It's been 1 day since I fixed my reactors flow problem. I now have my original gentle tumble of pellets and better flow without the rogue pellets blocking the outlet. The blockage seemed to cut my flow through the reactor down by about half.
So I tested my water this morning out of curiosity to see if there's been any results. I wasn't expecting any change in 1 day but to my surprise my nitrates are back to 0 from 5
Looks like I wont need a stronger pump afterall. Just need to make sure I have my reactor working properly which can be determined by seeing if the pellets are slightly dancing around.....easy enough.
100 gal system, 700ish ml's of biopellets, BRS reactor modded with needle point mesh instead of sponges, 200 gph rio 600 powerhead.
DJ: IMO it's easier. With this system there's no over dosing, under dosing, guessing if you're using the right amounts, constant testing, bacterial film, etc etc. The potential problems associated with LOC atm are much more severe than the potential problems of BP's imo. Time will tell as the product becomes more market tested. BP's are relatively maintenence free as long as the equipment is setup and working properly (as I've just prooven the hard way....as always). For me this system is more condusive to vacations or general laziness
A house sitter just needs to look at the reactor to see a gentle tumble; no measuring, or estimating involved. I don't trust dosing pumps either...that's just me. Most I have to do really is make sure the pellets are tumbling gently, and maybe flush/shake the reactor on occasion.
It took three weeks ("general laziness") of a blocked reactor with it's efficiency reduced by roughly half to cause an affect to my water quality, and it was minor at worst, and actually benneficial at best (more pods, and corals seem to like the little dirtier water....but so might algae over time sooo it's back to 0)
I estimated my cost for my first year of BP in this size system will be roughly $140 (reactor, powerhead, mod material, and BP's)
Second year will be roughly $60, and every year after the same unless I find I need more BP's then I'd have to get a second reactor, etc. in the long run, $60 a year for a relatively maintenence and guess free ULNS seems ok to me. But only time will tell if it's truly worth it.