ARID E18 review

[pecan2phat]

I was curious when people were adding the nitrate solution how much they were adding per week.

The way I understand it is that with the Nitrate/Molybdenum additive, you should only use it to achieve a ratio of 100:1 in regards to N03 & P04. Based on your previous mention, you should not have to use the solution since your at that range or better. (20ppm:0.15ppm)
Are you using GFO? You should stop if you are since GFO binds molybdenum which the chaeto needs.
Another question is are you dosing the iron & manganese additive on a daily basis?
If your chaeto is brittle, try dosing a Boron additive.

 

[slowsoaks]

I just started using GFO since I wasn't happy with the phosphate reading and the look of the corals. Tristan suggested Boron also, I will have to investigate this further. Thanks

 

[Maxx]

Wow, lots of replies here!

Sorry for my delay, all of the emails alerts about new posts I was getting were going to my junk mail folder. My apologies.

I've been running the ARID E18 since April 19th.
And I'm impressed.

I have not added the nitrate supplements as of yet for two reasons.
I didnt have an No3 test kit, and I've also got some cyano in the system which is probably eating up some nitrate.

Most of my test kits arrived today....Still waiting on P04 tester from Hanna. I bit the bullet and bought a Hanna HI96713 tester....I just didnt think the little green eggs were accurate enough for what I want to do right now.

My system has had a few issues which should be acknowledged before I go much further:

Tank is in the basement on the unfinished portion. This means keeping the temperature cool in the summer is easier, and any spills are not a real issue. However, in the summer, the Air Conditioner being used all the time (wife has nasty allergies) means that CO2 builds up in the basement, which depresses the pH.

Tank started out as a stand alone 120 with a 75 gallon tank for a sump and then I added a 40 breeder as a frag tank and a 58 gallon as an additional display. This let me keep different critters that were not compatible in the same system. But it also made maintenance more difficult.

I used Pukani rock which I have determined to be the source of my high phosphate levels.

One of the nice things about this reactor is that so far, I've seen it raise the pH and keep it stable, (Maybe I can quit using Kalk for calcium and get back to my Calcium Reactor), and it eats up phosphate and nitrates. So, this actually has the ability to kill two birds with one stone.

Had water tested again on 05-02-15:

Nitrates are still undetectable.
Po4 has risen to 0.02 ppm via Hanna HI93713 (same one used before).

I'm assuming that the increase in Po4 is due to me removing the chaeto. Instructions state not to remove more than 1/3 of the chaeto, but I pulled out at least 2/3 of what I had.

I have added iron supplements, (Included with the reactor) but have not dosed No3 supplements, (also included with the reactor).

Corals still look healthier. So do my anemones. I have 3 H.magnifica anemones, and have had one for 9 years, one for 4.5 years, and one for a single year.

I think it's important to not remove more than 1/3 of the chaeto as recommended. Taking out too much basically started me over at square 1.....albeit with lower numbers than before.

I'm confident that numbers will drop further when the chaeto takes off again.

 

[slowsoaks]

Thanks for the info, sorry if I may have hijacked your thread a bit but it would be nice to have user experience down for others. I love the concept of the reactor, just having trouble growing the algae. I have sent out a water sample to triton so maybe that will help in determining what I am missing. Curious what salt brand everyone is using. I have been using E.S.V. for over two years now.

 

[Maxx]

You didnt hijack the thread...no worries.
I'm posting this because there wasnt alot of information out there about these.
Since this thread started, I've learned about people using two of them on dual systems, and that Joe Yaiullo is rumored to be planning in using 8 of these...

And that some people are having some issues with theirs...

The purpose of me starting this thread was to get discussion out there about these ARID reactors that wasnt coming solely from Tristan or Pax-Bellum.

Nothing wrong with Tristan or PB, but I always feel a little better about a product when somebody who is NOT affilliated with the company making them is discussing the product.

Shilling is something we've all seen on online forums like this, and is always something to be mindful of.

I'm not a shill.
I'm not affilliated with Tristan or PB.
I purchased my reactor from them.

