LifeAquatic
New member
Is there any before and after pictures?
My EcoBak Solid Carbon Source Journey
- Thread starter sedor
- Start date
falconut
New member
Not sure if you were asking me, but here are some of the areas of algae in my tank taken around the beginning of July '10:
The worst was the rock in the 3rd photo. You can see the glass had algae on it in the 3rd photo, some places it was a couple inches long. I don't have any after photos, but it's all gone in these areas, even the glass.
langtudatinh01
New member
so, i have been running WM biopellets for 2 months now. all of my sps are looking great and growing fast. on the other had, my LPSs are struggling and start to show some recedding. Does this happen to anyone else? i tested my water today. PH 8.3, calcium 420, ALK 7.5, i do not test phosphate. Since the algaes are dying and the sps are coloring up, so i dont think i have an issue here. any suggestions? thanks. oh, i do see some films of bacteria on the sand bed. Could this is the cause?
sedor
New member
The pellets themselves couldn't actually be doing any harm to your coral because their sole purpose is to feed a bacteria culture that will consume nutrients in your water column. Your LPS struggling are likely the result of something else, possibly they need to be fed more often, maybe they need slightly more nutrients etc etc. The films of bacteria on the sandbed will go away with due time, this is just because the cultures are stabilizing in your system.
Hi all, just wanted to give my results using WM EcoBak pellets since the beginning of august. My tank is 160g system and I used about 750ml as directed by Jon Warner. My no3 was 25 and po4 was 0 salifert. I was running these pellets in a BRS reactor and they just seem to clump up and go around the outside after a while, just saying I should have bought the right reactor in the first place and not blaming it on the WM pellets. I had GHA and Red slime show up after a month in use, did some water changes and siphon out what I could but it would keep coming back, so I turned it off a few weeks ago and let everything settle down a bit. I'm on my fifth day now dosing VSV recipe and things are looking pretty good for now but I will keep my fingers crossed.
JasonD
Active member
Well vie been using the pellets .5 liter in my 120 gallon reef 100 gallon tank volume and my nitrates went from approximately 3ppm to .2ppm in four weeks. And the bryopsis has started to slow in my tank. I will check my phosphates next they were hovering around .12 ppm hope they go down.
I'm running them in a next reef mr1 reactor I am also dosing mb7. All I can say is that I'm impressed so far. Will keep running them.
Just wanted to add my haddoni carpets are looking great, if you want to keep them they are very sensitive to nitrates.
Jason
I'm running them in a next reef mr1 reactor I am also dosing mb7. All I can say is that I'm impressed so far. Will keep running them.
Just wanted to add my haddoni carpets are looking great, if you want to keep them they are very sensitive to nitrates.
Jason
sedor
New member
Its been a while since I updated my "journey" with Ecobak pellets. Bio-pellets have now been on the market for long enough that people are gaining both positive and negative experiences across the board. IMO Ecobak seems to have topped the charts as far as effectiveness and usability. Everyone i've spoken with who has used NP pellets has been nothing but disappointed. So maybe there is something to the brand name. I have been nothing but happy with Warner Marines product and I will continue to use them.
Some of the things i've noticed:
1) Don't go crazy with the flow through the reactor. At first it seems like everyone was trying to get their pellets to bounce all over the reactor and this simply is not true and in fact IMO makes them less effective. I use a Maxi-1200 which is right around 300gph of flow and the pellets don't move at all, but over time they dissolve and I have no problem with clumping.
2) I was originally told that the Ecobak pellets would last about a year without having to replace them. This may true, but now after about 6 months they have dissolved down enough to where I am going to be adding a new batch within the next couple months. So yes you could probably get away with going a year, but its more like 6 - 8 months IMO.
Otherwise as I have mentioned numerous times in this thread my initial goal was to eradicate my vodka dosing and within a month of weening off the vodka the pellets took over the carbon responsibilities and have been going strong ever since. I have been nothing but impressed with the product.
If anyone has had success with any of the other brands, please feel free to share.
