Stuart60611
New member
I do sometimes powerwash my rock with a maxi jet 1200, but I have not done so in a couple of months.
Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product
- Thread starter Stuart60611
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I do sometimes powerwash my rock with a maxi jet 1200, but I have not done so in a couple of months.
Do you dose kalk? One of the wonderful side effects of kalk for topoff is the pH induced precipitation of PO4 from the system.
DJ
Stuart60611
New member
Very true. I would add that it is also very unclear at this point how effective the pellets are assisting in the export of phosphate. My reading of the information thus far supplied by others is that it seems fairly clear that they work well at assisting in the reduction of nitrate, but it seems very unclear at this point whether they do much in terms of assisting in the reduction of phosphate which, IMO, is in most systems the major cause of hair algae problems.
Stuart60611
New member
I do not dose kalk because I never saw a need to do so b/c I only maintain fish and no corals, but perhaps now maybe I will consider doing so. In your experience, how effective is dosing Kalk at reducing phosphate? What happens to the perticipate and can it leach phosphate back into the system? Any other concerns about dosing kalk?
Much of the precipitate gets skimmed out of the system in the form of Ca3(PO4)2 - calcium phosphate - so that never makes it back into the system. The remaining bound precip can re-enter the system if the pH drops at the site where the calcium crystals holding the Ca3(PO4)2 begin to disolve, but my thinking is it would be difficult in a reef type setup - even FOWLR - to get the pH low enough to disolve the aragonite source, unless it was in a reactor of some sort, esp if you're dosing kalk on a regular basis. If the systemic pH were low enough to do that, there would be a whole lotta other things going wrong, as to make phosphate leaching seem trivial.
DJ
Rizup
New member
I have yet to see a reduction in nitrates, but I am hoping I will soon
Tomorrow will be 5 weeks of the pellets.
solitude127
Proud user of IO Salt!
I have yet to see a reduction in nitrates, but I am hoping I will soon
You may have posted it, but what were/are your nitrates at?
Stuart60611
New member
What is interesting to me about your comment is I recently read an article (cannot remember where) where the author discussed his study indicating that at various places within a given aquarium the ph can measure substantially lower than the rest of the system. In other words, the ph in the back right corner of your tank may under certain circumstances be much lower at times than the ph on the other side of the tank. As such, I wonder if the percipitate has more of a potential of releasing phosphate.
Reefflections
New member
Stuart,
I'm seeing this algae also only on my Tunzes.None on the rocks or panes.I'm BB and there is none there either.This is not hair algae what I'm seeing.It's almost like a natural type of algae is nomal if that makes sense?I was told their are healthy algae within our system.Which shows us a healthy tank.But I can say,the Bac has made my system a big winner.The before and after changes are huge.But again I'm still running GFO also.Which I really don't want to do,because of cost factor.I just have some extra GFO and been running it before BAC was started.
I'm seeing this algae also only on my Tunzes.None on the rocks or panes.I'm BB and there is none there either.This is not hair algae what I'm seeing.It's almost like a natural type of algae is nomal if that makes sense?I was told their are healthy algae within our system.Which shows us a healthy tank.But I can say,the Bac has made my system a big winner.The before and after changes are huge.But again I'm still running GFO also.Which I really don't want to do,because of cost factor.I just have some extra GFO and been running it before BAC was started.
Absolutely, pH can vary from place to place - which is why circulation is so important. Dead zones, or cryptic zones can read lower in scale, but would more than likely be higher still than the 6.8 (or lower) that would be necessary to break down the calcium/phosphate matrix. Like I said before, if you have systemic zones of considerable size dropping that low, without the accompanying water volume and surplus alkalinity to back them up then you've got way bigger problems than phosphate leaching.
DJ
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falconut
New member
I have been using these pellets for 6 weeks now. I don't really see any difference. My algae hasn't seamed to have gotten any better in the 6 weeks of using it. If I had to say, it seams to have gotten worse. I've blown off the rocks multiple times, syphoned the sand bed and added GFO again after a few weeks of using it. It's crazy, my rear and especially my side (partially shaded glass) has gotten really bad. If I don't scrap it regularly, it will get up to 1" long. My chateo and mangroves are growing great.
As far as appearance of the pellets. To me they look the same as they've looked on day one. I have mine tumbling really good and they don't stick together. They are suspended, but are about 1/2" - 1" below the top screen, so it's not like they're being pressed against the top.
I suppose I'll keep using it, but not sure how much longer if the algae just seams to keep getting worse. I rarely had any algae on the sand, but since using the pellets, I will get patches of algae (up to 1" long) throughout the sand.
