daveonbass
New member
I've used the MB7 twice now and still no slime...two more to go. Also I'm curious to just take them offline...and see if my levels shoot up. If so then I guess they work. ;P
N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)
- Thread starter tntneon
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did you take the reactor offline and let the MB7 soak into the pellets for awhile?
DJ
Prob no difference btwn the Vertex and NP, but these two are different from the other two. Whether the other two are different from each other is another thing. I suspect they may be, but have no proof of this.
DJ
daveonbass
New member
yes, for about 20min the first time...and then all night the second time. Not a single bit of slime is built up anywhere on the pellets.
Timoweb
New member
I started to dose some of the zeo food products this week, CV and then Xtra the next day. Got home from work yesterday to see the glass was covered in thin green algae which I had to clean off, never had to do a mid week glass clean while running the stones.
Gave the tank a zym+bac dose last night after lights out to help clean up a bit.
Gave the tank a zym+bac dose last night after lights out to help clean up a bit.
daveonbass
New member
I know it's 5:20 in the morning but I'm up doing my tests...and all params are the same. NO3 is about 10-15ppm and PO4 is 0 (not absolute but just undetectable). It sucks cause it's time again for me to think about another WC. I don't want to cause obviously my NO3 will come down again...and I won't be able to see if the BP are working. Should I just not do a WC? This is so ridiculous that it's getting funny. 
next time I have money I'm getting a different brand...haha.
next time I have money I'm getting a different brand...haha.
Yogre
Cheesehead Reefer
Interesting quick read on the subject from Jeremy B. of Premium Aquatics.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1874724
I know it's 5:20 in the morning but I'm up doing my tests...and all params are the same. NO3 is about 10-15ppm and PO4 is 0 (not absolute but just undetectable). It sucks cause it's time again for me to think about another WC. I don't want to cause obviously my NO3 will come down again...and I won't be able to see if the BP are working. Should I just not do a WC? This is so ridiculous that it's getting funny.
Do the WC. Maybe your levels will stick at a lower point afterwards. Hell, stranger things have happened.
DJ
daveonbass
New member
I guess it would be the original (old) NP. The disk shaped ones...but others have had success with them.
daveonbass
New member
no, my set up = fail. That's all there is to it.
Moser
Active member
I know it's 5:20 in the morning but I'm up doing my tests...and all params are the same. NO3 is about 10-15ppm and PO4 is 0 (not absolute but just undetectable). It sucks cause it's time again for me to think about another WC. I don't want to cause obviously my NO3 will come down again...and I won't be able to see if the BP are working. Should I just not do a WC? This is so ridiculous that it's getting funny.
Hi Dave,
What's the hurry with trying to get the nutrients down?.
Carry on as normal, do your water changes and watch the corals.
The pellets will work, but they may take a variable while..... As you know, it's all the chopping and changing and hands in the water etc etc that will cause you problems.... and you'll probably end up blaming all of the pellets.
Most ULNS systems take a while to work and only those with patience see the results!....
Just leave and watch. Apparently, you may need some phos remover in some cases, so test every week or two, to see what's happening, but don't over react to the numbers, like we all do!.
Mo
daveonbass
New member
that's the problem. I've been trying this for months now. And nothing has come of it. I want them to work so that I can stock a little more in my tank, which is fairly barren right now. But for a while, when I had more in it, my NO3 was off the charts, literally. And it's a bumer that these have yet to start working after almost 4 months, when others see results in a week, and they had less NO3 than me to begin with. Call me lazy but I would love to have the advantages of vodka dosing without the dosing. I want better PE from the bacteria...but I have no bacteria.
it's all just bumming me out. I would like to be able to do a WC that is less than 50% (a lot more work than 10%) and still have clean water. And I'd like to move my oldest fishes back to the DT and get them out of that boring QT.
but I can't really do any of what I want if I don't find a way to control NO3 from rising. And the pellets haven't done it. Only massive WC's have. Why spend 50 to 100 bucks on BP's that don't do anything?
I don't have my hands in the water much. And I have a low bioload (now). And still I get no change in the BP after 4 months. Like bluereef said...i just have plastic in my reactor. Worthless plastic.
