Biopellets tryouts

[mistaflicksta]

Well I had been reading up on nitrate/phosphate reducing biopellets for a while and had read that most of the users where mixing it p in there sand bed, this was the method used when they first came out. I bought NP biopellets and was planning on mixing them in my sand bed. there was a problem with that, my sand was too fine and the pellets would just come to the surface of the sandbed making it not look pleasing. I decided to mix them in with the media in my canister filter since I didn't want to leave them in my tank.

My nitrates at the time of start up where 30-20ppm. The canister section that the biopellets were mixed into was never cleaned out when I did tank maintanence so I have no idea how long it took for the pellets to be used up. after about 5-6 months my nitrates where @ 5-10ppm. By then I had forgot about the pellets so I really dont know if they were doing the job. I then added a reactor with phosban and a week later my nitrates were oppm along with my phosphates.


Well I installed my sump and all of my parameters went out of whack, I think the live rock I added to the sump sarted a cycle all over. Well My nitrates are now jumping from 40-20 ppm. freaking test kits dont read the same( i will show you later. I had been brushing up on biopellets for a while and ran into a product called reefing evolution bio snak pak. the price was half of what the name brand ones were going for so I decided to give them a try. i still had a bit of the NP Pellets left but not enough to make a difference so I mixed them in,

 

[mistaflicksta]

first I had to modify the reactor so the biopellets could tummble

bio snak pak and NP biopellets mixed in with bacteria starter pellets that came in the pack. Notice the color difference in color bacteria starter(white) biopellets (cream)

the Pellets were started on January 3rd, I will keep updating this thread, I an runing a reactor in conjunction with the biopellets to see if that helps. I have read alot of threads on this and results a re split down the middle, hope my results are on the positive side.

 

[mistaflicksta]

Here are more pics, I am running the skimmer on the wet side to try and export nutrients faster(keeping an eye on salinity in the tank)

it looks like all hell broke loose in the sump, I wish I had more room to place everything in.
(maybe a bigger tank

 

[mistaflicksta]

well I am about to go do my Sunday softball thing AKA dropping bombs over Baghdad. When I get back I will test my water and will post the readings I get.

Happy Sunday

Erik Guzman

 

[puffin04]

Looks great Erik!!! You still loving the octopus skimmer with the new gate valve on them? Looks like the reactors are dumping back on themselves. Is that what you wanted? Thanks


Steffen Sparks

 

[mistaflicksta]

whats up Steffen, the octopus is kicking arse! the gate valve makes it easy to dial it in. the biopellet reactor is pulling from the refugium side and dumping infront of the skimmer intake. The GFO reactor is pulling form refugium and dumping into the output chamber of the sump. I dont know why it looks like the GFO reactor is dumping on itself.

 

[jmait769]

Great write up Erik and following along. Maybe you can give some baselines on the tank like water source, salt you use, frequency and amount for water for water changes, etc. I've followed Drummereef's tank build and he has used the pellets from the beginning and has good results.

Jay

 

[mistaflicksta]

Well as far as water goes I was using regular RO water from the windmill water dispencers in town. After some massive reading and a discussion on a thread Pedro started, I desided to take the safe route and buy water from the LFS in town. I have been procastinating on buying an RO/DI system because I dont own the place I live in and dont want to mess with their plumbing. That and I procrastinate at spending large amounts of money at once, but have no problem at spending chunks here and there.

I use regular cheapo instant ocean salt. I mix about 10gal a week but only do 5gal water changes a week. I keep the other 5gal in a jug just in case.

For water top off I keep a 7 gal jug with RO/DI (sometimes if I run out of water and it is late I am guilty of using regular RO water)

I use 60grams of phosban in a reactor and as much activated cabon as I could fit in two media socks and placed them in a canister filter

The only things that I dose are Kent liquid calcium, korallen-zucht KH plus, PH buffer, and will now start magnesium to raise it up a little.

I will probaly be switching to B-Ionic 2 part calcium buffer

 

[mistaflicksta]

Well I've been raising both Magnesium and Calcium 12 hrs apart (7am & 7pm) so I don't dose all at once. Every thing still looks just fine but it has only been a couple of days. One thing I noticed when I tested yesterday is that the two nitrate tests that I did where identical @ 5ppm ( didn't test the third one that is very old and allways reads high). I didnt take a pic of them but I will retest again tommorrow to make shure it wasn't a fluke.

 

[mistaflicksta]

Update

Last Saturday I added the rest of the biopellets and am now at 500mg. I got an algae bloom on the glass but it seem to be dying down. I have not been able to bring my nitrates down from 20ppm in the last 4 weeks. It has slowly creeped up on me, so I have started doing water changes every three days to keep nitrates @ a steady 5ppm. I know it is still too early to see any changes caused by the bio pellets so I will keep them in line for several months more. Here are some pics

I am still running the skimmer a little wet in order to export nutrients out faster

Erik

 

[jmait769]

Erik, are the biopellets consumed over time?

