Biopellet Reactor: Tuning

[DamonG]

That was nasty! Lol.. I just kept thinking it was plastic(like you said polymer) as you rolled it around.. But, i would have, even though it would have probably been annoying, kept just a few of the active pellets added to the new pellets, just to kick start the new reactor media..

And lol, you might as well just let it run, because your basically looking at another 6 weeks before you get these pellets kicked in.. Your basically starting from scratch. So I would turn it on, but remember to make sure your getting an extremely low flow on the effluent(like steady but low trickle). Then you can add as much as you want to the reactor right now..

 

[markalot]

Not sure if I'm helping or hurting but ..

I dose vinegar and if I go above 15 or 20ml per day I start to get that snot all over the tank. I used to dose after the skimmer but I've switched do dosing prior to the skimmer. I wonder if that will help any? Have you tried putting the intake of the BP reactor after the skimmer and placing the output before the skimmer?

Like I said, not sure if this is even a meaningful suggestion, just a thought.

 

[gdemos]

Surprised to hear you got such snot from vinegar dosing as I'm resting on the premise that it's byproduct from poorly constructed pellets

Well so far so good with the 900 ml of dr tims. My reactor looks empty comparatively as I had at least 3x the amount of pellets running previously. The new dr tims are starting to 'weight down' no longer many floaters that is which is nice.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Surprised to hear you got such snot from vinegar dosing as I'm resting on the premise that it's byproduct from poorly constructed pellets

Well so far so good with the 900 ml of dr tims. My reactor looks empty comparatively as I had at least 3x the amount of pellets running previously. The new dr tims are starting to 'weight down' no longer many floaters that is which is nice.

Over dosing carbon can get slimy build up in the tank. According to what people have said online, it's just bacteria and it goes away. I've gotten it before from over dosing vodka. I don't think it's the same thing that you were seeing inside your reactor.

 

[gdemos]

Thanks for the input. I'm holding the course with Doctor tims on this little reboot. So far 4 days in, NO3 becoming slightly detectable. PO4 at .025 on ULR. (I really don't trust Hanna ULR and it's supposed to be the best phosphate checker).

No real changes to feeding or skimming or other husbandry.

Going slow and going by parameters and eyeing acros. Getting a remergence of PE here and there.

 

[gdemos]

If indeed the snot is attributable to excess organic carbon buildup (accurate hypothesis perhaps just as well as the hypotheses of pellet quality and excess fillers) I suppose that decreasing the volume of pellets and a good rinse would surely resolve this. Now that I'm operating with 30% of the pellet volume (900ml of dr tims), pellets are new and reactor had been thoroughly cleaned I should have all angles covered. Honestly the volume of pellets I was running previously (say 6 cups) was more about getting the pellet level in the reactor (height above recirc elbow - per mfg recommendation) that it was about volume required to adequately control nutrients. Especially with the effluent being so controllable Not to mention as gunk built up in the reactor (like a compounding chain reaction) the effluent was effectively reduced through the construction in plumbing)

 

[gdemos]

Bacterial bloom quick vid
Also GFO hardened up I'm taking GFO offline let these pellets balance out. I may also dose MB7

 

[gdemos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPUZYsz--5s

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Bacterial bloom quick vid
Also GFO hardened up I'm taking GFO offline let these pellets balance out. I may also dose MB7

I could never get gfo to tumble how I liked in a BRS reactor. Take a look a the new avast marine reactors. They make changing gfo very easy, and are supposed to tumble it perfectly. (No clumping)

 

[DamonG]

I could never get gfo to tumble how I liked in a BRS reactor. Take a look a the new avast marine reactors. They make changing gfo very easy, and are supposed to tumble it perfectly. (No clumping)

It indeed sites tumble better(the new avast reactor).. You actually have to be(at least I did) very careful with how you set it (the tumble) as far as the motor speed..

 

[gdemos]

Hmm well things are getting slimy.

300g system volume
900 ml dr tims pellets
10 gph effluent rate currently
Reef dynamics 500 recirc reactor
SRO 6000 skimmer

It's not the Brown heavy gunk as before it's a white slime. Here's a quick pic of residue left after cleaning the recirc strainer.

So now using dr tims pellets and im Getting slimed. Is this a result of excessive carbon dosing (i.e. Effluent rate too fast?). Or something else? Yesterday's test:
No3: barely detectable (<.02)
Po4: 0 Hann ULR (not buying it)

Effluent rate has been very low at approx 10gph as I had low nutrients and didn't want to shock anything was also hoping that if see no3&po4 creep up given the net new pellets. I've got 900 ml of pellets now for 300g system.

Thoughts?
Increase effluent to shed mulm? Will this strip tank as negative consequence?

I really do t think I should have to clean the whole reactor again!

 

[DamonG]

I would leave it as is for now.. Our maybe slow down your flow through to a trickle, that's just if you want to tinker.. Because it's a brand new batch of pellets.. I doubt they are active yet(imho, you've got a very long time to go)..

I would just leave it as is.. It's the slime clogging anything or that high in quantity?

 

[gdemos]

It's not totally clogging anything as is so I could just let it roll

 

[Aqualund]

The picture makes it hard to make out what you are trying to point out.

In any successful reactor you will have *some* mulm as the bacteria establishes itself. To think that your acrylic chamber will be crystal clear with no build up is not practical. This is a reef system.

What you want is a bio pellet system that will effectively dose carbon to your system without depositing thick mulm in the tank.

If you accomplish this, then you shouldn't care what the inside of the reactor looks like. If you do care, you are caring about things that are beyond your control, and you will drive yourself crazy.

 

[gdemos]

Good point; and I understand. The pic just shows that indeed the reactor is getting a build up occurring. It is not to the point where the film is hampering the overall system from what I can tell ...just that I was not expecting to see the film build up so rapidly with so few pellets etc. I will not change settings and let it roll as is

 

[DamonG]

Good point; and I understand. The pic just shows that indeed the reactor is getting a build up occurring. It is not to the point where the film is hampering the overall system from what I can tell ...just that I was not expecting to see the film build up so rapidly with so few pellets etc. I will not change settings and let it roll as is

Yep, let it roll! And keep shooting videos of the awesome aussies! [emoji4] [emoji4] [emoji4]

At least for a couple more weeks..

 

[gdemos]

Slime build up continues. I find that the reactor needs a thorough breakdown and cleaning every 2 weeks or so. While I have gotten fairly quick with it this is a PITA. so it's not the pellets problem while I have less issue with dr tims vs TLF the problem persists.

I am wondering if something like Coral Snow could help?

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[Aqualund]

Do you have the output effluent reduced quite a bit?

 

[gdemos]

Yes I'm trickling at just under 5gph. For a ten second count the effluent fills 50mL. I also have been thinking about kicking up the effluent but wouldn't that "strip the nutrient"? I'm getting 0-.2ppm no3 and 0-17ppb phosphorus currently. I also find myself jacking up the tumble more frequently to shed biomass and am currently tumbling thoroughly.


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[Aqualund]

Well now you are in the more refined area of dialing in the reactor for long term use. When dealing with the "mulm" buildup there is always a balance to be had between how many pellets you are using, and your effluent output.

If you had the output valve wide open, you would shed this mulm constantly and it would never buildup....but like you said you dont want to strip everything.

You could make the assertion that less pellets but higher output could accomplish the same thing as more pellets but restricted output (in terms of carbon dosing).

So my recommendation in these situations is always to reduce the amount of pellets in the reactor, and open up the effluent output (higher gph into the system).