Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[Stuart60611]

I finally put the ecobak in a reactor two days ago, but now my tank and sump is really cloudy. The first 24 hours nice and clear, but day two and now three and it looks like I just added Marine Snow. I did not rinse the media before adding. A local guy told me the extra cloudiness is from the high nitrates, which I do have.

My skimmer is going a bit nuts. Lots of stringy white stuff collecting at the bottom of the reactor. One thing I will change after reading the thread is I will point the output towards the skimmer intake.

I am getting tumbling on the left side of my reactor chamber, but not on the right side. What can I do do get everything to tumble?

I don't have another reactor to run carbon, but would passively adding a bag of carbon to the sump help with the cloudiness?

I am having the same problem with uneven flow in my Geo 420 reactor. The person who zip tied the screen down to the plastic plate was on the vertex thread. However, he did not merely zip tie the mesh down to the circular plastic plate in the reactor, but added an additional circular plastic plate from another reactor that had wholes punched through it. He opined that the reason his flow evened out was not the zip tying of the screen to the plate, but the use of a different plate with wholes in it to allow the flow to pass through the plate evenly. I hope someone can come up with a solution on how to even the flow which appears to be a problem many are having.

 

[BeanMachine]

Sorry, trying to work and talk aquarium. I bought enough for 200 gallons, so 1 liter is what I have. I used about 10% of that. Sorry... Americans and their measurements you know?? haha

I am not familiar with the white jug or the media being sold by the gram. I purchased 1 liter and it came in a ziplock baggie. 500ml is rated for 100g, so I was thinking that with your volume it could have been too much for your system depending on how much you used. I would think it is possible to overdose on the pellets if you have way too much for your system. Just a thought.

As far as the flow - the EcoBak pellets don't need nearly the amount of flow that some of the other brands do. I found that I had a lot of pellets floating and I think that is because I had to much flow going through them. Right now I have them tumbling well and none floating, so we'll see how it goes. They have been running for two weeks today. So far it seems as though I have much less algae build-up on the glass and the water has seemed clearer for the past week or so. I'll test my nitrates again tonight, but so far I haven't seen them decrease at all. I did get my Hanna checker last Friday and I tested at .01 and .03. I never had detectable phosphates with my API kit, but the range is pretty bad on those kits so if it was detectable on the kit I would most likely already have a problem with algae.

 

[Rizup]

Sorry, trying to work and talk aquarium. I bought enough for 200 gallons, so 1 liter is what I have. I used about 10% of that. Sorry... Americans and their measurements you know?? haha

Got ya. That sounds good and shouldn't be a problem then.

 

[BeanMachine]

Day 4 and I've got a nice clear tank again! I had .28 phosphates (omg right?) last I had it checked at our club meeting so I'm hoping this stuff does the trick. Thanks for the help everyone. :beer:

 

[falconut]

About 3-1/2 weeks after replacing my GFO with 500 ml of the WM pellets in a TLR Reactor my algae just seams to have gotten too much out of hand. I did put a small amount of GFO in a filter bag between the sump baffles, but it doesn't seam to have done anything. You can see how the algae looks on page 13, post #309 at the two week mark. It hasn't gotten any better in the 1-1/2 weeks since them. I figure I should be getting near the period where this stuff starts to work.

Do the pellets change color as they become seeded with the bateria? Or do they just remain the same coloration, just slowly reducing in size as the bateria cumsumes them? Mine still look as clean as they did day one.

 

[jmoney]

may not be using enough pellets, you cannot overdoes these so for example in my 75 gallon tank i will be using 1l when i start the reactor back up again with a mag 3 powering the unit

 

[poolkeeper1]

Hmmm

Hmmm

About 3-1/2 weeks after replacing my GFO with 500 ml of the WM pellets in a TLR Reactor my algae just seams to have gotten too much out of hand. I did put a small amount of GFO in a filter bag between the sump baffles, but it doesn't seam to have done anything. You can see how the algae looks on page 13, post #309 at the two week mark. It hasn't gotten any better in the 1-1/2 weeks since them. I figure I should be getting near the period where this stuff starts to work.

Do the pellets change color as they become seeded with the bateria? Or do they just remain the same coloration, just slowly reducing in size as the bateria cumsumes them? Mine still look as clean as they did day one.

