N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[tntneon]

Hi,

it took me 2 days to read all 80 pages :fun5:, but it was worth it, thank you all for sharing your experience.

i started biopellets 7 days ago, first with 250ml and then added another 250ml, 500ml total.


on the first day, my nitrates measured 50

after 7 day they are exactly the same.

i have a friend that also started using them, and he had a bacterial bloom on the second day, his nitrates lowered considerably and the water is now crystal clear.

today, i removed the fluidized filter and washed the pellets in aquarium wather for about 5 minutes.
i have done this because some of you got them working after hashing.

also, from what i have read, this stuff doesn't work if you don't get that initial bloom of bateria.
Please correct me if im wrong.

My reactor is just a glass jar with a pvc tube inside, as you can see in the video

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hi kernell ,
I would wait some time longer to remove and wash the pellets , manufacturer also says that i takes 2 weeks before first results.
I didn't had an initial bacterial bloom , i have the first type of pellets , and they work fine for me.
the next time , it's then the third time that i replace some after 6 months , i'll be using the new ones .
Will post if i see some differences in my tank/water.
As for the type reactor (glass jar) , i'm very happy you made it yourself (very easy , cheap and very effectif) would keep using it and not spending alot of $$$ on a bp-reactor , this set up is the best and cheapest way i think.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[kernnell]

Hi, thanks for your feedback :thumbsup:

Hi
Can someone tell me the difference between the old pellets and the new pellets.

Thanks

They are smoller, lighter and easier to fluidize.

i would disagree, i have 2 seperate tanks running Nps and 1 had a bloom while the other didnt. Both have under 5ppm trates now. I will admit the tank that had a bloom had a much higher concentration of nitrates and a serious HA problem while the other tank was hovering around 10ppm trates. Both tanks have shown positive results from the introduction of Nps.

how long did it take to notice results in the one not blooming?

hi kernell ,
I would wait some time longer to remove and wash the pellets , manufacturer also says that i takes 2 weeks before first results.
I didn't had an initial bacterial bloom , i have the first type of pellets , and they work fine for me.
the next time , it's then the third time that i replace some after 6 months , i'll be using the new ones .
Will post if i see some differences in my tank/water.
As for the type reactor (glass jar) , i'm very happy you made it yourself (very easy , cheap and very effectif) would keep using it and not spending alot of $$$ on a bp-reactor , this set up is the best and cheapest way i think. greetingzz tntneon

maybe i shouldn't call what i did a washing... i just stirred them a little against each other, to abrase them a bit and remove any superficial stuff, they were never removed from the jar or aquarium water.

When you say they worked for you: did they reduce nitrate levels? can you plese share How Long Did It Take?

The glass jar was just 5€

Anyone else had a measurable positive experience witout the bacterial bloom?

Regards

 

[Moser]

nope, zero on both ammonia and nitrite. Only my nitrates are coming up. So my cycle is working. Again this tank has no sand...so there are no nitrates locked up in there. And not enough rock, which has long been cured, to be the source of the high NO3. There are 4 fish, 2 banggai and 2 clowns. Just them and food. Same food used in other tank.

Do you think it might be too little live rock to keep things stable?....

Also, if you keep doing 50% water changes, it won't allow the biology to stabilise. 10% per week should be more than enough. It will allow the system to stabilise a bit more and maybe the pellets can help then.

Also, doing 50% water changes will never end if you don't find the source.

faulty kits, overfeeding, not enough live rock are possibilities and too many sudden changes in your system

Also, if the bacteria are exposed to air, they die very rapidly!....

Mo

 

[Moser]

I'm hoping someone who read this thread from the beginning will chime in on this and help me out. I am using bp in an smr1 on my 40b and all was well until a few days ago, the water clouded up, some of my acros closed up and I'm losing my echinata I think. Some acros are fine with it and all else is in check. I heard it could be related to the pellets. I just turned off the reactor to see if it clears up. Hopefully someone can help me out with this.

It sounds like a bactrial bloom.
I would add an airstone in the sump and make sure you push the output of your reactor towards the skimmer inlet. Skim wet and maybe open some windows if the tank area is closed off.....

Mo

 

[Moser]

Hi,

it took me 2 days to read all 80 pages :fun5:, but it was worth it, thank you all for sharing your experience.

i started biopellets 7 days ago, first with 250ml and then added another 250ml, 500ml total.


on the first day, my nitrates measured 50

after 7 day they are exactly the same.

i have a friend that also started using them, and he had a bacterial bloom on the second day, his nitrates lowered considerably and the water is now crystal clear.

today, i removed the fluidized filter and washed the pellets in aquarium wather for about 5 minutes.
i have done this because some of you got them working after hashing.

also, from what i have read, this stuff doesn't work if you don't get that initial bloom of bateria.
Please correct me if im wrong.

My reactor is just a glass jar with a pvc tube inside, as you can see in the video

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ry7HgnYGRR8&hl=pt_PT&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ry7HgnYGRR8&hl=pt_PT&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

You're wrong. You are better off not having a bloom.
Don't fiddle. Do what it says on the tin.... It would be good if all had patience!.

My pellets took 3 months to drop my nitrates and had stuck at 30 for nearly 18 months before running them. Finally, I stopped testing and just let them run. When I saw a monti that I had lost following a little crash, starting to grow again, I re-tested and nitrates were 0.

