N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

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ok im not happy.. i just got my 3rd bag of pellets and half of them are just the "shells" which float to the top of the water and never sink.. running them in the "bucket " type reactor, so they all keep trying to flow into the sump (as a lot of them did) wonder what they will do to a pump....
 
coffeenut said:
ok im not happy.. i just got my 3rd bag of pellets and half of them are just the "shells" which float to the top of the water and never sink.. running them in the "bucket " type reactor, so they all keep trying to flow into the sump (as a lot of them did) wonder what they will do to a pump....
Click to expand...

FYI the shells i am referring to , are the "shells" of the pellets not like sea shells
 
I want to start this post with saying I am not blaming any product for my issues. I add 1000 ml of biopellets to my 150 gallon tank on Sunday. Tuesday I noticed that the water had turned very cloudy. Some form of a bacteria bloom I am assuming. Anyway, did a 30 gallon water change. Wednesday the water was still cloudy but all of my SPS and fish seemed fine. I fed my fish Wednesday night as usual. All fish ate and behaved normally. Anyway, I came home tonight and found the majority of my fish either dead or dying. The remaining fish were breathing heavily. I did another water change and added poly filters. I have tested ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. With the exception of nitrate, all read zero. Nitrate is 1 ppm. All other parameters are fine and my SPS show no signs of stress. Needles to say, I'm stumped as to the cause. Once again, I'm not blaming NP Biopellets for my loss, just trying to figure out what happened. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Lost my Rhomboid Wrasse pair, a Lineatus wrasse, a Mystery Wrasse.

thanks in advance,
Rich
 
did the fish have a red sore /bleeding spot 2/3s of the way back? on the side of the fish? I lost 1/2 of the fish in my tank last year in 48hours to a bacterial disease, from a fish that had died with in a week of putting it in the tank.. i lost a pair of richmond wrasses and a mated pair of sunburst anthus.. and many more.. sorry for your loss..
 
Let's talk about flow!
I already spoke to the maker of my reactor about this. My pellets are barely moving at maximum pump output (Mini jet 606).
The people that made my reactor are working on a model now with larger tubing than the standard 1/2" to get the flow one would need to tumble the pellets without having to hook the thing up to a huge pump.
How is everybody else getting the pellets to tumble rather than just slosh around?
 
I will be ordering one of these http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=37_490_535&products_id=3090

driven off of one of these

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PW-250PS&Category_Code=Panworld

The last one is my new return for my main tank, i have it "Teed" off to some quick connect fittings..1/2" . which is connected to my 2- Duel BRS reactors with Phos and carbon, and one connection is going to the first link. The line is cirrently hooked to a bucket like reacter like Tutu's, but i cant crank the flow with out the pellets overflowing into my sump..
 
stumpyid said:
I am using a Mag 3 with a NextReef reactor.

Scott
Click to expand...
Scott I have a Nextreed MR1. How are your pellets moving in it with a Mag 3?
Sloshing around? Tumbling?
I asked AS how much movement the pellets should have and was told it should look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCuPkRquuxY
Then I asked Nextreef how much of a pump I'd need to get them to move like this and they said they're using a Mag 12 (!) but are working on a reactor with larger fittings so it could go with a smaller pump.

Since I already spent the 100 bucks on the pellets I don't want to waste them so I need to figure out how much movement they need and how to get that (but bigger pump now or wait till Nextreef's pellet reactor becomes available in a few weeks, etc.)
 
Karin,

I don't have quite that much flow, however my reactor is only 75% full and still has very good movement.

Scott
 
Scott that sounds good. I may just go with a Mag 5 as a compromise. Mag 12 just seems like a lot just for a reactor. Thanks!
 
Scott, I just heard back from Reefinterest (which I assume is the main distributor for the pellets?) and they said the pellets don't need to tumble. They recommend 500l/h as teh minimum so your mag 3 is way more than that. :)
Might just go with a 2 or a 3 like yours in that case... ;)
 
Karin,

have to say I stole your idea with the plastic canvas which produced a lot more flow than using the sponges. Increased the amount of pellets to the full 1L in the reactor.

Working great.

Scott
 
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