My EcoBak Solid Carbon Source Journey

after the new reactor, pump and bp cost, you may find it takes a few years to recover the savings from no GFO, PLUS, it may not be as effective as GFO.

And your system appears to be working anyways. :)

I switched from carbon and GFO to pellets because i still had algae growth and i was willing to shell out some cash to fix it. Still pending on those results though...
 
After reading a couple long threads, and knowing that my P04 isn't high at all, I'm not sure that pellets would benefit me. I drip Kalk every night, which looks to keep my P in check. I have absolutely no algae growth anywhere.
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Kalkwasser does not affect PO4 it merely maintains a stable levels of Ca and Alk. If you don't have nutrient issues than your right, pellets may not be a suitable candidate for your system, but I wanted to clarify that the kalk is not a replacement.

after the new reactor, pump and bp cost, you may find it takes a few years to recover the savings from no GFO, PLUS, it may not be as effective as GFO.
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You can use any reactor to run the biopellets and he mentioned he already had a BRS dual reactor. I use a maxi 1200 on my PM reactor and it does the job so in reality you could buy an entire setup including the pellets for around $100 and the pellets last about a year. GFO still needs a reactor and not only needs to be replaced more often, but its also quite a bit more expensive in the long run. I would however assume that some systems would benefit from running both the bio-pellets and gfo.

You'll never recover " the savings" in the reef hobby.
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Ain't that the truth!
 
just got on the BP band wagon. I just added 1.5 ltrs of bio pellets into a reactor. Do you guys think its too much tumbling for the pellets?
 
Doesn't look like the pellets are flying around inside the reactor to much so I wouldn't say its to much. As long as they are moving and stirring around a little your good. Its not like carbon or GFO where the amount of flow makes a huge different unless its far to little.
 
The Warner Marine Pellets are for reals. I've been fighting some cyano for many months which recently had turned kinda slimy. I couldn't get rid of it and I tried just about everything I could. I almost wiped out all my corals using that red slime remover. I tried lots of GFO, PhosGuard and carbon with no luck. I even tried an ATS algea turf scrubber. I didnt have the ATS set up long enough thats why it didnt work.

About 2 weeks ago I added 1/2 liter of WM ecobak pellets into a TLF reactor. About 3 days ago I recieved my Geo 420 reactor and I swithed the pellets from the TLF, plus I added 1 more liter. Yesterday I blasted all my rocks with a turkey baster and like always the tank looked really clean. By the next morning the slime would be back all over my tank. To my surprise today the tank is as clean as it was yesterday. I can also see where the cyano is dying off big time.
 
Just took the plunge and put 500ml of ecobak after 24 hour soak. Then this afternoon i loaded up my NextReef MR1 shorty Reactor with a maxi jet 1200 not sure if I can get away with this setup any thoughts? Thanx guys
 
sedor said:
Kalkwasser does not affect PO4 it merely maintains a stable levels of Ca and Alk.
Click to expand...

I have seen Kalkwasser lower phosphate. It does not happen as fast as with GFO but it you use it often it keeps it PO4 low. Here is an old article.

This section and number 3 in the summary cover it.

Phosphate Reduction via Calcium Phosphate Precipitation

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php

I plan to use the EcoBak, but think that dosing Kalkwasser has many benefits and Phosphate binding is one.
 
I've read that article. :) It doesn't say that limewater will precipitate phosphate. The effect you've seen might just be the effect of better coral growth due to a higher pH or better alkalinity and calcium levels.
 
Reading back over my posts I don't "not" suggest running carbon and/or gfo, I simply wanted to add that in some situations (and maybe all I haven't been running the pellets long enough to decide) gfo may not be needed at all. Of course it wouldn't hurt to run it, but I think a lot of folks have high hopes that pellets will dissolve the need for running gfo. Carbon on the other hand is a completely separate entity and IMO should be run with or without the pellets.
 
funny718 said:
Just took the plunge and put 500ml of ecobak after 24 hour soak. Then this afternoon i loaded up my NextReef MR1 shorty Reactor with a maxi jet 1200 not sure if I can get away with this setup any thoughts? Thanx guys
Click to expand...

i was thinking about the same set up, i was wondering if the maxi jet would be enough pump for the shorty.
 