I added a little phos remover as phos was raised, but only after 3 months of running them....

Mo

PS, love the reactor!.... very simple and effective.. Does the pvc tube move separately to the jar?. ie you have to keep the jar centred?.

 

[Tony Romano]

Two days on main return!

:dance::dance:

 

[Tony Romano]

Micro Bags

Micro Bags

New camera, macro lens coming!

 

[kernnell]

PS, love the reactor!.... very simple and effective.. Does the pvc tube move separately to the jar?. ie you have to keep the jar centred?.

thanks moser. The pvc tube moves freely in the jar, i try to keep it as centerd as possible.

 

[DJREEF]

I wonder what u guys are doing to the landfills with all these jackt up filter sox.

DJ

 

[stevedola]

Kernall,

IIRC i think it was almost a month and my trates were bearly noticable (under 5ppm) on my test kit. My reactor is at a minimal tumble.

 

[kernnell]

Kernall,

IIRC i think it was almost a month and my trates were bearly noticable (under 5ppm) on my test kit. My reactor is at a minimal tumble.

hi steve, how many nitrates when you started?
are you referring to the one that had the bloom, or the other?

 

[soulsigma]

Need to bring alk in line with ultra low nutrient system

Need to bring alk in line with ultra low nutrient system

After about seven months of running a Bio-pellet cocktail, I have achieved what I set out to accomplish which is an ultra low nutrient system with undetectable nitrates and phosphate:strooper: and it's be holding for two weeks and counting. My once brown corals are very slowly beginning to come back to life by showing their true colors and I am hoping by this Dec. they will have reached their full color potential after almost 14 months being in a high nutrient system.

My question is my alk continues to hola @ a solid 9dkh without any dosing and I wanted it to come down to 7dkh which is in line with an ultra low nutrient system, how do I achieve this without throwing my cal which is @ 400 and my mag which is @ 1550 out of balance?

P.S. I am using the balling method which I didn't bail @ all last week in my attempt to get my alk to drop but this did not work.

 

[hairy_frogfish]

thanks moser. The pvc tube moves freely in the jar, i try to keep it as centerd as possible.

Can you please make a small schema with dimensions (how far is the pvc tube end from the bottom of the jar?)
Did you make holes on the side of the tube, or is it just as is?

I like this system very much

 

[kernnell]

Can you please make a small schema with dimensions (how far is the pvc tube end from the bottom of the jar?)
Did you make holes on the side of the tube, or is it just as is?

I like this system very much

I'm not very good at drawing, so I will describe the measures.

it's a glass cup 37cm tall, with 10cm diameter, holding 500ml of pellets.
Inside, the bottom of the glass is rounded, i think this also helps to fluidize the pellets.

the flow is controlled by the blue valve, for energy saving reasons the reactor is fed directly by the aquabee 2000/1 return pump.

the pvc pipe is 20mm X 36cm (i guess), i can´t give you the exact length because because i honestly don't know,

the gap between the end of the tube and the bottom of the jar is about 1cm

no holes or other tricks in the pipe, it was just cut strait.

 

[daveonbass]

Do you think it might be too little live rock to keep things stable?....

Also, if you keep doing 50% water changes, it won't allow the biology to stabilise. 10% per week should be more than enough. It will allow the system to stabilise a bit more and maybe the pellets can help then.

Also, doing 50% water changes will never end if you don't find the source.

faulty kits, overfeeding, not enough live rock are possibilities and too many sudden changes in your system

Also, if the bacteria are exposed to air, they die very rapidly!....

Mo

I don't suspect the rock being the problem...its been in there long enough to be fully cured, and it should be plenty. There are no sudden changes in the tank. None that I can think of in the last year. Just the BP.

the 50% wc were a nessesity to lower nitrates fast...i did it over a week in order to not shock anything...and sure enoug all the corals started to recover.

my system is looking better than ever...and I'm happy about that. BUT, I'm upset that the BP didn't seem to have anything to do with that. It was all done by me. Through older tried and true methods. Again, I'm not trying to compair my tank to anyone...I like how all things have improved...I don't like that this product is still letting me down.

I'm very tempted to remove the pellets and try rice...that seems to be doing well so far.

 

[bk_market]

Do you guys know if I can run the biopelletes in BRS reactor that people use to run GFO/carbon in?

 

[Hdhuntr01]

Do you guys know if I can run the biopelletes in BRS reactor that people use to run GFO/carbon in?

YES, many are doing just that. Only limited by the amount of pellets you can put in the BRS Reactor. You can probably fit between 500 and 750mL in the BRS Reactor and if you do not need more (depending on size of your tank) then you could go this route.

 

[bk_market]

I have a 55g system (45 cube & 10 sump). You think that will work? also should i dose bacteria when i start?

 

[daveonbass]

well I'm out. After running yet another NO3 test and seeing no change, I've decided to try the next thing. I love how simple the set up is with just a glass jar and a tube in it. I'm going to use my BP exclusively in my QT, and see if it drops my NO3 down from 160. The main tank has stayed at 15ppm for 3 weeks now so after almost 4 months of waiting I'm calling it quits in hlthere with the BP. If the next thing (rice) is no good then I still have ALL the BP that I started with still. They have yet to get any smaller. I'll keep posting to show if anything happens in the QT with the new set up.

good luck to us all...

 

[daveonbass]

double post