Some of the things i've noticed:
1) Don't go crazy with the flow through the reactor. At first it seems like everyone was trying to get their pellets to bounce all over the reactor and this simply is not true and in fact IMO makes them less effective. I use a Maxi-1200 which is right around 300gph of flow and the pellets don't move at all, but over time they dissolve and I have no problem with clumping.
2) I was originally told that the Ecobak pellets would last about a year without having to replace them. This may true, but now after about 6 months they have dissolved down enough to where I am going to be adding a new batch within the next couple months. So yes you could probably get away with going a year, but its more like 6 - 8 months IMO.
Otherwise as I have mentioned numerous times in this thread my initial goal was to eradicate my vodka dosing and within a month of weening off the vodka the pellets took over the carbon responsibilities and have been going strong ever since. I have been nothing but impressed with the product.
If anyone has had success with any of the other brands, please feel free to share.
sedor
New member
Yes i'm sorry maybe I chose the wrong word. You don't replace the pellets, they dissolve just like media in a Calcium Reactor. So after an amount of time you would eventually have none left. When I add more I will just pour them in on top of what I already have. There is a bit of a break in period though so I would add more before what you have is completely gone.
jnc914
Active member
Ryan- Did you use less pellets then what is recommended for your sized tank? I have tried Vertex Biopellets and was constantly trying to get the right amount of flow through them. I had major clumping and was pumping almost 300GPH to get them to tumble lightly. I went through an explosion of nuisance algae, but my coral were definitely colored up and growing. I think I maybe should have used 1/2 the recommended dosage.
kgk
Purveyor of Cool
I am having the same issue. What do you think the "right" reactor would be?
sedor
New member
One of the nice things about the biopellets, is that unlike vodka or any other source of carbon dosing, you can't overdose your tank, because your tank is only going to use what it needs. Its exactly like a Calcium reactor...you have a reactor that is full of media and as your tank asks for Calcium it basically dissolves said media until its no longer available and then you add more.
Maybe the problem lies with vertex pellets but i've never used them so its impossible for me to know. I know that with all the different brands you are going to get clumping at first. You have to either open your reactor and stir them around a bit, or shake the reactor, somehow you have to break them up a bit, and then after a while they won't do that anymore.
I've seen a lot of comments about people getting bryopsis and cyano after using the pellets and I have to admit I did too (although far far from plague proportion) but I did see a little here and there show up. It was never at any magnitude that it bothered me and it seems like something like that is always in and out of my tank so I guess I just let it kinda blow off my shoulder. If you really wanted to counteract that then I would probably suggest running some sort of GFO or something. For the most part I just continue to check my NO3 and PO4 and the numbers look good so I know the pellets are doing their job.
Maybe the problem lies with vertex pellets but i've never used them so its impossible for me to know. I know that with all the different brands you are going to get clumping at first. You have to either open your reactor and stir them around a bit, or shake the reactor, somehow you have to break them up a bit, and then after a while they won't do that anymore.
I've seen a lot of comments about people getting bryopsis and cyano after using the pellets and I have to admit I did too (although far far from plague proportion) but I did see a little here and there show up. It was never at any magnitude that it bothered me and it seems like something like that is always in and out of my tank so I guess I just let it kinda blow off my shoulder. If you really wanted to counteract that then I would probably suggest running some sort of GFO or something. For the most part I just continue to check my NO3 and PO4 and the numbers look good so I know the pellets are doing their job.
SaltyNovice
New member
Well its been 4 weeks since I added the first 500mL of the WM Ecobak pellets and two weeks since I added the second 500mL. The skimmer has been producing a whole lot more foam than before so I thought I might see some difference in the params this time - at least a little improvement. But no, My "trates are still 80+ on my API tests and the Salfiert tests are still showing 50 or so. It's hard to compare since you don't have the vials and their colors from the last tests. I even tested the water coming straight out of the TLF reactor that contains the first batch of pellets (the ones that have been tumbling for a month now). That reading was still 80+ on the API tests. So unfortunately I don't have any good news to provide for my tank. I'll let you know how the tests go next couple of weeks or so. I had put this in the long thread about "solid carbon dosing" and since I using the EcoBak pellets - I thought I would put it here also.
