Hello,
THe answer is there ARE differences between reactors and how important they are depends on the biological system + media + fluorescence signal + choice of excitation/emission bands. FOr example, each of the LEDs and each of the spectrometers have slight differences in manufacturing, and the “zero” level of the signal can depend very sensitively on these, so it is important to calibrate it out.
GENERALLY in our lab what we do is measure a “zero” signal for each reactor. For example putting the same non-fluorescent sample in each (i.e. just cells +media) , do the measurement, record the value as the “zero” value. Then, we subtract that zero from the experimental data to bring them to a common baseline. Doing this we find we can get very reproducible results, though admittedly it is much easier if you have a strongly expressed fluorescent protein and limited background (e.g. a non-fluorescent media)
Best wishes
Harrison
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