IIRC, the pellets use C, N and P in a fixed ratio (Renfield?). However, some food have a lot more P than can be used up because the system become N limited. So some system may require GFO to remove the last of the phosphate.
 
I’m assuming that the filter sock will pull lots of s@@@ from the tank alone with bacteria full of nitrate/phos. It is essential with BP, just my thought.
 
I have been using the bp's for a week now. I have them in a geo 420 reactor with a maxi jet 1200 pump. The first couple of days they were tumbling pretty good. I got home from work checked on the reactor and they were hardly tumbling. I shook the reactor and the pellet have this caked on slime. Does anybody else have this problem? I do have the reactor about four feet above my sump. Maybe its just not enough flow?
 
The slime building up in the reactor is normal at first. Its the same slime that accumulated on your glass walls and plumbing when you vodka dose. That's the beauty of bio pellets is that its all contained neatly in the reactor.

As far as needing to use a filter sock in conjunction with BP's I don't think its a must. In fact its a completely separate form of filtration. It may help pull some of the junk from the output of the reactor, but its best to aim the output towards the input of the skimmer anyways.
 
I just ordered 1000ml of ecobak for my 120 gallon tank which includes about 40 gallons in the sump. I plan to add ecobak slowly.
I already have a BRS dual reactor that runs off of my sump pump return manifold so I can easily adjust flow from 100 gph to 600.
I did just replace my Lifereef Skimmer with a EuroReef 6 weeks ago. There is no comparison there, the euro reef is kicking butt at pulling junk out.
I kinda thought that my HA would start to fade with having a better skimmer.
My nitrates are zero, my phosphates are barely noticeable on the crappy drip tests. (which means I have a phosphate issue)
(I also ordered a hanna phosphate checker).
I have been running a Turf algae scrubber for 18 months and it grows 2+ pounds of crap a week, but I still have hair algae growing like crazy. I'm using a DSB of 6" too.
I also utilize kalkwasser with my ATO.
I really would like to see my hair algae die off and get rid of the Turf Scrubber.
It seems counter productive to install a DIY LED array replacing 900 watts of electricity burned up with MH and still continue to use 6 each 60 watt CF 20 hrs a day to make algae grow on a screen.
I have only 6 small fish and I don't overfeed them.
My corals seem to be better off with LEDS. Lots of the frags have gone from ugly brown to blues & green.
 
GUILLO1 said:
The Warner Marine Pellets are for reals. I've been fighting some cyano for many months which recently had turned kinda slimy. I couldn't get rid of it and I tried just about everything I could. I almost wiped out all my corals using that red slime remover. I tried lots of GFO, PhosGuard and carbon with no luck. I even tried an ATS algea turf scrubber. I didnt have the ATS set up long enough thats why it didnt work.

About 2 weeks ago I added 1/2 liter of WM ecobak pellets into a TLF reactor. About 3 days ago I recieved my Geo 420 reactor and I swithed the pellets from the TLF, plus I added 1 more liter. Yesterday I blasted all my rocks with a turkey baster and like always the tank looked really clean. By the next morning the slime would be back all over my tank. To my surprise today the tank is as clean as it was yesterday. I can also see where the cyano is dying off big time.
Click to expand...

Just curious why you switched from the TLF reactor. Were they not tumbling good in there?

I just added 250ml yesterday. I have them in a single BRS reactor, which I was running GFO and Carbon in. I was thinking of getting a used TLF reactor for the pellets and keep continue with the GFO and carbon in the BRS reactor. I also don't know if the pellets work this quickly, but I have quite a lot of hair algae on my overflow, and today it looks white and appears to be dying.
 
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