Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[poolkeeper1]

Thanks everybody for the comebacks, I'll give it some time and see how things pan out.
Maybe a quick vaccume of the sandbed along with the next water change to help reduce nutrients in the bed?
Bill

 

[Tigé21v]

There are two important variables that I think people need to consider here when evauluating whether the pellets are effective.

First, the flow through the reactor. I was corresponding today with Jon who shared an interesting story with me concerning a tank he maintains using ecobak. The client had an inadequate skimmer and high flow through the pellets.

The client has high flow through the pellets, or low flow?

The client had about 50 nitrate and 1.0 phosphate The client had a major bacterial bloom that caused some problems with the system.

Were the excess nutrients already a problem, or were they brought about from using the ecobak? What problems with the system? Cloudy water, or livestock loss?

However, in less than a 1 week period the client brought his phosphate and nitrate down to nearly 0. Jon seemed to indicate that the high flow was the culprit which caused this major bacterial bloom and rapid and sharp drop in nitrate and phosphate.

Do you mean culprit (in the negative sense), or in positive terms as the probable cause of the bloom/NO3/PO4 drop?

....Therefore, it appears to me that the sharp and rapid drop of nitrate and phosphate was directly related to the high flow through the reactor. As such, if you are not seeing enough drop in nitrate and phosphate, I suggest gradually increasing the flow in the reactor and see if things change. I would suggest to up the flow in the reactor in small increments and leave it alone for several days and test your levels to see if it is helping so as to avoid a major bacterial bloom.

This has had me wondering since I first started reading this thread. Assuming the recommended use rate is correct (1 liter/200 gallons of water) then the recommended flow rate of 100 gph/liter (100 gph/200 gallons) will only "turn" the entire water volume (all the water in the entire system) 1 1/4 times a day. I would think better results would be seen even if the turnover were increased somewhat, at least to twice a day (150 gph flow).

Please don't take this reply in a negative tone. I really hope it does not come across as if I am nitpicking your post. Actually quite the opposite. I just want to be sure I fully understand, since your post is the first one I've seen dealing with the observations due to flow variances. I just received 2 liters today, and am anxious to get it going on my system.

Second, the appropriate amount of pellets to use on a given system is still very unclear and will vary wildly depending on the particular stocking, feeding, and water change practices of the individual tank. Therefore, adding more pellets seems to me to be also necessary sometimes when you are not noticing a drop in nitrate and phosphate. As long as done gradually, I do not think you can overdose because the bacterial colonies should be limited by other finite and necessary resources available in the system. But I may be wrong about this, although that is my understanding. If correct, this could be the answer for many finding the pellets ineffective.

I think I will start out at the recommended use rate, but at an increased rate of flow.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Ulns

Ulns

Do you think this is a problem with any ULNS?

No, As i ran a 300gal total system for around 4 years using a combo of Vodka, Vinegar Amino Acids, Vitamin C and Fed very heavy with great results. That tank I sold for Lots of Cash and it had well over 100 SPS colonies that all looked great, Color,Size,Growth rate and Mortality rate as I never lost a single piece that was added to that tank other than frags that were knocked into other corals by CUC (Turbos) to be exact.
Point being I never had this issue like with the EB, I did a few times have a Cyano outbreak (Very Small) and used the Vinegar to get rid of that issue.
I think the key to ULNS are the Skimmer being large enough to remove the end product of what we get from the carbon source being added to the system. If It's not able to handle it the end result will be failure to achieve a healthy enviorment for the growth of SPS in a closed system.:thumbsup:
Bill
PS, Sorry i missed this at first.:dance:

 

[Stuart60611]

The client has high flow through the pellets, or low flow?

Were the excess nutrients already a problem, or were they brought about from using the ecobak? What problems with the system? Cloudy water, or livestock loss?

Do you mean culprit (in the negative sense), or in positive terms as the probable cause of the bloom/NO3/PO4 drop?

This has had me wondering since I first started reading this thread. Assuming the recommended use rate is correct (1 liter/200 gallons of water) then the recommended flow rate of 100 gph/liter (100 gph/200 gallons) will only "turn" the entire water volume (all the water in the entire system) 1 1/4 times a day. I would think better results would be seen even if the turnover were increased somewhat, at least to twice a day (150 gph flow).

Please don't take this reply in a negative tone. I really hope it does not come across as if I am nitpicking your post. Actually quite the opposite. I just want to be sure I fully understand, since your post is the first one I've seen dealing with the observations due to flow variances. I just received 2 liters today, and am anxious to get it going on my system.



I think I will start out at the recommended use rate, but at an increased rate of flow.