The pellets have pretty much remained the same color in my experience. Have you done anything to attack your Algae problem or are you relying on the Eco-Bak to take care of this totally?
it seems that you need to attack your algae from all fronts to get it under control then maybe the EB will keep it that way!
I think you are expecting too much from a product that's designed to function in another manner. Introducing a carbon source is not a miracle product that will rid a tank of badly overgrown hair Algae IMO anyway. You may have other Issues in your rock being loaded with Po4 that EB may not solve. If given enough time it may lower your levels enough to slowly rid your tank of this problem, But i do not think it will happen overnight. This is just my opinion and I'm sure others will not agree but i would do everything i can to rid the tank from the algae then see how the EB maintains it.
Bill:idea:

 

[Hdhuntr01]

I am running these pellets using an old Reef Octopus Calcium Reactor which I modified. I have a 150 gallon display tank and about 50 gallons of sump. I started with 250mL of pellets and a week later added another 250mL so now I am running 500mL. My nitrates went to zero within two weeks. They were at around 10. I am probably running about 250GPH flow through the reactor and the pellets are lightly boiling. I have not had any kind of algae bloom or bacteria bloom. Everything seems to be working just like it is supposed to.

I removed the flow meter because it is cheap and didn't work well. Also my output hose is going to the screen of my skimmer input pump.

 

[saf]

I have been using these bio pellets in a large via aqua poly reactor with a mj 1200 pump. How important is it to keep them tumbling? They have seemed to clump up.

 

[falconut]

I was kind of hoping that the pellets would remove the NO3 & PO4 and starve the algae. Maybe over a long time that will work, but hasn't yet. That is why I put the GFO back online. I periodically try to manually remove the algae, but it doesn't always pull off easily. Hopefully, the GFO will start to out compete the algae and it will die off.

So, this product is for keeping algae from starting more than stopping it after it starts, I guess.

The pellets have pretty much remained the same color in my experience. Have you done anything to attack your Algae problem or are you relying on the Eco-Bak to take care of this totally?
it seems that you need to attack your algae from all fronts to get it under control then maybe the EB will keep it that way!
I think you are expecting too much from a product that's designed to function in another manner. Introducing a carbon source is not a miracle product that will rid a tank of badly overgrown hair Algae IMO anyway. You may have other Issues in your rock being loaded with Po4 that EB may not solve. If given enough time it may lower your levels enough to slowly rid your tank of this problem, But i do not think it will happen overnight. This is just my opinion and I'm sure others will not agree but i would do everything i can to rid the tank from the algae then see how the EB maintains it.
Bill:idea:

 

[Rizup]

I have been using these bio pellets in a large via aqua poly reactor with a mj 1200 pump. How important is it to keep them tumbling? They have seemed to clump up.

How long have you had them in the system? They may clump for a few days at the beginning, but after that I think the clumping should be minimal.

 

[saf]

How long have you had them in the system? They may clump for a few days at the beginning, but after that I think the clumping should be minimal.

Probably ~4 days.

 

[buy_baff]

At the 6 week mark and haven't seen anything remarkable happen. My no3 and po4 are zero on api kits but they were to begin with. My cheato is still growing at a fair pace and I still have to run GFO otherwise I get a diotom bloom on my crushed coral bed. My color is good but not as good as when I was doseing vite c. Groth has been about the same. I still have to clean the glass every other day so no great improvement there. I can't say for sure if i beleave these things take up po4 or not if they did then why is my cheato still growing and why do I still need to run GFO? My no3 has always been zero as well so i'm not convinced these do anything other than give me a diotom bloom I never had before useing them.

 

[dvanacker]

Im just going to throw this out there but maybe the bacteria is being N limited. Add some more food. I think you will still need to run GFO though.

 

[buy_baff]

I'm feeding pleanty. I am concidering takeing the fuge off line and see what happens.

 

[PowermanKW]

At the 6 week mark and haven't seen anything remarkable happen. My no3 and po4 are zero on api kits but they were to begin with. My cheato is still growing at a fair pace and I still have to run GFO otherwise I get a diotom bloom on my crushed coral bed. My color is good but not as good as when I was doseing vite c. Groth has been about the same. I still have to clean the glass every other day so no great improvement there. I can't say for sure if i beleave these things take up po4 or not if they did then why is my cheato still growing and why do I still need to run GFO? My no3 has always been zero as well so i'm not convinced these do anything other than give me a diotom bloom I never had before useing them.

