Larger reborn media back in stock

[drsalomon]

I just received reborn media from marineandreef.com and the pictures on their website are accurate. It is the larger pieces. They have two items available. One is the small pieces and the other is the larger pieces. Just thought others would like to know that the good stuff is back in stock.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

I just received reborn media from marineandreef.com and the pictures on their website are accurate. It is the larger pieces. They have two items available. One is the small pieces and the other is the larger pieces. Just thought others would like to know that the good stuff is back in stock.
View attachment 187552

Shhhhhh, don't tell everyone, lol.

 

[drsalomon]

I spoiled the secret. Can I be forgiven? I was going nuts with the low melt rate of the ARM media. Will see what this stuff can do. I did not see any garbage in the bag either. I will keep a close eye on phosphates but a bit of fertilizer should serve the tank well with my chronically low phosphate. I have never tried reborn previously and would appreciate any advice you guys have on minimal pH to run the reactor to maximize production. BRS videos suggest 6.2 but can I push that any further down.

 

[JMetaxas]

I have no problem with the smaller grained Reborn, but it's absolutely filthy. I must use 20 gallons of water from my garden hose to clean it so that the water runs clear.

Reborn dissolves at 10x the rate of Caribsea ARM. I have the same ARM in my calcium reactor from 2 years ago. I run my Calcium reactor at about 6.5 and the Reborn melts nicely.

 

[PSU4ME]

Def start at 6.7 and go from there.

 

[drsalomon]

Thanks for the tips. I will titrate it down as you guys suggest.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Nice that it's back, it used to be my go-to, but sooo expensive now, and hard to find. For what it's worth I've taken to supplementing my calcium reactor substrate with quahog shells from Revere beach. In a nice afternoon in the summer my wife and I collected several buckets worth, enough for several years worth! I rinsed them well, then smashed them up with a sledge hammer until about the size of quarters to half dollars. I put this in the reactor and it breaks down quite well, same as other media...and free. I've not seen any significant change in algae growth. I'm currently using about 1/3 shells, 1/3 recycled Monti and Acro skeletons from the tank, and 1/3 of the Tunze calcium carbonate product.

 

[drsalomon]

Thanks for all your tips BRS! I have maxed the calcium reactor out at pH 6.4 and still it does not keep up with demand even on the reborn media. Kalk stirrer supplementation brings me the rest of the way. I determined that my PM1 module was defective on my apex so upon replacement, the pH readings are much more consistent with manually checking the effluent and it seems my reactor can only go down to 6.4. Greg, have you had a chance to check the phosphate in the effluent with the shells and acro skeletons. Beyond breaking the pieces up do you do anything else to prepare them for the reactor?

 

[Cheddah93]

I currently run my reactor with reborn at 6.3 and get a 29-30ish dkh effluent, I only use ph as a number and more so go off the effluent dkh which I maintain a 29-30

 

[drsalomon]

Cheddah93, What effluent flow rate do you run the reactor at? I am getting about 23 DkH at 35 ml/min. Are you using geo calcium reactor or something else?

 

[Cheddah93]

Have a Reef octopus calcium reactor, I believe cr100 on a reefer 250 tank. And I’m running at 20ml/min currently. That’s my personal tank I was referencing originally.

Also another tank I help maintain and setup, I put the next size up version of the reef octopus reactor (cr140) on a reefer 425xl I have that set to maintain a 6.2-6.25 ph at 30ml/min to maintain a roughly 30dkh, haven’t checked that effluent in a little bit because that tank is just on autopilot, only thing I did was add a secondary chamber filled with reborn as well, a little while ago to scrub off excess c02 and help increase the effluent output a little bit as consumption was going up which I haven’t tested the effluent since. (That dkh was tested before installation of secondary chamber)

I wouldn’t be afraid personally to try bringing that ph down a little bit more, just keep an eye on media. I’m rather inexperienced with calcium reactors as I’ve only ever setup and maintained them in the last 6months now, so maybe someone with more experience can chime in if I’m giving bad advice. It’s just what works for me.

Edit: you could also try adding a secondary chamber aswell as it is known to help raise the dkh a little aswell if you don’t already have one.

 

[dz6t]

The 2nd chamber does bring Alk output up.
My calcium reactors are putting out over 40 dkh, with CO2 goes in them as streams.

 

[drsalomon]

I ordered the secondary chamber from geo but they take a month to ship. Hopefully that will solve the problem. I certainly am not at the stream level yet on CO2. I will try to drop pH a bit more.

 

[PSU4ME]

Does it bring up alk or PH? Thought it just gassed off the co2

 

[Cheddah93]

Does it bring up alk or PH? Thought it just gassed off the co2

Brings up the alk concentration as the secondary chamber will melt just at a slower rate compared to the first chamber, and also will allow slight rise in ph of effluent due to c02 degassing with the media supposedly, but I haven’t bothered to measure that as the alk raise is the more important factor of it. Most people recommend running a smaller media in secondary chamber, but reborn in the second chamber is fine from what I’ve found.

 

[JMetaxas]

Here is the video BRS did on the value of 2nd chambers:

 

[dz6t]

I tested the pH in the first and 2nd chambers, they are the same.
The effect of the 2nd chamber is simply extended the length of the calcium reactor.