N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)
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ChuckG
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Following up after the rosy reply I left with my initial bio-pellet experience..
After seeing the algae die back I added a 4" tang which essentially doubled my fish bio-load. Some days after adding the fish I started noticing some diatom looking growth on the glass and sand. I figured it was a result of the increased feeding needed to support the fish and things would eventually balance out.
Some weeks later this growth has morphed into what I believe are dinoflagellates on the glass and rocks (light brown, snot like growth). Initially I saw some other white snot like growth which I assumed was some type of bacterial accumulation in a couple places on the rocks as well. The dinos seem to have stabilized into a milder case and are not overtaking the tank but are definitely established. Great.. :wildone:
After some poking around I read some theories where dinos can become dominant in a tank when there is an abundance of carbon BUT minimal phosphate to support the growth of bacteria that might out compete the dinos for the carbon source. This sounds like a similar experience to at least one other person who posted earlier in this thread.
Anyway.. this may be a result of my skimmer not effectively exporting the bacteria ejected from the N/P pellet reactor. I had a technical problem with the skimmer for a week or two where it was not skimming optimally then another week where I was away and it was skimming too dry. So I am hoping a theory that an abundance of bacteria grown in the reactor might have made it into the display to decompose and then release the carbon in their bodies for the dinos to then feed on.
Phosphate and N03 are zero.. and I truly feel the reactor is doing it's job. So before I pull out all the stops, shut down the bio-pellet reactor, and bring back GFO into the picture I am going to:
1) Get the skimmer aggressively wet skimming directly off the bio pellet reactor outlet again
2) Slow the flow through the bio pellet reactor a little
3) Keep up with heavy feeding of a dry pellet food high in phosphates
4) Go a couple 48 periods without any light
If the above can weaken the dinoflagellates hopefully this will allow the bio-pellet reactor / skimmer combo to take over as the primary export method of Carbon, Nitrate, and Phosphate. If this does not work then I will cut the feeding down and bring a GFO reactor into service. I am hoping that just by limiting the amount of reactor grown bacteria that makes it into or stays in the tank will weaken the dinos though.
If anyone has any thoughts on any of this I'd love to hear it.. otherwise I will report back when there is a definitive change.
After seeing the algae die back I added a 4" tang which essentially doubled my fish bio-load. Some days after adding the fish I started noticing some diatom looking growth on the glass and sand. I figured it was a result of the increased feeding needed to support the fish and things would eventually balance out.
Some weeks later this growth has morphed into what I believe are dinoflagellates on the glass and rocks (light brown, snot like growth). Initially I saw some other white snot like growth which I assumed was some type of bacterial accumulation in a couple places on the rocks as well. The dinos seem to have stabilized into a milder case and are not overtaking the tank but are definitely established. Great.. :wildone:
After some poking around I read some theories where dinos can become dominant in a tank when there is an abundance of carbon BUT minimal phosphate to support the growth of bacteria that might out compete the dinos for the carbon source. This sounds like a similar experience to at least one other person who posted earlier in this thread.
Anyway.. this may be a result of my skimmer not effectively exporting the bacteria ejected from the N/P pellet reactor. I had a technical problem with the skimmer for a week or two where it was not skimming optimally then another week where I was away and it was skimming too dry. So I am hoping a theory that an abundance of bacteria grown in the reactor might have made it into the display to decompose and then release the carbon in their bodies for the dinos to then feed on.
Phosphate and N03 are zero.. and I truly feel the reactor is doing it's job. So before I pull out all the stops, shut down the bio-pellet reactor, and bring back GFO into the picture I am going to:
1) Get the skimmer aggressively wet skimming directly off the bio pellet reactor outlet again
2) Slow the flow through the bio pellet reactor a little
3) Keep up with heavy feeding of a dry pellet food high in phosphates
4) Go a couple 48 periods without any light
If the above can weaken the dinoflagellates hopefully this will allow the bio-pellet reactor / skimmer combo to take over as the primary export method of Carbon, Nitrate, and Phosphate. If this does not work then I will cut the feeding down and bring a GFO reactor into service. I am hoping that just by limiting the amount of reactor grown bacteria that makes it into or stays in the tank will weaken the dinos though.
If anyone has any thoughts on any of this I'd love to hear it.. otherwise I will report back when there is a definitive change.
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Psionicdragon
New member
This product is pretty good. I am impressed. I wonder if this is similar to IO's nitrate reducer.
So is this a patent technology? I mean did the developer in EU patented?
So is this a patent technology? I mean did the developer in EU patented?
