Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[TheFishMan65]

I have some generic bio pellets, but this seems a good a place any for my question.

I went on vacation (now I know why to get a good tank sitter), and the sump went dry. I think I had a reasonable amount of bio pellets. Anyway the skimmer section still had water. A MJ1200 pulls water from the simmer section into the pellet reactor and back to the skimmer (NAC7) intake. I estimate that there was no new water being added to the skimmer section for 3-4 days. I would have expected that the pellets would have scrubbed that water clean of N and P and maybe the bacteria would die back. Instead it appears that the pellets almost disappeared. They seem to have been eaten at a much faster rate than normal. Any thoughts?

 

[kendo]

Hi, i'm sure this question has been asked before, I have been running the ecobak pellets for about a year now, and have topped off once but here recently they have been clumping up, barley moving but still have flow. Is this ok or should I try and get them tumbling again.
Thanks, Ken

 

[Buganddoug]

Get them tumbling again.

 

[reefkeeps]

Anyone still using it? 28 days without a post?

 

[mbg75]

Just read this entire thread. Any updates from
Long term ecobak users?

 

[Buganddoug]

I still think they are the best pellets out there.

 

[orientalexpress]

I ran for 2 plus year and still running at 0 nitrate.


lapsan

 

[Safedad]

My guess is the pellets provided the only food for the bacteria. The bacteria didn't also have food in the water from the tank. When the right balance of N and P was gone, they really slowed their eating down.

 

[spsfreak1977]

Mine are on order thanks for the great info

 

[spsfreak1977]

If I am running a recirc bio pellet skimmer

With a set flow rate into the reactors

Does the tumble rate matter ?

 

[bertoni]

The reason to keep the pellets tumbling is to prevent them from sticking together and creating a large anoxic or low-oxygen area. I'd keep them tumbling in any case, although I'm not sure what kind of setup you have.

 

[spsfreak1977]

Yes I understand but does the tumble rate matter if i am still putting 100-300 gph throught the reactor

 

[spsfreak1977]

Going to use a rec reactor and going to pump 100-300 gph into the reactor
So does the tumbling on the pellets matter
They are not going to be tumbling slow

 

[AugustWest]

I'm no expert as I have just started running these pellets myself, but Jon Warner specifically states to start off with a slow tumble.

Tumbling too fast is how a lot of people have run into problems.

 

[alan.reef]

reading all pages. wanna learn more about bio pellet before try it.
any bio pellet user can chime in.

 

[Buganddoug]

Start with the third the first week add a third the following week. The last third on week three. Tumble very very slow.

 

[milkman55]

Start with the third the first week add a third the following week. The last third on week three. Tumble very very slow.

Very good advice. Adding all the pellets at once is a sure way to disaster. I started the EcoBak pellets when they first came out before we knew much about how to use them. I added all the pellets at once and had a terrible bacterial bloom outbreak. Start slow and gradually ramp up, like everything with reefkeeping.