My EcoBak Solid Carbon Source Journey
- Thread starter sedor
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Maximus
Active member
Did you take out the sponges in the BRS reactor? If so, may I ask what you used in place of them? The Eco-Bak tends to come out of the reactor as the sponges are gone.
Rizup
New member
I would go to Hobby Lobby if you have one. They had a few different sizes. I had to get the bigger ones and cut them down a little. I went to Michael's and they didn't have any. Maybe Jo Anne would have them too, not sure.
Toadally
New member
Im still using the sponges....and I'm not using the Eco-Bak, I'm using the Vertex Pellets.
Rizup
New member
I think the rest of us are using EcoBak, but its cool. Jon had mentioned that running his reactor with the sponge, the sponge clogged after a few months. That's the reasoning behind the "plastic circle mod"
Maximus
Active member
Found some at Michaels! Let's hope this stuff works out for the best.:bounce1:
Rizup
New member
Sweet! Let us know how it goes.
sedor
New member
Ya the reason you don't want to use sponges is because in a normal reactor you are changing the media out quite often and the sponges collect a bunch of crud that you would normally just clean off every couple weeks to a month when your replacing your media. Not to mention they restrict quite a bit of flow. With these bio pellets, you aren't going to be touching them for at least 6 months. Eventually they will dissolve just like the media in a calcium reactor does, so by using sponges they would eventually get all clogged up.
As far as bacter7 goes...I stopped using it quite a while ago (maybe around 6 months) and didn't notice much of a change when I did so. My personal opinion is that its just a fancy bottle. I don't doubt that is does actually contain bacteria strains that are beneficial, I just don't think its absolutely necessary.
Nothing new to report really on my specific journey. The EcoBak pellets have started to tumble around a lot more and aren't getting all stuck together like they have been and i've since cut down my vodka dose from 19 ml to now 4 ml per day and in a week I won't be dosing vodka at all. I haven't noticed a change at all, so either the pellets are taking over as a carbon source or I never needed vodka in the first place I'm going to do a low res NO3 test tonight with a salifert kit to see if there has been any sort of spike at all. I have continued to feed quite heavily so if the pellets aren't working it should be quite obvious.
As far as bacter7 goes...I stopped using it quite a while ago (maybe around 6 months) and didn't notice much of a change when I did so. My personal opinion is that its just a fancy bottle. I don't doubt that is does actually contain bacteria strains that are beneficial, I just don't think its absolutely necessary.
Nothing new to report really on my specific journey. The EcoBak pellets have started to tumble around a lot more and aren't getting all stuck together like they have been and i've since cut down my vodka dose from 19 ml to now 4 ml per day and in a week I won't be dosing vodka at all. I haven't noticed a change at all, so either the pellets are taking over as a carbon source or I never needed vodka in the first place
I'm going to do a low res NO3 test tonight with a salifert kit to see if there has been any sort of spike at all. I have continued to feed quite heavily so if the pellets aren't working it should be quite obvious.
Toadally
New member
Ya the reason you don't want to use sponges is because in a normal reactor you are changing the media out quite often and the sponges collect a bunch of crud that you would normally just clean off every couple weeks to a month when your replacing your media. Not to mention they restrict quite a bit of flow. With these bio pellets, you aren't going to be touching them for at least 6 months. Eventually they will dissolve just like the media in a calcium reactor does, so by using sponges they would eventually get all clogged up.
As far as bacter7 goes...I stopped using it quite a while ago (maybe around 6 months) and didn't notice much of a change when I did so. My personal opinion is that its just a fancy bottle. I don't doubt that is does actually contain bacteria strains that are beneficial, I just don't think its absolutely necessary.
Nothing new to report really on my specific journey. The EcoBak pellets have started to tumble around a lot more and aren't getting all stuck together like they have been and i've since cut down my vodka dose from 19 ml to now 4 ml per day and in a week I won't be dosing vodka at all. I haven't noticed a change at all, so either the pellets are taking over as a carbon source or I never needed vodka in the first place
At the same time though, wouldn't the sponges keep the crude out of the bio pellets? I have the dual reactor and change carbon out about every two weeks. It wouldn't be a hassle to me to clean the sponges at the same time.
ptr13
New member
I attempted the vertex np pellets in my reactor and it seems like the fishes did not like it,they were reacting differently to it for some reason and my po4 raised up to .5 using salifert. Does it need a different reactor,I used my GFO reactor from BRS supply? So I reverted back to my iron after one week and PO4 decreased to just .1.What am I doing wrong?
Toadally
New member
You say your fish didn't like it? In what way?
I also use a BRS reactor, dual, and it seems to be working just fine. I'm using a MJ1200 pump and the flow seems to be good enough to tumble the media.
I placed the media online this past Thursday evening. My PO4 is still zero using a Hannah meter... I think the pellets for the most part reduce NO3. If I'm wrong, please someone correct me..
sedor
New member
According to the research I have done, the idea is to have enough flow through the pellets that any crud or gunk just goes right through them. I can't imagine how over a period of time, say 3 or 4 months the sponge would still be holding up and allowing any water to pass through it. Just my .02 though, let us know how it turns out.
As far as PO4 goes this is something that I am very interested in seeing. I have always fought higher PO4 and thus never really achieved the coral color I was looking for. Vodka dosing was making a dent in the PO4 but one of the reasons I moved to the pellets was because I was starting to have to dose what I thought was to much vodka into the tank on a daily basis. I have read that bio-pellets will in fact affect both NO3 and PO4, but just how much is something we will have to see later on in my case. Honestly I don't test for PO4 so I will make all my assumptions based on coral coloration for now.
Another result worth noting so far is that I have seen quite a drastic die off of the bacteria (slime) growing on the tank walls, in the plumbing etc etc. Its been cut in half at least which is exactly what the bio-pellets claim to do so in that respect I am impressed.
Toadally
New member
I have great colors with my coral. My nutrients have always been very low from day one, and I"m sure it's from doing the many water changes that I do. I do daily water changes of 1% total system volume. It's very easy to do and takes less time than feeding the fish.
Speaking of growth on the glass, I have also noticed that there has been a decrease. I'm only cleaning the glass every three or four days, and that's only because I miss doing it. :lol2:
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Were they the same round ones or did you get a sheet that you had to cut circles from?
Maximus
Active member
They were the same round ones. Michaels had 3-4 different sized ones as well.
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