lou dog420
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2016
- Messages
- 778
- Reaction score
- 588
Your running this contraption to grow algae to reduce nitrates, and they recommend you to dose nitrates?? I don't get it!!!
Arid Users thread
- Thread starter petemichelle
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Equipment like this strips the water very fast. Unless you want pale corals you need nitrate. It's much easier to add something you don't have than to take something out you have an excess of. Dosing nitrates is not new and is becoming more and more common with all the efficient methods we have of nutrient export.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
what are your water parameters please. magnesium, DKH,, calcium, salinity...????This is how I run my ARID. Your mileage may vary.
I mostly follow the recommendations in the instructions from Pax-Vellum but not entirely. I purchased my ARID because of space constraints. There are other ways to control algae and in different circumstances (meaning more available space) I would run a refugium instead.
I have been running the ARID since May. My first 'run' failed because I put too little Chaeto into the unit (literally about four tablespoons). My second run was only partially successful because I spread about 1 large handful of Chaeto in one section and I spread 1 large handful of Gracilaria in the other section (to grow for my Tangs). The Chaeto filled it's section but the Gracilaria did not really grow. I have been successfully running the unit with only Chaeto since then. When I clear out the Chaeto, I clean it in a bucket of SW and then spread about 1 large handful into each section. Unfortunately, I did not think to take a picture of the reload I did yesterday. I tease out small portions of the Chaeto to lengthen it, stretch sections of the 'rubber bands' to expose the 'hooks', press the bits of Chaeto against the rubber band and then releasing the rubber band to hold the Chaeto in place. Repeat along sections of the rubber band. I have also used zip ties to hold Chaeto in place but this is not required and if you use zip ties be careful not to cut the rubber bands when you cut the zip ties to remove the Chaeto. I have done this but it is repairable.
I use a Sicce Silent 1.5 to feed the ARID. I have the pump set to it's maximum which should mean it is pushing 350gph. I used to use a MaxiJet 1200 (the pump recommended in the instructions) and had the same success. I switched pumps because I am chasing a source of Tin in my system so I am replacing hardware to find the source. As the Chaeto grows the flow through the ARID is reduced. The reduced flow is one indication it's time to clear out some Chaeto.
I have run different lighting schedules. I am now running it 12 hours/day (when my DT lights are off). I have run it as little as 9 hours/day and as much as 14 hours/day. My ARID uses 35w when running and these units will add heat to the system so I reduced the schedule during the summer so that the fans that cool my system would not run at night.
I am not currently dosing the Iron or Nitrates supplements. When I do, it is right after I clean out the Chaeto to jumpstart the growth. Yes the supplements are ridiculously expensive but there are threads that discuss making your own supplements. See this thread (posts 4, 10 and 12) in Dr. Holmes-Farley's forum for information on making Iron and Manganese supplements.
Hope this helps.
I am having a terrible time trying to grow my chaeto in my arid. had to order more chaeto. it's like the 3 or 4th time already. I just keep trying different things i guess. something got to be wrong. it's just an algae, I should be a to grow it.
the arid instructions say we should keep our magnesium at 1400-1450, is there any advantage to keeping it that high. i heard too high will reduce algae growth, is 1320-1360 okay?
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
i have had issues with the stock bands pressing the chaeto up against the light bar in the center. I get burt chaeto in those spots so I have started to use zip ties to keep it further away as well. so I don't think i's lighting, nitrates are up to 25, and phosphates are .15. I dose iron something like 30 ml a day, so it's not nutrients.... I JUST CAN'T GROW THE STUFF....
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
I've done the flow test with a bucket at the same height of return into my system... I have a ecotech vetra m1 pushing my water from the sump through the arid, and then my chiller, then into my display.. it's set to like 250gal per hour. i've got it set so the pump never turns off, even while feeding. only time is water change and changing the intake sponge and sock. I have a magdrive intake sponge shoved into the vertra intake, then I have that shoved into a filter sock.
Do you have calurpa in the system or any other odd algaes ?