As far as appearance of the pellets. To me they look the same as they've looked on day one. I have mine tumbling really good and they don't stick together. They are suspended, but are about 1/2" - 1" below the top screen, so it's not like they're being pressed against the top.
I suppose I'll keep using it, but not sure how much longer if the algae just seams to keep getting worse. I rarely had any algae on the sand, but since using the pellets, I will get patches of algae (up to 1" long) throughout the sand.
JRaquatics
New member
Have you checked your parameters now and see how they differ from the tests you did before you started the use of the ecobak product?
falconut
New member
I use Salifert for NO3 and it has read between 0 - 0.25, which might be a little lower than when I started. From my memory, it was around 0.5 when I started But I only have an API kit for PO4, which doesn't show low levels of PO4. So, I don't have any basis for tests for PO4.
buy_baff
New member
Do you still have the diotoms Bill? I haven't got around to adding more to my reactor yet but plan on it soon. Also has anyone been able to step up there feeding yet? I can only feed a normal amount or I will get a green bloom on the glass. With other carbon sorces I was able to feed like a madman. I'm starting to think the reason I got the diotom bloom to begin with is that my old vite c mb7 combo was keeping things in check a little better. Not because the ecobak isn't working but because I don't have enough. That's why when I switched I got the bloom because the amount of ecobak I am running isn't able to keep up. I am thinking about adding a small amount of vite c a day to see if it clears the diotoms up. If so then I think it would be safe to say thats whats happening.
drummereef
Team RC
Considering using the EcoBak pellets in a NextReef SMR1 reactor. Currently my tank is going through a diatom / hair algae cycle as it's a relatively new tank. Does anyone see potential issues starting the EcoBak pellets during this process? I would start with 1/4 - 1/2 the recommend amount then gradually ramp up over a few weeks.
Nitrates are around 7ppm
Phosphate is undetectable probably because of the hair algae
Testing with Salifert Kits
Nitrates are around 7ppm
Phosphate is undetectable probably because of the hair algae
Testing with Salifert Kits
Rizup
New member
~20 ppm
poolkeeper1
New member
Diatoms
Diatoms
Actually adding another 250ml seems to have almost stopped it, As It is less than B4 but not completely gone. My bigger Issue is my PH has dropped dramatically and will not get any higher than 8.0 and is going down to 7.6 at night. I even ran an airline out the window direct to my skimmer last night and this morning it was still 7.6 so Co2 is not the issue. Right now at 2:04 pm the PH is only 7.95 the PH B4 I added the extra EB was around 8.2 this time of day and never got lower than 8.0 at night, Confused to say the least. Any help in figuring this out would be greatly helpful as I'm at a loss. Plus I already drip Kalk around the clock to keep my evaporation at bay running two fans to keep temps lower.
Bill:hmm2:
Diatoms
Actually adding another 250ml seems to have almost stopped it, As It is less than B4 but not completely gone. My bigger Issue is my PH has dropped dramatically and will not get any higher than 8.0 and is going down to 7.6 at night. I even ran an airline out the window direct to my skimmer last night and this morning it was still 7.6 so Co2 is not the issue. Right now at 2:04 pm the PH is only 7.95 the PH B4 I added the extra EB was around 8.2 this time of day and never got lower than 8.0 at night, Confused to say the least. Any help in figuring this out would be greatly helpful as I'm at a loss. Plus I already drip Kalk around the clock to keep my evaporation at bay running two fans to keep temps lower.
Bill:hmm2:
Rizup
New member
Actually adding another 250ml seems to have almost stopped it, As It is less than B4 but not completely gone. My bigger Issue is my PH has dropped dramatically and will not get any higher than 8.0 and is going down to 7.6 at night. I even ran an airline out the window direct to my skimmer last night and this morning it was still 7.6 so Co2 is not the issue. Right now at 2:04 pm the PH is only 7.95 the PH B4 I added the extra EB was around 8.2 this time of day and never got lower than 8.0 at night, Confused to say the least. Any help in figuring this out would be greatly helpful as I'm at a loss. Plus I already drip Kalk around the clock to keep my evaporation at bay running two fans to keep temps lower.
Bill:hmm2:
When did you calibrate your pH probe last? Sounds like it may be time to recalibrate and confirm your results. Hopefully the calibration has drifted and your pH is actually higher.
poolkeeper1
New member
Hmmm
Hmmm
I'll be right back, Got some 7 & 10 in the fish room, Why didn't i think of that:thumbsup: Hope your right
Bill:dance:
Hmmm
I'll be right back, Got some 7 & 10 in the fish room, Why didn't i think of that:thumbsup: Hope your right
Bill:dance:
buy_baff
New member
Hopefuly that's all it is.