I had dinos in my tank 4 days after introducing these pellets they are almost gone. I did setup 2liters of GFO on another reactor the day I introduced the pellets. I think they work well toguether.
stevedola
Master of my domain
MIGas
I had the same thing happen in my tank. This is why you should read the entire thread and not the first and last page. The water turned very cloudy after 2 days of use. I added an air stone, made sure the reactor out put was directed into the skimmer intake, added a fan to blow over the sump, and waited it out. It took a few days but it cleared up. I did do a small 10g WC but I dont think that had any impact on the tank clearing up. The tank is doing extremely well now. 80% of algea is dead and gone, the remaining is dying. The water is super clear. Skimmer is working well. Corals and fish doing good.
My advice, dont take the pellets off line because youre just going to have the same issue again because of your high po4 and nitrates.
What is the reason you added the pellets in the first place? aglea? dinos? cyano?
I had the same thing happen in my tank. This is why you should read the entire thread and not the first and last page. The water turned very cloudy after 2 days of use. I added an air stone, made sure the reactor out put was directed into the skimmer intake, added a fan to blow over the sump, and waited it out. It took a few days but it cleared up. I did do a small 10g WC but I dont think that had any impact on the tank clearing up. The tank is doing extremely well now. 80% of algea is dead and gone, the remaining is dying. The water is super clear. Skimmer is working well. Corals and fish doing good.
My advice, dont take the pellets off line because youre just going to have the same issue again because of your high po4 and nitrates.
What is the reason you added the pellets in the first place? aglea? dinos? cyano?
stevedola
Master of my domain
also 1000 ml for 100g tank is a tad much. I think they recommend 500ml per 100g. in your reactor the pellets should be moving. they dont have to be flying around but I was told movement was necessary for proper use. I believe you stated that in your reactor they barely move at the bottom....might want to reduce the amound of pellets to get better movement.
ChuckG
New member
Thx for sharing your experience Migas.. according to the poster at this link and article excerpts he has shared, phosphate is not the primary limiting factor with dinoflagellates. If this is accurate then possibly GFO can limit dinos by absorbing silicates or some other componant.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15140592&postcount=78
If the carbon source in the pellets is retained in the reactor and only exported when bacteria are ejected then I should be able to bring things back into balance by efficiently skimming the reactors output.
Last ditch effort I will bring GFO into play. But if I have to run GFO concurrently with the pellets then this is probably not a long term sustainable option from a financial perpecitve.. at least in my opinion of course.
I should be able to get these to work like everyone else does if I normalise my skimmer... hopefully.
Finally someone else had a similar experience as I LOL. I too have lowered the led light output and have been sucking the stuff out every other day. Its getting better so hopefully I am rounding the corner. I have a very good skimmer for my net volume and I have turned it more wet and have put the NP RX outlet right in front of the skimmer also. N/P are good po3 .02 hanna and no3 zero.. I have not slowed the flow yet but that will be my next course of action if it continues.
The starting recommended dose is 100mg however this is only a guide line and I know people that use 3x more than recommended with no issues at all. Some of these people don`t even use high water flow through them and have very positive results after month of testing them.
Usually tanks that got clowdy showed extremly high readings of No3 about 70 or 80ppm. My levels were only between 10 and 15ppm so I was not expecting this reaction at all.
Anyway I added the pellets because my No3 was slowly rising and some algae was just starting to show up along with some dinos. I wanted to add a carbon source and I think if these pellets continue to show good results are safer than Vodka and the no need of daily dosing which is a plus for me.
Taking out some of the pellets for a wille was recomended to me by the producer himself and european distributor so I followed their instructions and things are looking good at the moment.
stevedola
Master of my domain
my nitrates were under 5 according to the test kit but by looking at algea I know why. Maybe you werent aware of how high your organics were...maybe a little worse than first antiscipated. Look, Im not trying to be critical...only helpful. You can do what you like. If you feel safer pulling them off line then by all means. I suspect youll have the same issue if you try and install them because your organics will still be high. When you have the bacterial bloom it creates a huge amount of bacteria in your water. The bacteria deplete the O2 and drive down the PH. Airating and good fresh air flow can help drive O2 back into the system to combat the PH swing. You could also try adding the pellets slowly to the system...maybe 100ML every few days until you reach desired amount.
All Im trying to suggest is that if you decide to add 1000ml to your 105g tank without reducing your organics ...you'll most likely experience the same cloudy water. I know from experience that if you wait it out with proper precautions you should be fine.