Jay

 

[mistaflicksta]

Jay, they do get consumed, I had put a line on the reactor when I first intalled them and when I turned off the reactor to add more the pellets were about 2cm lower than day one. I touched the pellets already in the reactor and they felt gummy like. The older pellets also look somewhat smaller than the new ones.

Erik

 

[jmait769]

Jay, they do get consumed, I had put a line on the reactor when I first intalled them and when I turned off the reactor to add more the pellets were about 2cm lower than day one. I touched the pellets already in the reactor and they felt gummy like. The older pellets also look somewhat smaller than the new ones.

Erik

Following along as I might start some up like you did with just a little at a time. Like I said in the other thread I'm also watching drummereef's thread as they (Brett, 110galreef and others) discuss the benefits he and others are obtaining. So far I haven't seen the need on mine but maybe adding the bacteria for diversification could be a + in the long run?

Jay

 

[mistaflicksta]

I just tested my water parameters and these were the results that I got:
Specific Gravity 1.026
Temperature 79.2°F
pH 8.0 API
Alkalinity 9 dKH API
Ammonia (NH3) 0 API
Nitrite (NO2) 0 API
Nitrate (NO3) 0ppm on one test kit and 5ppm on the other test kit API going with 5ppm
Phosphate (PO4) 0 ppm API
Calcium 440 ppm Tropic Marin
Magnesium 1300 ppm Tropic Marin

I could not believe the nitrate readings so I tested with both test kits again and I got the same result.

I will test again tommorrow and see what results I get.
I got clear to yellowish film on the glass, I think I need to re align the reactor output to the skimmer. Ill update tommorrow.

Erik

 

[deehz]

That's good bro!! So something is working.

I would stick with the test kit that you feel is more accurate. This way, if you get one result at 5PPM and another at 15PPM NO3, you won't get deflated and ge aggravated at what is wrong with the system. When I tested my system, I did the 3 test approach (with one test kit) making sure I get the same results each time or an average. However, I am glad that at least there is a positive outcome with the biopellets in reducing down NO3.

 

[ajherrera2]

Erik, I just read through this thread and sounds great that they seem to be producing the results that you were after. When I read through how you have the reactors dumping into each chamber i noticed that the biopellets reactor dumps into the skimmer section of the sump. As you know I am running a zeolite reactor which is basically the same concept but they recommend turning off the skimmer when releasing the bacteria. do you think that your skimmer may be pulling some of the bacteria from the reactor?? I would let the reactor dump into the return allowing more of the bacteria to populate the main display....just my .02

 

[mistaflicksta]

What I have read is that the biopellet bacteria is best if it stays in the reactor, and that the output should be as close to or plumbed into the skimmer if possible. the bacteria in the biopellets uses the nitrates and like everythng that eats, expels waste. That waste is what is suppose to be pulled out by the skimmer. When the outlet hose of my reactor shifted away from the skimmers input I noticed a thick clearish slime on the glass. Ill try to find the article I had read and post it up

Erik

 

[mistaflicksta]

Well today when the lights came on I there was a cyano outbreak all over the tank. I took the turkey baster and blew all of the cyano. The heavy clearish slime was on the display glass again. I didnt test my parameters cause I went into panic when i sall allof my soft corals covered in brown/red slime so I put my hands in the tank to fix the problem before testing. Well I just got home from playing softball and gave my tank the nightly check and noticed my skimmer going crazy, there was foam covering about half of my sump. I had read about things like this happening with biopellets but it hadnt happened to me yet. Tommorow I will test my parameters and take pics of what ever condition my tank is in, so stay tuned

Erik

 

[pnavarro170]

damn man thats crazy. well i doubt i will try that anytime soon.

 

[mistaflicksta]

well see what the tests and visual of the tank tell us tomorrow. I just did a 5 gallon change to see if that helps. TDS on the water used for the water change read 1ppm last week when it was bought. Parameters on the water used for the water xhange were:
Specific Gravity 1.025
Temperature 80.2°F
pH 8.2 API
Alkalinity 10 dKH API
Ammonia (NH3) 0 API
Nitrite (NO2) 0 API
Nitrate (NO3) 0ppm on both test kits API
Phosphate (PO4) 0 ppm API
Calcium 450 ppm Tropic Marin
Magnesium 1300 ppm Tropic Marin

They are slightly different than my tank parameters but they shouldnt make that much of a difference. Well see what happens