:/
it's all just bumming me out. I would like to be able to do a WC that is less than 50% (a lot more work than 10%) and still have clean water. And I'd like to move my oldest fishes back to the DT and get them out of that boring QT.
but I can't really do any of what I want if I don't find a way to control NO3 from rising. And the pellets haven't done it. Only massive WC's have. Why spend 50 to 100 bucks on BP's that don't do anything?
I don't have my hands in the water much. And I have a low bioload (now). And still I get no change in the BP after 4 months. Like bluereef said...i just have plastic in my reactor. Worthless plastic.
:/
Moser
Active member
Nitrates of 15 doesn't sound too bad.
If you're leaching from rocks etc, then maybe they are working and just need to use up the nutrient load??
If you're fluidsing the pellets properly, then you shouldn't really see much of a bacterial slime build up as it gets removed by the flow in the reactor..... I have a feeling that the extra flow washes much more bacteria from the pellets than in Zeo and is why you need to run the output straight to a skimmer.
It doesn't sound like you're doing too badly?....
Have you tried different test kits to confirm the nitrate levels?....
Are you running GFO to get zero phos?.
Mo
If you're leaching from rocks etc, then maybe they are working and just need to use up the nutrient load??
If you're fluidsing the pellets properly, then you shouldn't really see much of a bacterial slime build up as it gets removed by the flow in the reactor..... I have a feeling that the extra flow washes much more bacteria from the pellets than in Zeo and is why you need to run the output straight to a skimmer.
It doesn't sound like you're doing too badly?....
Have you tried different test kits to confirm the nitrate levels?....
Are you running GFO to get zero phos?.
Mo
daveonbass
New member
I started with 160 NO3...and yes...all test kits came up around the same numbers. NO3 only came down from massive WC. Not the pellets. There is too much of a debate between people as to weather or not NO3 even does "leach" from rocks, or if it's JUST in the water column. So I'm not going to assume anything there. I just want my "water" to not register so much NO3, as in I don't want it to go up to 80-160ppm again. That was annoying.
I admit that now things seem ok. But why didn't the pellets ever help in the first place...thats what bugs me. Like I said the only real test I can think of now is to take them offline and see if the NO3 goes up. If not then the pellets never worked for me. If so then they were keeping them steady. But my guess is that the NO3 will stay the same.
I do not run any GFO, I have never been able to get PO4 to register on the test kits. So I haven't gotten into GFO yet.
I admit that now things seem ok. But why didn't the pellets ever help in the first place...thats what bugs me. Like I said the only real test I can think of now is to take them offline and see if the NO3 goes up. If not then the pellets never worked for me. If so then they were keeping them steady. But my guess is that the NO3 will stay the same.
I do not run any GFO, I have never been able to get PO4 to register on the test kits. So I haven't gotten into GFO yet.
NaClCrocodile
New member
Have you cleaned your sand bed? I know my NO3 consistently stayed at ~50ppm before I started vacuuming the sand. I'm still reading up on the NP Biopellets, so this may not be the issue at all.
daveonbass
New member
no, but that's cause I don't have a way to clean the sand bed without "removing" the sand bed, nor do I want to lose all the life in the sand bed. And none of that changes the point...that the pellets so far haven't started working after 4 months. Even if NO3 were coming from somewhere cryptic...the pellets should have started to help control that. Not once have they ever lowered my levels...so I fear that they still have not "turned on."
NaClCrocodile
New member
Yeah, I just read a few pages back. That's odd and it seems like it's an isolated incident but I really don't have any experience with these pellets.
daveonbass
New member
well, I've decided to try them in my QT. I moved the aquaC remora skimmer and put it back on the QT. And as for the pellets...simply put them in a "the bag" and I have the overflow drain into and through the bag. The effluent is not directed to the skimmer..so this should be fun. The skimmer is in the overflow box. This is a simple set up. Very simple. And I'll get starting levels in my next post...i gotta put my phone down.
the tank is covered in algae...and I almost never do WC's in it.
the tank is covered in algae...and I almost never do WC's in it.
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