Hello all, I have been looking for a good thread on this, especially one with some Pax Bellum ARIN owners, which it looks like there is one or perhaps two? (Forsaken77 and Eric23).
I am really leaning on pulling the trigger on getting one of these, but whenever I bring it up with some of the people I know, they try to talk me out of it and tell me how good their refugium method is working for them. I am perfectly willing to admit part of the reason I want it is that it really looks cool. But, beyond that, if you get into the fine print and design, I think it may actually be getting some key things correct that might be hard to replicate with DIY or other methods.
Forsake77, I am really happy to hear that you actually reached out to Pax Bellum and got a response. I sent them a very detailed e-mail but have not gotten a reply yet. I figure they are either just busy or I scared them off.
Here is what I laid out in the e-mail:
References:
I have read the information here:
https://www.f3images.com/IMD/UserManuals/6U0330_1.pdf
As well as various reviews, such as this one:
https://reefs.com/2016/04/01/turbo-charged-algae-scrubbing-pax-bellum-arid/
And a related white paper here:
http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/134/m134p207.pdf
....a highly technical study on issues with getting the lighting right.
Vs. refugiums
- Some of the advantages vs. a refugium, more rapid and uniform water flow for nutrient delivery, and in the ARID scenario, much more efficient delivery of light to the algae for various reasons (reflection, distance, etc.) and using the heat-pipe cooling system to help accomplish this (the white paper above points to the high loss of light over even short distances). This makes sense to me, and most criticisms I see in forums don't seem to fully grasp these differences vs. the various DIY solutions or anecdotal experiences. One key point I see is that, most of these users still have to do water changes, something I am going to try and avoid or significantly reduce, and I am trying to better understand how the ARID solution can help me do that.
- I am actually less surprised by the heat pipes as some others seem to be. I work in the IT industry and this has been used to cool CPUs and GPUs for quite a long time. I am actually surprised you guys did not offer a water-cooled solution, which looks like what you are doing on some of the larger setups (
https://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/4/8/6/7/4/landt.jpg). This would allow removing heat in the case where it is located in an enclosed cabinet, such as putting a radiator outside the cabinet. But I realize that is no longer a passive solution.
Vs. turf scrubbers
- In comparison to an algae turf scrubber, it says in the faq that excess CO2 exposure allows for rapid growth, but results in conversion to sugars building up in the system. I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else except this faq, nor in any review of algae scrubbers or similar solutions. I am wondering if they have any data or research about this issue? How does the ARID avoid this? Especially considering the option of injecting excess CO2 from a calcium reactor.
-On a related note, I have never seen an aquaponics solution that recommended completely submerging the plant medium in water, in fact, I more often see aeroponics used in hydroponics systems to maximize the advantage of the air/water interface. And I would think this is especially true with marine water that is comparatively poor at containing dissolved gasses such as O2 and CO2 (I have seen mention of about 1/5th that of freshwater, also affected by pH and temp, and about 50,000 times less than air). So, I think this is a key point to understand. Being fully enclosed would seem to limit it in some ways, but maybe it is not as important as I think it is.
Protein skimmers
- They mention not using a protein skimmer, for the stated reason of not needing a source of O2 from the protein skimmer, but I always considered protein skimmers primarily for nutrient export, and the oxygenation is just a bonus. Also, what happens during the dark cycle, even if you are using a reverse cycle? I know that corals and algae in the aquarium can produce oxygen, but if they are saying that someone is using a protein skimmer partially for 02, or gas exchange in general, is this something more along the lines of something you "might" be able to do, but it is not necessarily encouraged or recommended? Especially in a scenario where you want to utilize multiple methods of nutrient export to support a heavy load, I would think this would be a consideration on small or lightly loaded scenarios, and as such some of those might not have the phosphate output to support an ARID in the first place.
Ozone
- I am very interested in using ozone for keeping the water as clear as possible, and for the removal of various coral toxins and similar. But, they specifically say this can and will cause problems. I was planning to use a dedicated ozone reactor rather than with a skimmer so that I could more carefully control how much I use, as well as the safe removal of excess ozone. I have not seen any mention in regards to mV measurements with the use of the ARID. I would like to see them elaborate on the problems that might be caused with ozone, and if there are cases where small amounts of ozone could safely be used?
And now for a theory....
- Historically everyone recommends not using a wet/dry filters in reef tank due to nitrate production. Well, I happen to have one of these, and I was thinking of taking clean water after my filter system and running it through the wet/dry, and directing the effluent into the ARID, to purposely support the production of the excess Nitrate needed, along with some of the other benefits of wet/dry filters. (I am attached a diagram of my current filter concept to see what they think)
Dosing
- They sell solutions to dose things that are needed by the macro algae to ultimately remove the most phosphate. Other than not being able to process the phosphate, are there any ill effects if you forgot to dose these? I would expect the macro algae would remain alive, it would just limit it's growth. And I expect it would be possible to use automatic systems for dosing.
Sizing
- Is there any harm in over-sizing the units, do they need to be "right-sized"? Say if I want to be able to move it to a larger system in the future or run a heavier load?
Attached is my current work-in-progress diagram....
-JCL
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