N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[Moser]

I was thinking I may want to take the pellets off line to see the tanks reaction over a months time. If I remove them how can I keep them so if needed again, I could reintroduce them into my system?

Basically, is there a way to save used pellets?

Just wash them and dry, that is. Is a plastic so there is no harm for them if they are removed from the aquarium and used latter. I do that few times already last few months.

Why??



If it's not broken, why are you trying to fix it????

Mo

 

[Moser]

yes..that is my whole point for testing it t see if the pellets "keep" the NO3 down. But till they stay down it's hard to know if it was JUST the sugar that caused the no3 to get removed through skimming, or if the pellets will now hold them at bay.

I think like bluereef, that once they get "activated" that they will continue to work, but before that they are useless.

Bad press for pellets again. Credit given to everything else. Haven't we been through this before..... :fun2:

 

[daveonbass]

dude, mo, what is your problem...? I'm simply trying to make sure it is what we think it is...so is Stevedola. If you have a problem with that then I'm sorry, but I can't say it WAS the pellets if I don't KNOW it was the pellets. And don't you dare try to tell me what's happening in my tank that you have never personally seen. I tend to it everyday and for months the pellets have NOT worked...that is a fact. Then I make a change and suddenly overnight they do...yes I'm a little sceptical...as should you be. The whole point to to find out "for sure" that the pellets are what is now working to keep the tank free of N and P.

like you always say...give it time...we'll know for sure soon enoug. This is not bad press...we just want to check and make sure. Why wouldn't you want the same proof?

 

[DJREEF]

update...

still reading undetectable NO3 and PO4. Now that it's been a couple of days an all is cleared up, I am noticing very clear water that is amplified with the lack of algae growth on the glass. I have STOPPED adding sugar and will see if the params stay in line indefinatly. If they go up then I assume the pellets didn't do the trick but that the sugar is what helped. But I'm not seeing any remote climb back up in either so I'm hopeing that now the BP are "active".

thanks guys...i guess it's time to tell SWC what I did...

Sweet. I'm glad something workt.

DJ

 

[DJREEF]

dude, mo, what is your problem...? I'm simply trying to make sure it is what we think it is...so is Stevedola. If you have a problem with that then I'm sorry, but I can't say it WAS the pellets if I don't KNOW it was the pellets. And don't you dare try to tell me what's happening in my tank that you have never personally seen. I tend to it everyday and for months the pellets have NOT worked...that is a fact. Then I make a change and suddenly overnight they do...yes I'm a little sceptical...as should you be. The whole point to to find out "for sure" that the pellets are what is now working to keep the tank free of N and P.

like you always say...give it time...we'll know for sure soon enoug. This is not bad press...we just want to check and make sure. Why wouldn't you want the same proof?

I can see your point. Pull the sugar and see what happens. If the NO3 goes back up then you know it's the sugar, not the pellets. Then maybe SWC can get with their manufacturer and figure out a way to incorporate more sucrose into their polymer without affecting the pellet's integrity.

DJ

 

[daveonbass]

thanks deej...I am so friggin happy to finally test for NO3 and get a paler shade of yellow than the reference card. AND practically over night the "proper" corals responded to the lack of NO3. in other words my zoas are NOT happy...and i've heard they don't need a ULNS system. My rics got used to it...and my LPS finally started to look better...But my SPS are looking better than ever.

The Nem started walking around again though that little pill. But all in all the water is crystal clear, and the tank glass is not needing to be cleaned every day/every other day. The residual algae on the rocks is white, so now I can see that I had more than I thought I did. And there is NO cyno anywhere...after the lights have been on ALL day, just towards the lights out time, the WHITE sand gets a slight tint of brown to it in the flats. Then after the lights go out...HUNDREDS of tiny snails and pods come up from the sand and clean it bleached white by morning.

I LOOOOVE IT. The tank is so much more stable now that the NO3 is done fluctuating. So I'm hopeful that it IS the BP and that any tiny amount of N or P will be much easier for any bacteria to control and keep it at the undetectable levels.

If I come across any money I wish to invest in all the more accurate test kits to help in setting up NEW tanks...and to monitor how low things are in the current tank. But for now I cant find any trace of N or P with the average consumer grade API test kits...