Well, I will try to respond to this the best I can with the information I have. In this situation, it appears that the client had a major bacterial bloom from having too high of flow going through the pellets. I have no idea about any nutrient issues that may or may have not existed with the system. The bacterial bloom did result in extremely cloudy water and some livestock loss which was the problem I was refering to. My best guess is that with too high of flow perhaps too much bacterial mass sluffs off the pellets causing a major bacterial bloom and possible livestock loss. The bacterial bloom did apparently cause a sharp and rapid drop in nitrate and phosphate, but at a substantial cost to the livestock.

 

[danderson8019]

What would you consider too much flow through a reactor with Ecobak?

 

[swissgaurd]

would it be better to wet skim or dry skim

 

[drtrash]

wettter the better when dosing

 

[Stuart60611]

Have 1 liter on line in my heavily stocked 125 (estimated water volume with sump 140) fowlr for over 48 hours now. I was dosing a large amount of vodka daily and biodigest weekly before so I expect my pellets to cycle quickly. Weaned off the vodka last week so I am not adding any vodka now. I did, however, seed the pellets with a vile of biodigest, but I do not plan to add any more live bacteria. I have them in a large geo reactor powered by a tunze silence pump. I have quite a bit of flow going throw them now to lightly tumble the liter (definitely way more than 100 gph and more like 350-400 gph). So far things are going great. No bacterial bloom at all, and in fact water has got that clear look you get when you change the carbon or dose vodka. I have not tested my nitrate and phosphate levels b/c it is a useless excercise right now since the algae is giving me false readings (tested low before and know that cannot be correct in light of the algae). Efluent from reactor is being placed in front of my skimmer intake, and skimmer production is so far on par or a bit larger in volume and darker in color as when dosing vodka.

 

[DJREEF]

Has anyone noticed that most of the bacterial strings just kind of pass right through the skimmer? I mean, some of them get hung up on the bubble plate, but for the most part they just pass right through to the display.

DJ

 

[Reefflections]

I'm also a newbie here using pellets also.And as of today my feed back.Grant me this was put online as of Thursday.But here are my results.I run the flow threw and old Zeo reactor.The media is flowing in their like flowing lava.Yes I could crank the flow up a lot more.But I didn't want to strip the water to fast.The skimmer has maintain the same as before as for output.Color and volume been steady.But the water has gotten really clear.I know a lot of folks talk about removing filter bags.My are still in there.Matter of fact I'm running .025 micron bags.With no overflow or plugging up.Yes all this depends on ones system also.But you say why do I run .025 filter bags,being they are very fine knit.Well,when I used to clean the panes,this small microns kick butt,when it came to pull the unwanted out.But again the algae would reappear again.I wanted to pull as much algae and spores out of my system as I could.I know I'm only into this a few days here.But it's doing great.I haven't had any cloudy water like some have potsed here.I still running the GFO threw the system.But wanted this to kick in first,then maybe take it off line as time goes on. I'm not going to do anything right now,and just let it do it's thing.But fish and corals seem to be very happen.Being having clearer water now,just going to watch out for the corals.Because with super clear water,corals could have effect on more light now.But just wanted to join you guys,with this thread so we all can learn,what's best method and success rate.But I'm a happy camper.

 

[johnnydoe]

well i guess im jumping off the bridge too , i just started my TLF up with pellets , mine dont seam to tumble with the valve full open they float to the top , at half they lie on the bottom , basicly theres no inbetween , they eather float or sink . anyone else using the TLS reactor for them see the same thing ? what is the correct way float or sink

 

[Buganddoug]

Turn your valve down when they float to the top and turn it up when they lie on the bottom. Take your time with the valve until you get them to tumble. Nothing good comes from rushing.

 

[johnnydoe]

ok ill try it agian , maybe its too early ? i just started it up 15min ago ?

 

[Buganddoug]

They will need time to seed.

 

[johnnydoe]

so in the mean time should they float or sink ?

 

[johnnydoe]

im not trying to rush it , just trying to set it for now

 

[Reefflections]

When I put mine in half were floaters and others on the bottom.And I soaked them for 24 hours in RODI water before they were put in.And even then I had clumps of them with air bulbbles stuck to them floating all over the container.Another 24 hours all are sinkers now.

 

[Buganddoug]

Reefflections Thanks for the input.

 

[Rizup]

Yep, give them about a day or two and they shouldn't clump much. I found that when I still had floating pellets it was because I had the flow rate too high. Seems better now. I'm using the Warner Marine reactor though.

 

[Rizup]

Turn your valve down when they float to the top and turn it up when they lie on the bottom. Take your time with the valve until you get them to tumble. Nothing good comes from rushing.

I agree. Good advice.