N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[eliashickman]

@ Frogman.
Here here.
@ Mr. Bowman
Already tagging along.


Just out of curiousity though. I was told to put the outlet from the canister near my skimmer, but I don't see the point if the biopellets are "providing" food. Someone help me out here?
Oh, update. It's been about two-three weeks and I don't have to shake my Phosban reactor as much. Seems the pellets are absorbing something and more readily stay at the bottom.

 

[ksed]

@ Frogman.
Here here.
@ Mr. Bowman
Already tagging along.


Just out of curiousity though. I was told to put the outlet from the canister near my skimmer, but I don't see the point if the biopellets are "providing" food. Someone help me out here?
Oh, update. It's been about two-three weeks and I don't have to shake my Phosban reactor as much. Seems the pellets are absorbing something and more readily stay at the bottom.

Your skimmer will not pick up everything in one pass. There will be more than enough that will make it to the aquarium.

 

[NaClH2Opgh]

I can't keep you from posting

So glad you informed me or I wouldn't have known. Last time I checked you were not the OP or a mod. We already have enough tang police on RC so I guess forum police should come as no surprise. The gelatin was on topic as far as BP's as a food source and how efficient it is compared to or using it in conjunction with it. Just like we talked about using BP's in conjunction with vodka dosing, skimmers, and other products. Naturally people are going to ask ?'s. :rolleye1:

 

[jmoney]

would putting these in a WM Fluidized reactor on full throttle work, or should I try and find a zeovit reactor?

 

[Daniel Reef]

I'm tagging along. I spent most of the day reading this entire thread and I am intrigued and interested in this topic. Hope that everyone gets successful results and continue to report them here.

 

[tntneon]

hi reefers ,

I`m testing the pellets for about 3 month`s now , and i`m still happy with the results.

At first a had about 100 gr. off it in the drainpipe section off my sump , this a slighly increased to +/- 200 gr (system +/- 120 liters).
With 100gr i definitly had positif changes: decrease of GHA , NO3 & PO4 and increasing PE , coloration and water clarity ,but still i withnessed little outbreaks off cyano on the sand bed and NO3 was 0.2 ppm and this is not zero .

So i added some more pellets to go for zero nitrate and no cyano , the zero nitrate is alread a month a fact.
Cyano i still have a little bit of it on one rock , GHa is completly away .
The little bit i have , is near the sandbed , and is living in a dark area with no direct light , in the shade of my tortch coral ??
It used to be an area where the GHA formerly lived , is the rock leaching something ? (probably)

As for the other positif results (PE, coloration & water clarity) @ 200 gr BP , i didn`t withnessed any changes compaired with the 100 gr dosage.
Every 2 weeks i also dose prodebio digest , i did this already before any vodka dosing, once cyano is away completly i gonna dose it only monthly.
This because you always gonna have im -and export of other bacteria , and they also gonna be able to thrive on the BP , so IMO it`s better to be sure that the right ones are always present

greetingzz tntneon

 

[catastrofe]

I received my pellets on Monday and built a fluidized reactor out of a DI housing. I used some neoprene tubing to connect a piece of 3/4" PEX pipe to the nipple in the housing lid. I feed the housing in reverse, so that water flows down the tube to the bottom of the unit, then back up to exit. I'm using a phosban rector filter disc to keep the pellets from getting out. Seems to work well. . .I'm feeding it with an MJ900. Here are a couple of pics:

 

[tatuvaaj]

I can also give my first real evaluation of BPs Two weeks ago I added 1 liter to my existing 1.5 liters of BPs. At the same time I stopped DOC dosing completely, up until that point I had been dosing 10 ml (~9 grams) of sugar daily. Nitrates were stable at 2.5 ppm.

Here are daily NO3 measurements (Salifert) after the change:

I was expecting more pronounced rise after stopping sugar dosing, 9 grams is still a good amount after all. Actually, the rise to 5 ppm was most likely result of a new excavation project my Pomacentrus started :furious:

I should point out that I'm feeding about 4 grams (dry weight) of invertebrate foods daily. This is more than 500 ml bottle of Brightwell's Zooplanktos every day

 

[tntneon]

...I should point out that I'm feeding about 4 grams (dry weight) of invertebrate foods daily. This is more than 500 ml bottle of Brightwell's Zooplanktos every day ....

whauw that`s alot of food !
Is it so important to feed heavly with plancton ,tatuvaaj ?
does it reflect in growth rates ?
I have mainly zoas , stony`s do they also need alot of additional plancton ?
I`m already affraid to dose 1 ml aqua medic plancton a week in my small 120l system.

greetingzz tntneon:strange:

 

[tatuvaaj]

Is it so important to feed heavly with plancton ,tatuvaaj ?