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
no, i've even pulled the plug on my refugium light which was a kessil purple grow light. just to make sure it wasn't out competing the chaeto in the Arid.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
at one time, the chaeto grew in my sump, then long hair algae started to grow in there and choked the chaeto and no matter what I did the long haired always out competed it. I took the chaeto out and washed out and even at one point went dark and waited till everything in the sump died off and started over with fresh 1 pound of fresh chaeto, still, the same issue, so that's when I tried the Arid. I thought maybe put the arid downstream of my UV sterilizer to stop any unwanted algae bloom, but when it didn't grow in the arid, the arid manufacturer suggested I take the uv out of the loop. I currently have it in line with my chiller but i't's up stream of the chiller and never shuts off so, it shouldn't be a problem.
thetedinator
Active Member
I don't chase numbers but Mg is usually around 1350, Alk is 8-9, CA is 400-450 and Salinity is 1.026. PO4 measured with Hanna is 0.00. Last Triton test had PO4 at 0.017. I quit dosing the ARID supplements and have seen no difference. I have changed pumps and have used Maxi-Jet 1200, Sicce Synchra Silent 1.5 and currently I have a Eheim compact 2000 pushing water through the ARID and then through a media reactor. I do not measure the flow. I have had more consistent growth through out the ARID when I used zip ties but I have had good growth using the 'rubber bands'.
Hope this helps.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
do you have chaaeto growing in your system? what are your water parameters please...???mag, alk, calcium and salinity.... do you dose anything else? iron, potassium, boron,???
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
anything would help at this point, I'm not that far from throwing in the towel and going back to dosing NOPOX... between the kessil grow light, the Arid, and all the trace element programs I am dosing, i've got a couple of thousand just into growing chaeto, or trying to grow chaeto i should say.....
My chato died recently. In like a week after introducing another macro. In my case a calurpa. I have one other person and several science papers theatbsay thie is compleatey possible as some plants have chemical warfare too.
I've done wcs not quite enough yet but. It's been well over a month since the other macro was removed. and chato still dies.
When the very first Chato died on you was it choked or did it all kinda wilt and rot. Shrivel too.
Interesting no?
I used to have forests of chato.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
do you mean when the first chaeto died on me "In the sump"? It kept getting choked by the hair algae and I would wash it off with salt water and then the mass of chaeto kept getting smaller and smaller, like it wasn't getting any nutrients and it kept getting softer and wilting and rotting.
the chaeto in the arid is just not growing and I take it out every week as instructed, clean the arid, and rinse the chaeto. the mass of chaeto keeps getting smaller and smaller. very little left now, so I ordered another pound, thinking to start over. can you please give me your water parameters, mag, alk, calcium, salinity, oh and what kind of salt you are using. I just switched today from Red sea pro to Fritze rpm, thinking it may help, maybe something in the salt like trace element...
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
thanks for your numbers, what kind of salt do you use? I just switched from Red Sea Pro to Fritz RPM, thinking there may be something in the trace elements... also can you describe to me how you did the zip tie thing. or if you have a picture that would be fantastic. I can't find anywhere a picture of how we're supposed to load the chaeto with the rubber bands things that is in the arid. i pull on the rubber bands and try to shove the chaeto in-between the spirals but it doesn't really hold chaeto in place very well, and when I twist the plates so that it pulls the chaeto tight to the center light tube, then I get hot spots and the chaeto turns white and burns onto the light tube.
It's not the salt.
And yea when it died in the sump.
You should know there's several algaes folks call hair algae. All very different just look like hair. What I'm saying is since you had that algae no other macros definatley chato will not grow for you. It's quite possible it's a chemical warfare.
I would reccomend trying a different macro in your tank.
And yea when it died in the sump.
You should know there's several algaes folks call hair algae. All very different just look like hair. What I'm saying is since you had that algae no other macros definatley chato will not grow for you. It's quite possible it's a chemical warfare.
I would reccomend trying a different macro in your tank.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
what did you do, or try? there were some typos in your previous post describing your latter efforts, could you elaborate.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
you know what i did see growing was that sea lettuce stuff. ULVA macroalgea. I got some from Indo Pacific when I started my pods, and if I light up the refugium, sometimes I see bits and pieces of it that will start to grow on my live rock in the refugium. obviously there are some seeds or whatever still in there... I wonder how effective that stuff is in pulling out nutrients like the chaeto? anybody know????
Robert's Reef
Community Member
I'm getting an ARID in a few weeks. What ever happened to your efforts? Did you ever get anything working?
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
nothing, it's now just got water going through it. I just could not grow the cheato. I got myself an Algae turf scrubber instead and that's growing long haired algae.
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
i'm thinking about selling mines, would you be interested? pm me at [email protected] it's almost brand new.