And...

So far, its worked better than I could have hoped.
Its done everything it was designed to do in very short order.
My PO3 levels have dropped significantly, my nuisance algae growth is seriously decreased, and my pH is up when its running making my tank more stable.

I did goof when removing chaeto from the reactor and pulled out too much, reducing its effectiveness, but that's operator error and will correct itself as time goes on.

I'm using Instant Ocean. It's the salt I've always used and it's the salt most readily and regularly available.

 

[ixTCxi]

Can you run this inside the sump?

 

[Maxx]

Possibly, but I wouldnt recommend it.

The spindle the lighting element sits in is not water proof.
I dont know what effect water spilling on the lighting element itself would have, but I doubt it would do it any good. Also, the "rod" the LED lights are wrapped around appears to be copper with an alloy/lead core.

Its not a problem if it is copper, because copper is an excellent heat conductor, and the heat sink is mounted directly to the rod....unless I'm mistaken, the rod's purpose is to give the lights a mounting place, and to transfer heat away from the LED's.

The heat sink will get hot to the touch. Not burn yourself hot, but uncomfortably hot to the touch.

But I wouldnt want it in my sump because I would be worried that the reactor would get knocked over and water would damage the lights, and copper would leach into the system.

Additionally, the bottom quick disconnect would get covered in critter growth which might interfere with its ability to properly connect/disconnect.

I could be wrong about everything I mentioned above, but that is my opinion regarding the way this is constructed and my owning it for almost 3 weeks.

I would suggest you send Tristan/Pax-Bellum an email and ask them directly.
If you do so, please post here what the reply is as that is a question I did not consider myself, so I didnt ask.

 

[ixTCxi]

Tristan advised that he wouldn't recommend running it in the sump. It would make servicing more difficult and the salt spary over time may corrode the heat sink on the light assembly.

 

[slowsoaks]

I got my test results back from Triton. According to them my Boron levels are fine but I was low on Iodine, something I believe is beneficial to algae growth. I hoping by adding this I will get better algal growth. Also my bromine levels were very high, not sure if this would cause problems with the chaeto.
Mike

 

[Maxx]

I bought a Hanna HI96713 photometer.
I'd gotten a couple of erratic results from the LFS I'd been taking water samples to (they have the Hanna HI93713 shown in the original post). I think the LFS employees would get distracted and either record the wrong information or read things incorrectly. I've also replaced all of my salifert kits with new ones. I've noticed the kits begin to lose accuracy after a year, so I replace them every year.


I also sent Tristan this email:


"Tristan,
I dont recall if I mentioned this or not when we spoke, but my system had multiple issues some of which only got worse after I neglected the system for abit after my heater crapped out....shocking that things get worse when you neglect them, I know...


So here is where the questions for you come in....

Using new salifert test kits, and a new and newly calibrated Hanna HI96713 photometer, my parameters are:

DKH - 11.5
Ca - 460
Mg -1500
NO3 -0.00
PO4 - 0.00

Bryopsis appeared and has a foothold. I raised Mag up to take care of it, and have noticed the tips have frosted indicating it's working. I've done this in the past, (raised Mg up to 1700 and kept it there for 3 months to eradicate bryopsis with no ill effects to fish, clams, SPS, or anemones), but I didnt have the ARID E18 then either.

I've been told elevated Mg inhibits photosynthesis in bryopsis, but doesnt affect other marine algea, to inlcude Cheatomorpha. Do you see elevated Mg causing an issue with the Cheatomorpha, or is this a non issue? I'm still seeing growth in the Cheato in the reactor and PO4 has dropped from 0.02 to 0.00, but I'd still feel better bouncing it off of you.

NO3 is showing as 0.00 but I still have green cyano in the system, so I know there is NO3 available, and it's being taken in by the cyano. Will the Cheato out compete it for NO3? I'm leery of dosing NO3 when I have cyano in the system for fear of feeding it instead of the Cheato. Do you recommend:

Let the Cheato outcompete the cyano and dose the NO3 supplements as instructed.

or

Use Chemi-Clean and take care of the cyano, then begin dosing the NO3 supplements.


