N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[bluereefs]

thank you tntneon, I clean glass aprox once a week, glass never get comletly covered with algae, biggest problem are coraline algae as you can see per picture. And in the bottom I get brown algae, is hard to clean them because the corals are close to glass so I clean them once or two per months.

 

[ryanuuy]

Hi guys,

Im a total noob in biopellets. My tank is a 120g 4x2x2ft display with a 50g sump. My total water volume is about 110 gallons(i have a lot of live rock in my display). I asked around locally and what the other reefers suggested is that i use 500ml of biopellets for 100g of water. Is that right?

And also where i am from, the only reactors that we have here are the Phr 70 from reef octo(for phosphates) and zf-1000 from reef octo(zeo reactor). Would either of those be okay to run the biopellets?

Heres a link to the zeo reactor pic. Its the zf 1000 model.
http://www.reefphilippines.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=10673

Heres a link to the phosphate reactor:
http://aquariatech.multiply.com/photos/album/27/Aquarium_Reactors_P04_CA_NO3#photo=16


Thanks for the help!

 

[bluereefs]

ryanuuy, I use reef octopus reactors, both bigger and smaller, my diy reactor is octopus calcium reactor. I would advise starting with small amount of bp, 100 ml and ading each week another 100 ml until you come to 500 ml mark, slowly adition of bp is more safe way to avoid bacterial bloom.

I do not used new ZF100 reactor so I can not speak from expirience but IMO that can be optimal reactor for bio pellets, first he have small holes on platforms what prevent bp to escape and there is no need for sponges or modification, second he have posibility to shake the pellets what is great advantage, and he have the valve to control the flow inside reactor, just everything what is needed for bp.

 

[tntneon]

hi ryanuuy ,

-Yes that would be the recomended amout for your system , however you could begin with less ( say 1/3) and upping it gradualy over a couple month's.
Because in serveral cases blooming has occured , this you could expect when having high nitrates (don't know if that's the case ? )

-The zeo reactor is a nice but expensive piece of equipment , just be sure that there ain't no filter pads in there , these clog up very fast reducing flow and possibly creating dangerous conditions (H2S).
I do like the stirring rod in those reactors this is a good practice with BP too.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[ryanuuy]

thanks bluereefs and tntneon for replying so quickly! im actually really excited to give this a try and i think ill go with the zeo reactor since its only a little bit more expensive compared to the phosphate one!

 

[tntneon]

We where probably posting at the same time bleureefs , but as you see i share your opinion

Once a week cleaning your glass , thats something i can dream about , now i'm back to 2 daily glass cleaning .
I think my BP's are now really worn out , and that it is realy time to replace them again .
I also see that my Chaeto (in fuge) is growing like before the BP's (=really fast ) and that coloration of my acro is less .

This week i'm gonna buy me the new formula Bp's at my LFS , they look a bit darker and have a different shape .


greetingzz tntneon

 

[bluereefs]

tntneon, please post a picture of new formula bio pellets when you can. Well you use them more then a year, is sure time for more of them, keep us updated with the results from new formula :wave:

 

[tntneon]

hi bleureef ,
i already changed them about 5 to 6 month's ago , so it isn't a year that i use them
but it is sure time to change them , will post pics of the new ones this week

greetingzz tntneon

 

[Aquarist007]

I have two client tanks that have plagued me for over a year with bryopsis and brown algae I do weekly water changes
One is a 65 gal and the other a 40 gal--both mixed reefs and both do not have refugiums or sumps.
Last Wednesday i installed a reactor with np pellets on the 65 gal and yesterday on the 40 gal.
Both have adequate skimmers.

Today I checked the 65 gal and was amazed at the water quality already, A further bonus was that all the lps corals had there polyps extended
No nuisance algae had accumulated on the glass.

On my particular system I am running two 40 gal refugiums with deep sand beds and chaeto algae. I cranked up the flow through the refugiums last wed when I installed the first np pellets on the 65 gal.
To day I noticed little difference in my corals

Question
Do refugiums introduce bacteria back to the tank like carbon dosing or the np pellets do?