IT may not be a ULNS, but its at lease a uLNS.

 

[tntneon]

great to hear Dave

But look out with sugar as it sometimes triggers cyano.
Decreassing sugar slowly , else you get massive starvation of bacteria and NO and P will rise again , and see what happens if every thing stays in check then you can decrease slowly to zero sugar dosing.

As for the new formula pellets , the ones i left soaking for 48 houres , i added yesterday to my reactor , and it seems that they don't float as much like the first ones (wich is a good thing ).
Had no blooming or so ever , due to the fact nitrates are a rocksteady 0.2 ppm and po4 i don't know anymore (no test kit , still waiting for an anwser of HANNA for the ULR checker , they don't sell here... :rolleye1: ).
I'm very curious if my Chaeto growth will decreasse again , it first increassed alot when BP's where worn out.


greetingzz tntneon

 

[stevedola]

Why??



If it's not broken, why are you trying to fix it????

Mo

what am I fixing? Im only trying to see the difference. Do some tests...ect.

BTW...Who are you again>? dont concern yourself with me and Ill do the same with you. THX:mtool:

 

[pfy333]

I'm on my 8 day using 1000ml in a Nextreef reactor with a Tunze pump rated around 600+ gph in my 120. My pellets are tumbling pretty aggresively. Put 500ml first, then 4 hrs later 500ml more. No ill effect on my tank so far.
I decided to use it due to cyano and hair algae out break. 2 cups of GFO didn't put a dent on my algae problem. My NO3 is 0 on Elos and PO4 is .03 on Hanna before NP pellets. My cyano and hair algae is disappearing. I'm not going to test for another 3 weeks because I can see it working.

Well, its been almost 5 months and the first 3 months the cyano just kept growing, but I'm happy to say I got the cyano pretty much beat expect for 3 quarter size areas. What did it for me was starting back up on MB7 on month 4, after 1 month later it seemed like nothing was going to kill it. Then I read a post (forgot who) about dropping the temperature. I changed my temp from 80F to 79F while still dosing MB7 and presto. The cyano started dying! This is with no water change for 3 months. At the moment I have reduced MB7 to 20ml and hope to ween it out.

 

[ari5736]

Any updates Dave? Have you stopped sugar dosing? I started vodka this week to try and get my pellets going again.

 

[daveonbass]

so far so great.

I have not added any sugar, pappone since the bloom. I finally moved my two cardinal fish back in (higher bioload) and also bought some more mysid shrimp and have been doing heavy feeding...and nitrates are still 0ppm.

so as I keep testing through the weeks I think that they are finally working for me...still.

 

[Gromert]

Good results for me now too. This was what I learned from the distrubutors here in Sweden. Use a 1250 Eheim (1200L/H) together with a Deltec FR509 with max 500 ml of pellets. Add 100 ml/week over 5 weeks. Now my nitrate has decreased from 50 to 2 in about 5 weeks. No other changes in the system has been made)

 

[Tony Romano]

~2 months into NPBP

~2 months into NPBP

This stuff is fantastic! I now have my 8 big fish, sps, lps, softies, non-photos all thriving. sps is still a bit too brown, I am going to see what I can accomplish with some ZEO products.

BTW - I add MB7 most days, ZOEvites in zeoreactor, ZEObac weekly or when I change rocks. I also have a string of PM reactors with old ZEO rock. I removed 2/3 of my live rock about 3 months ago and created a multi level wide open structure. Last I run GAC in bags and am debating GFO.

I have removed Ozone and Sulfur reactors.

 

[daveonbass]

good to hear tony. I too have been slowly adding to the system, mostly corals. And still my N and P levels are zero (undetectable). It took a week or two for the corals to get used to the sudden drop of no3 to zero. But now things seem to be running fine again. The added bioload didn't seem to do anything to increas the no3. So I'm still gladi stuck it out.

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

haha...thanks guys...now I don't know what to do with my life/tank. This morning I noticed that the tank is cloudy again...and my skimmer is going nuts with clearish dirty water. It's just overfowing like crazy. If anyone remembers when I did rice, it looks and smells like that did. Only difference is that NOW, after just testing, the NO3 is 0ppm. I think the test tube was a lighter shade of yellow than the reference strip. Like I have negative NO3. I'm thrilled that it's doing "something" but not to pleased with the cloudy tank. My fish and lps are looking upset, but the sps look fine. Now that the skimmer is not dialed up and over flowing, the fish look better, and don't seem as stressed. But my zoas, gsp, and rics are not too happy. The lps are looking better but still not great. And again the sps seem to have had no change.

should I add anything else now, like gac...or just let the cloud go away on it's own.

