Pax Bellum Frustration

[stacksoner]

Exactly. It's a full time job to follow these instructions @Acuario shared. Who in their right mind would ever want to take on this commitment just to grow chaeto in a tube?

I did not reach out to them only because I found their same suggestion peppered throughout various forums where users were experiencing identical issues.

If I were to give it another shot, I'd crank up the flow as that's one thing I didn't try which seems like the only sensible solution that doesn't require one to drastically adjust the system's chemistry for this to work.

 

[MadCityReefer]

I just purchased a Pax Bellum Black Friday special, after reading this I'm worried I just wasted my money. Any updates on your situation?

 

[CyberGuy]

I just purchased a Pax Bellum Black Friday special, after reading this I'm worried I just wasted my money. Any updates on your situation?

I was about to buy the N24 model with the Black Friday sale deal but since I have seen too many threads on the failure and tough maintenance on using this device, I decided not to buy it. Best decision I made for this Black Friday sale.
I instead use the money to buy the Abyzz pump that was also on sale on Black Friday LOL. I am starting a brand new 120 gallon reef tank.

 

[stacksoner]

I just purchased a Pax Bellum Black Friday special, after reading this I'm worried I just wasted my money. Any updates on your situation?

I'm in the process of setting up my new tank. For now, I'm going to let the Pax Bellum chill as I sincerely believe that routine water changes are a much more stable and consistent means of keeping nitrates in check.

 

[Braves Fan]

I am going thru the Pax turning my Chatto to mush as it seems everyone else is having this problem ,, the first two times I used it ,, it worked great, I was a happy camper , was thinking this was the best money I had ever spent ,,, the last two times it has turned my Chatto to mush ,,

My Hydrometer was off ,, it was reading 1.25 was actually 1.32 it was a very old Hydometer ,, I was thinking this might be the problem ,, then I found this thread ,, now I am thinking maybe its not my salinity that's the problem, couldn't have helped ,, but it seems like there might be other problems with this piece of equipment ,, I got the water back to right and will load my Pax up with some fresh Chatto ,, see what happens ,, if it turns the Chatto to mush again ,, I will go back to growing Chatto in a tray in the sump tank with another kind of light over it ,, that worked good before ,, the down side ,, pieces of chatto would break off and get into my return pump ,,

I dose liquid iron to the system every week ,, plus 10ml of a product called Chatto Grow ,, I also have Nitrates in the system ,, I am sure they are high as the Pax hasn't been working ,, so my chatto is getting what it needs to grow ,, I am not understanding why this is going on ,, it shouldn't be ,, if the Pax works good enough to grow the Chatto a few times ,, there is no reason for it to stop working and turn the Chatto to mush ,, I am not a smart person though

 

[aqua_code]

Chaeto turning to mush happens when my phosphate is too low. I've had this happen when running biopellets alongside the chaeto.

Test your nitrates and primarily phosphates. If they are at 0 then chaeto will die off.

Also ramp up the flow on the pax bellum

 

[Braves Fan]

Chaeto turning to mush happens when my phosphate is too low. I've had this happen when running biopellets alongside the chaeto.

Test your nitrates and primarily phosphates. If they are at 0 then chaeto will die off.

Also ramp up the flow on the pax bellum

That maybe the problem ,, I was running GFO ,,

 

[MadCityReefer]

I am going thru the Pax turning my Chatto to mush as it seems everyone else is having this problem ,, the first two times I used it ,, it worked great, I was a happy camper , was thinking this was the best money I had ever spent ,,, the last two times it has turned my Chatto to mush ,,

My Hydrometer was off ,, it was reading 1.25 was actually 1.32 it was a very old Hydometer ,, I was thinking this might be the problem ,, then I found this thread ,, now I am thinking maybe its not my salinity that's the problem, couldn't have helped ,, but it seems like there might be other problems with this piece of equipment ,, I got the water back to right and will load my Pax up with some fresh Chatto ,, see what happens ,, if it turns the Chatto to mush again ,, I will go back to growing Chatto in a tray in the sump tank with another kind of light over it ,, that worked good before ,, the down side ,, pieces of chatto would break off and get into my return pump ,,

I dose liquid iron to the system every week ,, plus 10ml of a product called Chatto Grow ,, I also have Nitrates in the system ,, I am sure they are high as the Pax hasn't been working ,, so my chatto is getting what it needs to grow ,, I am not understanding why this is going on ,, it shouldn't be ,, if the Pax works good enough to grow the Chatto a few times ,, there is no reason for it to stop working and turn the Chatto to mush ,, I am not a smart person though

I just purchased during Black Friday. I may hold off and return it when it arrives. BTW here is some
Tips For Optimizing Chaeto Growth

 

[Braves Fan]

Just tested the tank ,, Nitrates at 25 Phosphates 0 ,, will get the phosphate number back up before I put the Pax back online ,,

 

[Hemmdog]

I am going thru the Pax turning my Chatto to mush as it seems everyone else is having this problem ,, the first two times I used it ,, it worked great, I was a happy camper , was thinking this was the best money I had ever spent ,,, the last two times it has turned my Chatto to mush ,,