Only if you try to keep azooxanthellae corals and filter feeders (or you love Aiptasia!) But just as important is excellent water quality! In my experience no amount of food will help if you have a lot of nutrients in the water.

I have mainly zoas , stony`s do they also need alot of additional plancton ?

I don't think so... they probably would benefit from increased feeding but many aquarists have kept those animals years without intentional feeding.

I'm going to add more BPs in near future, I don't like that pink hue in NO3 test :thumbsup:

 

[tntneon]

here are some pictures taken with a very bad (old) p32 sony camera , so excuse me for the bad pic qaulity , all the colors are better in real , i have bleu wash out with this camera:worried2:

greetingzz tntneon

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When it that timeline did sugar stop? And how long was the gap between stopping sugar and starting the pellets?

 

[danch]

Has anyone using this product seen bacterial blooms or other 'overdose' effects?

I find this product interesting in that I work out of town during the week, making it difficult to properly observe the tank as I initiate vodka dosing. Asking the wife to feed and top off is one thing; asking her to dose .3 ml vodka and watch out for bacterial blooms and other 'bad effects' is quite another.

 

[tatuvaaj]

First data point is day after the introduction of additional pellets. Sugar dosing was completely stopped at the same time. I mixed new pellets together with old ones so they were covered with bacteria right from the start.

 

[tntneon]

...I received my pellets on Monday and built a fluidized reactor out of a DI housing. I used some neoprene tubing to connect a piece of 3/4" PEX pipe to the nipple in the housing lid. I feed the housing in reverse, so that water flows down the tube to the bottom of the unit, then back up to exit. I'm using a phosban rector filter disc to keep the pellets from getting out...

Nicely build BP reactor you`ve got there catastrofe :thumbsup:

Make sure that you can check the outlet flow easely , then in case of clogging of the filter on top (don`t actualy know what kind of mesh size you are using ), you see it by decreased flow in the outlet .

greetingzz tntneon

 

[recife111]

,but still i withnessed little outbreaks off cyano on the sand bed and NO3 was 0.2 ppm and this is not zero

I don;t really think you want zero nitrates.

I found that my corals do much better with a little nitrates. corals are far more colourful and clams do better,

 

[tatuvaaj]

I don;t really think you want zero nitrates.

Bit OT, but: I disagree, strongly even :wave:

I believe water chemistry is one aspect of reef keeping where nature is a good model to follow.

 

[rsuplido]

I feed the housing in reverse, so that water flows down the tube to the bottom of the unit, then back up to exit. I'm using a phosban rector filter disc to keep the pellets from getting out. Seems to work well. . .I'm feeding it with an MJ900.

Do the pellets still have space to tumble around? From the pic I think there is a risk that the pellets might clump up together and solidify. Why not put it inside the middle canister instead, and about half full (not sure if that's enough though), so they keep tumbling?

 

[catastrofe]

Do the pellets still have space to tumble around? From the pic I think there is a risk that the pellets might clump up together and solidify. Why not put it inside the middle canister instead, and about half full (not sure if that's enough though), so they keep tumbling?

There is plenty of room for the pellets to tumble, and in fact, they are in constant motion. Only a small layer at the top is not in motion, due to water pressure. I may try a more powerful pump tomorrow. . .

I didn't use an interior refillable cansiter because I wanted to use more pellets than it would hold. The way I have this set up, I have almost a full liter of pellets in the housing. Using a refillable canister, I would have been limited to about 500ml.

I'm running in conjuction with Zeovit. My NO3 has been at zero "forever", and my PO4 has been at .02 for about a month. My coloration and growth are great, but I'm getting "red cotton" cyano. Will post my results. . .

 

[jcusmarine]

I have been running the pellets in a media reactor for 6 days now. Improved water clarity and some SPS are brightening. Will update on a week or so more....