N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

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Paul B said:
I hope it never catches on, I like having the oldest tank on here and I don't have to worry about calcification, bio pellets, Vodka dosing, DSBs, Chaetomorpha (I don't even know what that is) Carbonite hardness and all of these other things many people worry about :D

If I had to think about all of that stuff I would get a stroke.
My test kit came in a wooden box and the directions say to keep in a cool chariott.
I throw some food in the tank, wave hello to the fish and go out with my wife and have a nice glass of merlot with dinner. :beer:
Have a great day but most of all, have fun. :dance:
Click to expand...

New sig, thank Paul.
 
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I'm considering jumping on the bandwagon. I currently dose VSV, but would like to make the switch. I would be using a BRS dual chamber reactor running GAC on one side and NP Pellets on the other. Which should come first in line...pellets or GAC?

Also, how would I make the transition from VSV to pellets?

Thanks!
 
I would do the GAC first to make sure any bacteria doesn't get clogged up in it. Also, I would replace the sponges on the Pellet side with this stiff mesh you can get from a crafts place or section. There's an example of it in one of these posts somewhere.

As for the transition I have no idea and I'm sure someone else here will have an answer.
 
jason2459 said:
I would do the GAC first to make sure any bacteria doesn't get clogged up in it. Also, I would replace the sponges on the Pellet side with this stiff mesh you can get from a crafts place or section. There's an example of it in one of these posts somewhere.

As for the transition I have no idea and I'm sure someone else here will have an answer.
Click to expand...
Thank you!

Now...Anyone with ideas for a transition??
 
new problem:

I've been adding sugar 1tsp every 3 days...and today it fell on a day when I also add my alk and ca. So now after adding both...my tank is "cloudy."

the question is how can I tell if it's a bacteria bloom or if it's an alk/ca percipitate?
 
capn_hylinur said:
I don't believe particulate organics are enjoyed by corals as much as bacteria?
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Particulate organics feed bacteria. So the addition of organic carbon whether by pellets(polysacharrides), sugars(monosacharrides) ethanol , acetic acid or decaying matter like algae exudate, fish waste, uneaten food, spawns, dead bacteria ,etc. will produce one strain or another. Some may be used as food ,some may be pathogenic but not enough is known to establish polymer degradation as a particularly useful coral feeding strategy,in my opinion.
 
is anyone having issues with the beads clumping together? I noticed the last Friday that some beads on one side of the reactor were no longer tumbling so I decided to take it out and clean the reactor. After putting everything back in, I noticed the next day that the beads weren't moving on one side. I tap the reactor and it all starts to move again but after 2 mins, it would stop moving again. Is anyone having this issue? Any suggestions on what can I do to fix the issue?
 
daveonbass said:
new problem:

I've been adding sugar 1tsp every 3 days...and today it fell on a day when I also add my alk and ca. So now after adding both...my tank is "cloudy."

the question is how can I tell if it's a bacteria bloom or if it's an alk/ca percipitate?
Click to expand...

Maybe with stronger skimming?? You should see bacterial slime/strings in skimmate.
 
no luck, it must have been alk. It came and went so fast (couple of hours) and there were no bacterial strings and nothing on the pellets. Skimmer didn't produce any more skimmate. And of course, no reduction in nitrate. :(

I was hoping to get a pic today with the lights on, but it was gone before the night was over.
 
So I've been running pellets for a few weeks now, and I am seeing a reduction in my N/Ps but unfortunately there is just to much going on in my tank to be able to point my finger at any one thing. I was originally running around 100ml in a media bag sandwiched between some egg crate in one of my chambers so water was forced to go threw it. Just last nite I moved everything over to a BRS dual chamber reactor w/foam (for now) Until I can get my hands on some of those sewing thingies.

When I started my phosphates were just a little shy of .60 and they are now down to .21, my nitrates appear to be getting lighter in colour but that API test kit isn't worth salt. 5ppm, and 10ppm and the exact same colour on the chart. I need a new nitrate kit. I can pretty much test 0, and over 10ppm, and less then 10ppm
 
ok, new update. I stayed home for lunch and rememebered that many people saw a drop in NO3 immediately after the "bloom". My bloom only lasted for maybe 10 hours, but I wanted to see if the skimmer had pulled anything valuable out. So the god news is that I test everything before I dose...and my PO4 was 0ppm while my NO3 was 5-10ppm (api test ARE indistinguishable at that range). Well the test today, maybe 12hours later was clearly lower than 5ppm. It's not quite at the yellow that is a zero reading...but it's not a 5.

so is it possible that I had a micro bloom last night that is already over and so now my NO3 is lower? Or is that just not possible? There are still no bacterial strings of any kind in any part of the tank...so if you ask me I'd say it wasn't a bacteria bloom...but what do you guys think?

I will test again in a few hours when I get off work to see if the lunch test was just a fluke.

wish me more luck...

dave
 
DJREEF said:
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
Click to expand...

I did that and still no skimmate. I's been 2 days. If I dial up the skimmer, it overflows. I think I will take apart the skimmer pump this weekend. Maybe something got in it from the BP reactor. Skimmate production going down does not normally happen when starting biopellets?
 
My skimmer production increased for a few weeks then dropped off to nothing and has been that way a few months now. My skimmer is a bit overkill on my tank though. My bio-load is also very small, a juvenile yellow tang and a longnosed hawk.

In your case I would check the pump and make sure everything is clean and go from there.
 
ok..."something" must be working. The nitrates are definitely lower...no doubt about it. The api kit is almost pure yellow. Test after test. SO NOW, should I stop doing something? Like stop the 2 tsp of sugar, or just turn the BP off and see if no3 goes back up? Or should I just be happy and shut up. :P ?

this is the first time in months that the NO3 has gone down with out me doing something else that I could easily attribute to the decline. No WC's, just the pellets and sugar, and now my skimmer nog is very cloudy/creamy looking, like hot coco.

for the first time since set up the tanks params ar zeros....of this I AM pleased. Now if we could figure out why it took so long to work...and why now? Do you all think it was the sugar? I've only dosed it like 4 times....
 
Im thinking of hooking up a BRS reactor with the brightwell katalyst pellets, anyone in this thread report on those yet? They are all the same thing right?
 
Dave, I don't use any of the pellets yet, but have read the numerous threads. So IMHO I would cut back on the sugar. I am just not sure how much. I was going to say a 1/4, but then you said you have only dosed 4 times which makes say just stop the sugar. So I my vote would be to cut it in half for a week and if nitrates stay low stop for a week and measure them.
 
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