 

[tmz]

Not in the same way and probably not in the same voume but algae exudates do add dissolved and particulate organics which are fair game for microbes.

 

[Aquarist007]

Not in the same way and probably not in the same voume but algae exudates do add dissolved and particulate organics which are fair game for microbes.

I don't believe particulate organics are enjoyed by corals as much as bacteria?

 

[jlinzmaier]

I don't believe particulate organics are enjoyed by corals as much as bacteria?

Why do you say that?? Do you know of any literature to support that or is that just an assumption??

Jeremy

 

[ryanuuy]

Okay i just got my reactor and the biopellets. I set up the reactor already and now all thats missing are the pellets. Do i need to prepare them in any special way before i add them or do i just place them inside and thats it?

 

[bluereefs]

Okay i just got my reactor and the biopellets. I set up the reactor already and now all thats missing are the pellets. Do i need to prepare them in any special way before i add them or do i just place them inside and thats it?

I just wash them and use, wash in freshwater and put in reactor.

 

[tntneon]

Okay i just got my reactor and the biopellets. I set up the reactor already and now all thats missing are the pellets. Do i need to prepare them in any special way before i add them or do i just place them inside and thats it?

Hi ryanuuy ,

Just rinsing , to remove polymer dust will do fine and then you can add them to the reactor

greetinzz tntneon

 

[DJREEF]

sirreal63: I'll work on getting some more fish

anyway when the SRO's came out people were recommending the 3000 for heavily stocked 150g ish.
It would seem that the changed the recommendations after they had been out for a while.
Either way it is odd that i would be getting a great foam head and black gunk and then all of a sudden..nothing.
I am not getting anything now except for rapid bubbling at the top.

i''ll try putting some pellets back, but another skimmer is not an option.
btw what are "doc's"?

any other suggestions please let me know!

I went with dual SRO-1000's, as opposed to the single tower.

DJ

 

[DJREEF]

I have two client tanks that have plagued me for over a year with bryopsis and brown algae I do weekly water changes
One is a 65 gal and the other a 40 gal--both mixed reefs and both do not have refugiums or sumps.
Last Wednesday i installed a reactor with np pellets on the 65 gal and yesterday on the 40 gal.
Both have adequate skimmers.

Today I checked the 65 gal and was amazed at the water quality already, A further bonus was that all the lps corals had there polyps extended
No nuisance algae had accumulated on the glass.

On my particular system I am running two 40 gal refugiums with deep sand beds and chaeto algae. I cranked up the flow through the refugiums last wed when I installed the first np pellets on the 65 gal.
To day I noticed little difference in my corals

Question
Do refugiums introduce bacteria back to the tank like carbon dosing or the np pellets do?

Probably to a limited degree, but certainly not near the volume created by using biopolymers.

DJ

 

[goochesfish]

I set up the nextreef smr1 reactor with 500ml of BP for my 150g using an MJ 1200 pump yesterday. The pellets take a while to unclump. I've had to turn it off a few times to let the pellets sink, then shake up the reactor to break the pellets up. The outflow goes to the skimmer and my skimmer hasn't produced a thing. The foam head is down. Is this normal?
I'm only on page 5 of this thread.

 

[DJREEF]

I set up the nextreef smr1 reactor with 500ml of BP for my 150g using an MJ 1200 pump yesterday. The pellets take a while to unclump. I've had to turn it off a few times to let the pellets sink, then shake up the reactor to break the pellets up. The outflow goes to the skimmer and my skimmer hasn't produced a thing. The foam head is down. Is this normal?
I'm only on page 5 of this thread.

You may need to back the output from the reactor away from the skimmer a bit. It could be strangling the flow into the skimmer.

DJ

 

[daveonbass]

I got a new NO3 test kit, same brand, I'll see if there is any new numbers tonight...so far eveything looks the same. My new coral is still doing well too, I just can never get the pellets to actually "reduce" anything.