I know you have been keeping up and that N and P uptake or export are at different rates and that you may very well need to keep using GFO depending on what your P import is.

I'm sure you also know that N reading zero just means all the N is being taken up but that your N production could still be very high. Crushed coral beds do that. A zero reading of P on a API kit is useless information. Those are only good for gross amounts. I can almost guarantee you it is not zero.

My nutrients were always very low to begin with. It takes about 3 months for my ball of cheato to double in size. I ran GFO and took it off with the pellets. The PO4 was lower than when I ran the GFO. Didn't really see a decrease in glass cleaning which was 3-4 days. Didn't run it long enough to see if my cheato was going to wither and die.

Bacteria will consume N and P and that is well established. Seems at this point that it is established that bio pellets are a food source. Whether it is as good as source as liquid dosing is not sure. How much pellets that is needed to produce the same effects as liquid? All that does not mean that your pellets are not working, but that you may have a excess of nutrients.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Beggining to wonder

Beggining to wonder

I know you have been keeping up and that N and P uptake or export are at different rates and that you may very well need to keep using GFO depending on what your P import is.

I'm sure you also know that N reading zero just means all the N is being taken up but that your N production could still be very high. Crushed coral beds do that. A zero reading of P on a API kit is useless information. Those are only good for gross amounts. I can almost guarantee you it is not zero.

My nutrients were always very low to begin with. It takes about 3 months for my ball of cheato to double in size. I ran GFO and took it off with the pellets. The PO4 was lower than when I ran the GFO. Didn't really see a decrease in glass cleaning which was 3-4 days. Didn't run it long enough to see if my cheato was going to wither and die.

Bacteria will consume N and P and that is well established. Seems at this point that it is established that bio pellets are a food source. Whether it is as good as source as liquid dosing is not sure. How much pellets that is needed to produce the same effects as liquid? All that does not mean that your pellets are not working, but that you may have a excess of nutrients.

I was starting to think the same thing! But I will increase the amount of pellets this week when they arrive from Jon. That being said you make a good point as to if these pellets will be as effective as liquid dosing??? I will give them more time and increase the amount used until i have convinced myself one way or the other if they are worth the effort and cost. The con side of the pellets so far seems to be the recurring outbreak of brown Diatoms on the sandbed which at first the Phosban seemed to knock down but it keeps coming back. Even with less feeding more water changes and changing out the media often. I agree that testing can be false info if it's being used as fast as it's added to the water column Po4 that is. Hopefully in time the tipping point will be reached and this will have been worth it:celeb3:
Bill:wave:

 

[MVlk]

Bill, I am in no hurry to switch to the pellets I have... If you want em sooner than ordering, I'll sell/trade mine to ya? Only catch is you need to come get them.

 

[poolkeeper1]

pellets

pellets

Bill, I am in no hurry to switch to the pellets I have... If you want em sooner than ordering, I'll sell/trade mine to ya? Only catch is you need to come get them.

Dang, I already ordered more from WM they will be here in a couple day's. But if you don't want them i have a buyer in Mel as he needs 1500 ml for my old Coral in his tank.
I'll call you tomorrow, I'm going up to Dustins house to do some maintenence on the 650 gal tank at his parents house.
Bill

 

[Tigé21v]

I know you have been keeping up and that N and P uptake or export are at different rates and that you may very well need to keep using GFO depending on what your P import is.

Seems as if many who dose carbon, whether liquid or solid, need to continue to use GFO to some degree. How much seems to depend on the system. It seems the older the system, the more it is needed.

Bacteria will consume N and P and that is well established. Seems at this point that it is established that bio pellets are a food source. Whether it is as good as source as liquid dosing is not sure. How much pellets that is needed to produce the same effects as liquid? All that does not mean that your pellets are not working, but that you may have a excess of nutrients.

I think it has to be a combination of both enough media, but just as important, also flowrate. I think the 100gph/liter may be too slow.

I started running EB this past Saturday. The display is a 90 gallon (very heavily stocked), with around 240 gallons TWV. I'm starting with 1 liter in a BRS dual reactor , with a Maxijet 1200 pushing the water through. I plan on adding another 500 ml after a couple of weeks.
The Maxi is wide open and I'm only getting a little over 100 gph (slow tumbling action). Also, the BRS reactor's chambers are almost overfilled with the just the liter of media. I'm going to pick up a larger reactor, and a larger pump if needed.