Overall, I'm very happy with the reactor. PO4 is still much better than before and corals are looking better already. The threads on Reef Central and on Manhattan Reefs are the biggest and most active so far, and there are alot of people who seem genuinely interested in your ARID reactors. Locally, I've brought this up to the LFS where I usually go, and directly sent a link to the RC thread for the manager and owner....with any luck, they may become customers or a dealer for you as this store does alot of maintenance and set up work for businesses and individuals with aquariums.

Finally, over on Manhattan Reefs, one poster stated Joe Yaiullo was in the process of setting up eight ARID C30's for the Atlantis Marine World 20K gallon tank...is this true? I'm hoping it is because that would give you guys more exposure and "legitimacy" in the eyes of folks who havent yet heard of you guys and the ARID reactor. People say all kinds of things on the Net and I'd prefer to have confirmation before parroting that information about elsewhere.

I apologize for pestering you with these questions, but this is a new situation for me and I'm loathe to do anything that will be counter productive to what progress I've already made.

Thanks for your time,

MaxxII"

Here is his response:

"Hi Nick,

Stop resisting the Nitrate supplement

The cyano doesn't require nitrate in the water column to grow, it produces it's own nitrate and thrives when nitrate is not present in the water column. This is cyano bacteria's evolutionary advantage, being able to fix nitrogen into nitrate it can survive where other photosynthetic organisms can't. Dose the nitrate keep the ratio between 20:1 - 200:1 (target 100:1)

Same with the bryopsis. This is turf algae that uses its holdfast to extract nutrients from the rock (substrate) Elevated Mg does kill off Bryopsis, at 1500ppm your Chaeto should be fine. I've only noticed it stunting the growth around and beyond 1600ppm.

Your other parameters look great. One other kit I recommend is saliferts boron test kit. Macro algae consumes a lot of boron and most salt mixes are deficient. Luckily there is a cheap source at your local grocery store "Borax" laundry booster. 1 teaspoon raises 100 gallons about 1ppm. NSW is 4.4ppm. Brittle and crumbling chaeto is a sign that your tank is boron deficient. Toxicity in a small number of organisms starts to occur around 20ppm.

Yes, Joe Yaiullo bought the C308 system that is in our MR forum. He is setting it up on his 20k gallon reef as soon as he builds a platform above the reef for it. I may go out there and help him set it up. He's my old boss, I use to culture coral for that tank.

Glad the E18 is working out for you. Now you'll have to feed your tank more.

Regards,

Tristan"

 

[Maxx]

I've bedn dosing the NO3 supplements for a few days now.

I have about 135/140 gallons total in the system right now.

Started dosing 2mls of the included NO3 supplement.
No change in NO3 readings, still undetectable via salifert.
Next day dosed 4mls.
No change in NO3 readings, still undetectable.
Last night I dosed 8mls of NO3.
14.5 hours later I tested and finally got some detectable results.

NO3 showed less than 0.2...it appeared to be about half as much so I ballparked it at about 0.1.
At this point, I goofed. I'm still working midnights and had not had coffee yet, so my brain wasnt fully engaged.

I should have tested for PO4 at this point.
Instead, I dosed an additional 8mls of NO3, and added Nori to the tank,(which I know from experiance does have PO4 in it).
Then it dawned on me that I should have tested PO4...

I went ahead and tested PO4. Elapsed time between dosing NO3 and adding Nori to the tank and fosing NO3 was approximately 5 minutes.

PO4 measured at 0.00978 ppm.
So basically at 0.01 ppm. With NO3 being at 0.1 ppm and PO4 being at 0.01 ppm, I'm at the 100:1 ratio that Tristan reccomends for the ARID reactor.

My ARID Reactor has been running for almost a month now, and I'm still happy with it and its doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

I've also got some additional KNO3 powder coming so I can start making my own NO3 supplement. Using 8mls a day means I have about 13 days left in the included bottle of supplements.

As always, further updates as warranted.