ phosban and a large skimmer along with a 90 fuge filled with chaeto and dragon breath macro. I also have a lot of fish and feed heavily and with that tried a true nutrient export along with weekly 10% W/Cs it keeps my phos between .02-.08 and trates have always been 0.

 

[pecan2phat]

Hi Mike,
Totally agree with you in regards to the space saver theory. I've never setup any refugiums because my thinking was that if I didn't have the room for something like a dedicated 75g to house Chaetomorpha, why botter Lol

So onto my numbers for week 3, day 21.
To date, the ARID reactors have not performed optimally for me, my numbers continue to rise but there are some thoughts to this. From looking down through the clear lid on both reactors, I can see that the Chaeto is losing color and definitely not the dark green it was or should be. Could be a number of reasons but the first that comes to mind is trace element deficiency. I recall Tristan saying that my systems might be stripped of Molybdenum from the aggressive use of GFO right prior to putting the reactors online. Could also be from my minimalistic water changes using an "unloaded" salt like IO which would not help in replenishing major & minor trace elements in the water column. Could also be insufficient flow through the reactors but I kind of want to rule this out since I've run some simple test with a marked and measured 6g bucket. With the E24, I'm getting 250 gph and the C30 is achieving 425 gph effluent.

SystemA - N03 @ 37 ppm (from 5 ppm), P04 @ 2.28 ppm (from 1.62 ppm)
SystemB - N03 @ 50 ppm (no change), P04 @ 1.11 ppm (from 0.43 ppm)

One thing I decided to do today was to dose 2 additives in hopes of aiding the chaeto to regain color and grow.
I'm going to minimally dose every 4 days:
Kent Marine Strontium/Molybdenum
Brightwell Aquatics Borochrom

Crossing fingers and let's see if there is a change next week!

 

[prattreef]

Warren, Are you adding an Iron/Manganese supplement? I find that when my chaeto starts losing color etc. as you describe, that adding iron turns it around quickly and growth explodes as well.

 

[pecan2phat]

Hi Randy,
Yes I have been adding the iron/manganese supplement since day 2 @ 1 drop per 25g of tank volume. I'm wondering if the skimmer is taking it right out and maybe whether I should shut down the skimmer for an hour when dosing :scratch:

 

[Pax-Bellum LLC]

Hi Warren,

Is your Chaeto brittle at all? if it is I'm wondering if you could start dosing the borochrom first and hold off on the strontium/ molybdenum. That way we can know what the deficiency is. If it's not brittle start with the strontium/molybdenum first.

Your flow rates seem not to be the issue.

The skimmer shouldn't be able to pull out the Fe/Mn supplement.

You are the first that I know of that ran a sulfur reactor before switching. Did you run a sulfur reactor on both tanks? I'm going to look into elevated sulfur levels on Chaeto growth and see what I can find.

 

[pecan2phat]

Tristan,
When I opened the E24 to clean up the leak last week, I would say that the Chaeto was slightly brittle but not to the point where it would fall apart so I'll continue with the Borochrom and hold off on the Strontium/Molybdenum for now. I did do an initial dose of 1ml per 10g of tank volume yesterday and will not continue every 4th day as intended. With the Borochrom, I'm dosing minimally at 1ml per 100g of tank volume daily for the next 6 days and then I'll check to see how the Chaeto feels.
Does this sound kosher to you?
As with the Sulfur reactors, the E24 system had one in use till the day before and the C30 system did have one 4 years ago but was taken down for the pellet reactor.
Elevated sulfur within a closed system is something I read about years ago, this could be relevant since the E24 system has had the sulfur reactor running for at least 5~6 years.

 

[Pax-Bellum LLC]

Sounds Kosher.

 

[Pax-Bellum LLC]

I've considered having this printed on the side of the ARID. It's also known as Mulder's chart.

 

[slowsoaks]

I was having issues with chaeto as well. I had sent a water sample to Triton and while my boron was good my iodine was very low. My chaeto wasn't loosing color so much as it was brittle and not showing much growth. I had ordered some new chaeto from a place in Florida and started adding iodine. After two weeks I noticed better growth and when cleaning the chaeto stayed together much better. My numbers improved significantly also, phosphate dropping from .14 to .06. Also according to triton my molydeum was higher than normal. Hope this helps,
Mike

 

[pecan2phat]

Thanks Mike.
I've always dosed Lugols iodine weekly even before introducing Chaeto into the system.

 

[90reefernyc]

Pecan have you noticed on the c30 if your heat sink gets very hot?

 

[pecan2phat]

90reefernyc,

Yes the top of the heat sink rod on the C30 does get very hot. To the point where you really can't keep your palm on it for more then a second or two.

 

[90reefernyc]

Ok thank you for the reply I just received one and noticed that also.

 

[pecan2phat]

Actually, it's a good thing. All that heat from those LEDs are being drawn away in a brilliant compact heat sink design.
What feed pump are you using?

 

[90reefernyc]

I had an old aquabee rated for 2000l/h. I actually just put a small handful of cheato in it yesterday waiting for more to come from pacific east on Wednesday.

 

[90reefernyc]

I wanted to put something over the top to cover the light spill. Did you do anything for that?

 

[pecan2phat]

Week 4, day 28:

SystemA - N03 @ 37 ppm (from 5 ppm), P04 @ 2.75 ppm (from 1.62 ppm)
SystemB - N03 @ 50 ppm (no change), P04 @ 1.25 ppm (from 0.43 ppm)

Numbers are progressively getting worse. I've been dosing boron for the last 7 days and also one dose of strontium/molybdenum in an attempt to get the chaeto growing but so far visually, it looks the same. I'll have to pull the chaeto to get a better look and feel of it later this week.

 

[pecan2phat]

I wanted to put something over the top to cover the light spill. Did you do anything for that?

Yes I did. I took card stock printing paper and did a round cutout using 2 sheets since the circle is bigger then a single sheet. I then just cut into the diameter with scissors for the center heatsink and fitting.