All Im trying to suggest is that if you decide to add 1000ml to your 105g tank without reducing your organics ...you'll most likely experience the same cloudy water. I know from experience that if you wait it out with proper precautions you should be fine.
Thank you for your help and sharing your knowlege.
I now have the "right" amount of pellets in my system. I do plan to increase them up slowlly starting this build up in two or three weeks. I do have a good flow through my reactor and the output directly to the skimmer inlet. My statments before were only based on what other people have experienced and also have been sharing. One person that is trying them for a long time and with great results told me that he observed that for best reduction of No3 the pellets worked best with slow water flow and almost without any tumbling in the reactor.
This was also taken from their website: " A proper starting dosage is 0.5-1 liter of pellets per 500 liters of system volume (12,5-25 fl. oz. for every 100 USG). After about 2-4 weeks, nitrate and phosphate levels should start decreasing. For some aquaria experiencing heavy feeding, higher dosages are appropriate. Examples are aquaria which house large quantities of azooxanthellate corals, sponges, tunicates or large schools of Anthias fish. Dosages may be increased indefinitely, provided the aquarium water is sufficiently aerated."
Here is the link: http://www.npbiopellets.com/index.php/product-guidelines
my tank video with np biopellets 2 month
my tank video with np biopellets 2 month
my tank video with np biopellets 2 month used .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHuEV0PrrE
my tank video with np biopellets 2 month
my tank video with np biopellets 2 month used .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHuEV0PrrE
Best wishes to us all! We are here because we love this hobby and sharing our experiences, opinions and knowlege is a plus and healthy for all of us.
From all of it we can filter the information we want or like the most:beer:
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daveonbass
New member
I'm at the two week mark. My nitrates are still high but I believe they are coming down. I may end up getting the bulk of them lowered through water changes. After one week, I did a 15 gallon WC and the nitrates have not gone up again like usual. The haven't come down lower, but like I said, maybe every time I manually lower them through a WC, maybe the NP pellets will better help to maintain the new lower number.
my phos is still undetectable on my API test kits. Again I'm looking for change, not accuracy, that will come later.
on a MUCH better note, I got an awesome deal on two new sps corals, red monti cap and a green birdsnest, and literally they were closed up...tightly closed up when I got them in their bags. tmy "guy" had gotten them earlier in the day from his supplier in dallas, and they would not show mw their polyps. I was worried that I would have dead sps again in two days. But before he put them in his tanks I went ahead and bought them from him, took them strait home...under the moonlights (no lights at 3am) I acclimated them. First I floated the bags for temp, still no PE. Then I opened the bags and let them get a little air and still float, still no PE. wthen with my turkey baster I started dripping in small amounts of my tank water into the bags...holy crap, the polyps shot out and under the blue moon leds I saw the brightest green I have ever seen in my tank. That was saturday morning and the corals have had awesome PE ever since...and these are the first corals I've had that acclimated and survived in just the one tank ( no need for a lower light HT). I am fairly convinced that it's due to the "food" now present in the water from the biopellets. I now understand what everyone really means by seeing amazing PE. These corals haven't closed up yet.
loving my tank again...
my phos is still undetectable on my API test kits. Again I'm looking for change, not accuracy, that will come later.
on a MUCH better note, I got an awesome deal on two new sps corals, red monti cap and a green birdsnest, and literally they were closed up...tightly closed up when I got them in their bags. tmy "guy" had gotten them earlier in the day from his supplier in dallas, and they would not show mw their polyps. I was worried that I would have dead sps again in two days. But before he put them in his tanks I went ahead and bought them from him, took them strait home...under the moonlights (no lights at 3am) I acclimated them. First I floated the bags for temp, still no PE. Then I opened the bags and let them get a little air and still float, still no PE. wthen with my turkey baster I started dripping in small amounts of my tank water into the bags...holy crap, the polyps shot out and under the blue moon leds I saw the brightest green I have ever seen in my tank. That was saturday morning and the corals have had awesome PE ever since...and these are the first corals I've had that acclimated and survived in just the one tank ( no need for a lower light HT). I am fairly convinced that it's due to the "food" now present in the water from the biopellets. I now understand what everyone really means by seeing amazing PE. These corals haven't closed up yet.
loving my tank again...
soulsigma
New member
:bounce3: :bounce1: Good for you and thanks for sharing you success story with us, it encourages us to continual on with the pellets. I had a coral that completely bleached on me and was collecting GHA now that very same coral is trying to come back to life I noticed in some spots it's beginning to color up.
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