IMO I think these just like anything that comes out new hasn't been experimented with enough and the buyers are at risk with their livestock. Whoever came out with these should've done tests to prove they accurately work how they have been perceived to work. I'm going to stick with GFO and carbon because the majority of people I have read through have only experienced bad results; cloudy water, cyano outbreaks, skimmer going nuts, corals bleaching out, corals looking unhealthy, the list goes on.

Waterchanges/GAC/GFO has always worked well for me and plenty others so that's what I'm going to stay with. Good luck to those who are in a maze with these pellets..

 

[daveonbass]

the whole event lasted a couple of hours and now I have had nothing but "blue skys," it's been great. The life in my tank has never looked better. I simply maintain calc, alk, and mag, and do the occasional 10g water change now. So what's the problem? My corals are being "fed" from the run off bacteria that are not skimmed...and PE and color are the best my tank has seen. All my LPS are splitting/multiplying so my tank is spontaniously growing faster than it ever has. My sps look great and all new additions look better than in the store, and my montis are going nuts with growth.

I had the HARDEST time getting these pellets to work, but I really wanted to know why they didn't. And now that they have become active, I can finally see what all the rave is about. Cyno, and algae disappeared almost over night.

I'm going to have to make sure I keep using them in all my tanks...its been a long road...but now I'm very happy with them. The next time I use them I'm going to try the original batch I got (that never worked) and try to replicate what I did in the current tank to try and activate them.

this has been a great thread to helping understand how these work best in all the different systems.

 

[sirreal63]

IMO I think these just like anything that comes out new hasn't been experimented with enough and the buyers are at risk with their livestock. Whoever came out with these should've done tests to prove they accurately work how they have been perceived to work. I'm going to stick with GFO and carbon because the majority of people I have read through have only experienced bad results; cloudy water, cyano outbreaks, skimmer going nuts, corals bleaching out, corals looking unhealthy, the list goes on.

Waterchanges/GAC/GFO has always worked well for me and plenty others so that's what I'm going to stay with. Good luck to those who are in a maze with these pellets..

Good thing it is just your opinion and your experience with the product is invaluable.

If you took the time to look into the product you would see it wasn't created for the aquarium industry, but someone saw the benefit and realized it would work in place of a liquid carbon dosing regimen...something many of us have done for lots of years. This just makes it easier, and the testing and R&D is being done by those who actually bought the product and have learned from it and tried to pass that experience on to others. That is what the focus of this thread is about...helping others with the product, not coming into this thread and saying they are not worth your time.

I respect your right to an opinion but really...how has it contributed?

 

[izzy123]

the whole event lasted a couple of hours and now I have had nothing but "blue skys," it's been great. The life in my tank has never looked better. I simply maintain calc, alk, and mag, and do the occasional 10g water change now. So what's the problem? My corals are being "fed" from the run off bacteria that are not skimmed...and PE and color are the best my tank has seen. All my LPS are splitting/multiplying so my tank is spontaniously growing faster than it ever has. My sps look great and all new additions look better than in the store, and my montis are going nuts with growth.

I had the HARDEST time getting these pellets to work, but I really wanted to know why they didn't. And now that they have become active, I can finally see what all the rave is about. Cyno, and algae disappeared almost over night.

I'm going to have to make sure I keep using them in all my tanks...its been a long road...but now I'm very happy with them. The next time I use them I'm going to try the original batch I got (that never worked) and try to replicate what I did in the current tank to try and activate them.

this has been a great thread to helping understand how these work best in all the different systems.

I'm very happy for you!! :bounce1:

 

[lbaldrey]

daveonbass...what was your sugar dosing regimen? can you post some more info on that?

 

[jason2459]

Only major problem I've had with np type pellets are my nutrient levels falling to fast and having that upset my LPS.
Starting off with fewer pellets and slowly adding in more is probably a good idea.

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