SaltyNovice
SaltyNovice
sedor
New member
I was always under the impression that biopellets are only consumed by the bacteria that uses them as needed. In other words they do not just dissolve by themselves. In an already low nutrient system according to my theory the pellets would last a lot longer than they would as opposed to being introduced into a higher nutrient system. Of course I could be wrong about that.
I've been running EcoBak for about 2 months now. My tank previously had been an algae raising nightmare for nearly two years. Nitrates and Phosphates have always tested at or close to zero the whole time. No matter how much I manually removed, no matter what I did, all the rock and substrate would be covered in GHA within two weeks.
Since switching over to the EcoBak, from Carbon/GFO, I've noticed that my algae growth has slowed tremendously and once again I've had a shift to a different type of algae. I'm still seeing more than I would like, but it's no longer choking off the rest of the tank. Not sure yet what kind this current stuff is.
The algae problem had been so bad before the EcoBak that it had choked off and killed all the soft and LPS corals I had tried to keep. Now it's managable enough that I'm risking a few pieces of SPS, LPS and even a Derasa clam. It's going well so far. In fact, coral growth has improved too much. Previously I was able to keep up with just water changes, now I'm seeing my Calc/Alk/Mag depleting fast enough to need supplementation.
I've been running 500ml in a TLF Phosban reactor with the sponges removed. Initially I needed to have a sponge on the top to keep the pellets from blowing out, but once it settled down I was able to remove the sponge. It was getting slimed up pretty fast too.
Overall, I've been very happy with it so far. The only minor glitch I noticed is that when I bought it at my LFS the 500ml jars were mis-labled to say 250ml. Newer batches shouldn't have this problem anymore.
-Hans
Since switching over to the EcoBak, from Carbon/GFO, I've noticed that my algae growth has slowed tremendously and once again I've had a shift to a different type of algae. I'm still seeing more than I would like, but it's no longer choking off the rest of the tank. Not sure yet what kind this current stuff is.
The algae problem had been so bad before the EcoBak that it had choked off and killed all the soft and LPS corals I had tried to keep. Now it's managable enough that I'm risking a few pieces of SPS, LPS and even a Derasa clam. It's going well so far. In fact, coral growth has improved too much. Previously I was able to keep up with just water changes, now I'm seeing my Calc/Alk/Mag depleting fast enough to need supplementation.
I've been running 500ml in a TLF Phosban reactor with the sponges removed. Initially I needed to have a sponge on the top to keep the pellets from blowing out, but once it settled down I was able to remove the sponge. It was getting slimed up pretty fast too.
Overall, I've been very happy with it so far. The only minor glitch I noticed is that when I bought it at my LFS the 500ml jars were mis-labled to say 250ml. Newer batches shouldn't have this problem anymore.
-Hans
studmaster
New member
Was there a certain brand of NP Pellets you are talking about? I am currently using Xtreme NP Reduction Bio Media and it has done wonders for me. It brought my FOWLR predator tank, from 40ppm nitrates to <5ppm in a couple months. I could never get it to <5ppm with water changes. And honestly, because i was experimenting with the pellets, I only did one 40% WC in those two months. Unfortunately I used up a 1000ml bag of those pellets in the 2 months, so I'm looking for something that will last longer....and looks a bit cheaper as well.
dzhuo
Active member
Great info all around thanks Ryan!
Quick question (in the risk of repeating question that had been asked before): Are bateria proven to be more effective in N&P reduction compare to algae? If so, at what rate? In order word, why don't we just grow chaeto (for N&P reduction) and call it a day like we used to?
Quick question (in the risk of repeating question that had been asked before): Are bateria proven to be more effective in N&P reduction compare to algae? If so, at what rate? In order word, why don't we just grow chaeto (for N&P reduction) and call it a day like we used to?
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