My Hydrometer was off ,, it was reading 1.25 was actually 1.32 it was a very old Hydometer ,, I was thinking this might be the problem ,, then I found this thread ,, now I am thinking maybe its not my salinity that's the problem, couldn't have helped ,, but it seems like there might be other problems with this piece of equipment ,, I got the water back to right and will load my Pax up with some fresh Chatto ,, see what happens ,, if it turns the Chatto to mush again ,, I will go back to growing Chatto in a tray in the sump tank with another kind of light over it ,, that worked good before ,, the down side ,, pieces of chatto would break off and get into my return pump ,,

I dose liquid iron to the system every week ,, plus 10ml of a product called Chatto Grow ,, I also have Nitrates in the system ,, I am sure they are high as the Pax hasn't been working ,, so my chatto is getting what it needs to grow ,, I am not understanding why this is going on ,, it shouldn't be ,, if the Pax works good enough to grow the Chatto a few times ,, there is no reason for it to stop working and turn the Chatto to mush ,, I am not a smart person though

If your salinity was that high that would also skyrocket your alk, which would kill chaeto too.

 

[Braves Fan]

QUOTE="Hemmdog, post: 6791962, member: 113397"]
If your salinity was that high that would also skyrocket your alk, which would kill chaeto too.
[/QUOTE]

It did ,, cost me a couple of SPS Corals ,, I removed water from the tank over 3 days ,, a little at a time ,, replaced with fresh RO/DI water ,, Salinity is now at 1.26 ,,, I was thinking the high salinity killed the chatto ,, wasn't sure about that though ,, either way ,, 0 phosphates in the system wasn't going to let the chatto grow either ,, I will retest in a week ,, see if I have a Phosphate number I can read ,, I am thinking a Phosphate number of 5 to 7 before I put the Pax Bellum back online ,,, yea or nay ?

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

same experience would just make a mess of the cheato tried all sorts of flow lighting schedules it actually made my tank look worst. I feed 3 cubes a day and pellets on auto feeder 2 times a day my po4 was always around .1 to .15 nitrate was threw the roof at 60 I finally sold it bought a cheap grow light off amazan and grew crazy hair algea in my sump now im trying to get an algea scrubber up and gowing. was a very expensive test run lol another thing that bothered me was the inner tube started to develop micro cracks in it

 

[Braves Fan]

I have a algae scrubber in my closet collecting dust ,, a good one ,, guess I might ought to put the screen in the sump tank ,,, just in case ,,

 

[rmchoi]

Why not ditch the Pax Bellum and go back to refugium with a Kessil H380, if that was working? I’m finding old school methods like weekly big water changes & refugium with grow lights are not exciting like new technology, but highly effective at growing coral.

 

[pecan2phat]

another thing that bothered me was the inner tube started to develop micro cracks in it

I was told by Pax Bellum that the light tube is considered a consumable and needs to be replaced periodically, YIKES!

 

[VikS]

I have not had any issues with using PAX for last six months or so. On first try things turned to mush as I was running gfo. I now harvest chaeto every 6 weekish. Also put some red dragon algae in which also seemed to grow but got crowded by Chaeto. I am dosing iron every now and then, as well as nitrates. Reactors sucks all nitrate out so need to dose even though I feed heavy. Reactor has medium flow and 12 hour on time.

 

[Braves Fan]

Why not ditch the Pax Bellum and go back to refugium with a Kessil H380,

This is what I was doing before the Pax Bellum ,, I just had the Chatto growing in a tray in my sump tank with the Kessil H380 light over the tray ,, worked great ,, its what I will go back to if I am unsuccessful with my next attempt with the Pax Bellum ,,

I am not a smart person ,, but ,, there just shouldn't be a problem getting this thing to work ,, before the H380 light I was using a light over my Chatto tary that came from Lowe's ,, it was a white light ,, I know ,, they say chatto grows better with a red light ,, but this white light grew the chatto ,, good ,, not as good as the Kessil H380 I think the Pax Bellum has to much white light in it ,, I think more red would be better ,, but ,, if the white light from Lowe's grew the chatto ,, the Pax Bellum should be growing it ,, not turning it into mush ,, I am getting my Phosphate number back up and then will give the Pax one last try ,,

I really think Ultimate Corals needs to chime in here ,, we are their market ,, they sell the Pax Bellum ,, its in their interest to do so ,, not sure they really need a post on R2R with a all effort to get his thing working like its supposed to ,, only to have it fail ,, they won't be able to give these things away ,, I am not trying to start anything here ,, I am just saying ,,

 

[Boxfish]

Is it possible the the led output has gone funky from stock levels. How about heat produced? I have a diy and I found when I empty and then reseed I only use a few strands of old in each section. Vs a small handful. Cheato source wise Thicker darker = muck. Green fine seems better. I also do not let it get jammed full and I swapped intake/output to black tubing vs clear. I also remind my self to kydhott ( keep your dang hands out of the tank) and don’t keep tweeking things immediately. Sorry if these are duh... points u have already beat around.

 

[Braves Fan]

I have only run 4 batches of Chatto thru my Pax Bellum ,, only the first two worked ,, the last to batches turned to mush ,, I cleaned it once a month ,, the light in my Pax should still be good ,, but when I bought my Pax ,, I bought a second light for it ,, my plan is to use my Pax two more times ,, first time ,, the way it sits now ,, if that doesn't work ,, I will run a second batch of Chatto thru it with the new second light ,, I want to make sure this thing isn't going to work before I throw it in the trash ,, like I did with the Skimz reactor I had before the Pax ,,

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

im just glad I got a return out of mine will it still had value. hopefully the new owner is having better luck with it