Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[platax88]

Do you guys ever get white stringy slime on your pellets? Like I posteed earlier, i added my second 500ml to the reactor. The pellets are tumbling nicely but here is a pic of the white "buggers"... I assume this is just bacteria film and all is good. I have been runnig EB now for a week.

 

[Texas]

I had the same slime on my pellets. It was from a higher organic load in my fish only tank. Jon said not to worry about it. I did finally take mine off line and stick it on a bucket with saltwater and increase the flow and flush it all out. I had to strain the water off a couple of times too before it was all gone. After that it did not come back.
p

 

[platax88]

I had the same slime on my pellets. It was from a higher organic load in my fish only tank. Jon said not to worry about it. I did finally take mine off line and stick it on a bucket with saltwater and increase the flow and flush it all out. I had to strain the water off a couple of times too before it was all gone. After that it did not come back.
p

Ha, that's weird, my organics where low to start with N03-3ppm, pH4-.08

I wonder if it's because the pellets where not tumbling for a few days in my old makeshift reactor?

 

[Texas]

Mine were tumbling with more flow than Jon felt I should have to start out. I have them cranked way back now and see very little movement but my nitrate and phosphate are at 0 with API tests. To begin with I had very little nitrate or phosphate but had to do large water changes to keep the nitrate in check since I feed the fish 3 times a day. When I first started I had a big bacteria bloom that clouded my tank for several days. I did several water changes to get that under control and then put the pellets back online with less flow and have had no problems since. They have been running a little over 2 months now.

What it seems most people are doing is more flow than the 100gph that was recommended, I had mine with the powerhead wide open and it was suppose to pump 130 gph. It is now more like 60gph in a nextreef reactor. Jon also felt my skimmer was not skimming enough which could have been another reason that I had the build-up of slime.
p

 

[platax88]

Thanks P...

I got it at a very slow tumble and the output goes right into the intake of my skimmer (MSX 250) I havent experienced a bloom but I started with 1/2 the dose and my nutrients were low already. I'm not gonna sweat the buggers

 

[zoolan70]

I have that same stringy goo in my reactor after 10 days or so.

So far, I've not seen any real change in the tank, good or bad. I know that is the expected result, just wanted to put it out there for anyone following along. My algae issues tend to cycle, so the fact I've not had to clean the glass every day isn't an indicator of progress...yet.

 

[wloftin]

I have that same stuff... kinda flaky "bird wing" shapes? I wasn't sure what it was... my pellets are just hanging in a bag in my overflow going into the sump... i started finding this stuff in the sump.

 

[jsdancer]

I had the same thing when I added 250ml to the already 250ml that was in the reactor.
I did nothing about mine except shake the reactor to move it around. A week later it was gone when I added a stronger pump.

 

[drtrash]

I am at the 60 day mark and PO4 is zero but nitrate is still around 25 ppm. Never was able to get P to go to zero with GFO but still waiting for N to go down.

 

[zoolan70]

I am at the 60 day mark and PO4 is zero but nitrate is still around 25 ppm. Never was able to get P to go to zero with GFO but still waiting for N to go down.

Could your pellets be P bound? If the bacteria require both P and N to grow, and your P is at zero, is it possible that there isn't enough food for them to multiply, therefore they won't consume any more nitrate? Just a thought...

 

[drtrash]

P was not zero when I started. The algea on back of tank along with alittle cyano died offs. The only thing left is N. Not sure if you have to be more patient or this is the endpoint of nutrient consumtion.

 

[dwdowney]

Ozone

Ozone

Does anyone run ozone with Ecobak? It seems counterproductive unless the bacteria is never "œfree swimming" ie always growing in the reactor then it seems like it would work even better.

 

[Stuart60611]

Does anyone run ozone with Ecobak? It seems counterproductive unless the bacteria is never "œfree swimming" ie always growing in the reactor then it seems like it would work even better.

The way the pellets work is the overwhelming majority of the bacterial mass remains in the reactor. However, small amounts of bacteria mass are sloughed off the pellets to the water column and then exported from the system via your skimmer. The problem I see with running ozone is the bacterial mass that is sloughed off could be killed by the ozone, thereby causing the bacteria sloughed off to release back in the system all of fhe nutrients they consumed rather than being skimmed out together with the nutrients.

 

[tmz]

I think dead bacteria as well as live bacteria are exported along with other organics.The ozone wouldn't likely kill very many in a normal reef tank application,in my opinion..
It does seem counter intuitive to run organic busting ozone when growing exportable organics via bacteria is the goal. However, the ozone would break up larger organics likely rendering some of them more amphiphylic /skimmable . The broken organic chains may also have a greater affinity for gac(granulaterd activated carbon). So it could be a big plus on the export side and in keeping total organic carbon acceptably low.

Ozone may or may not add to free toxic metal in a tank high by breaking it loose from an organically bound state. this may be an issue if a tank has built up organics and bound metals over time.

FWIW,I have all the fixins to put an ozone generator on my system which has been dosed with vodka and vinegar for the past 20 months. However, I'm wary about the metals issue and my ORP runs 315 to 320 without it. So I'm leaving it on the shelf for now
.

 

[dwdowney]

Since my tank has only been established for about three months in which time all the water entering the system came from I high quality RODI unit in an area of the country with very low metal content in the municipal water supply, it would seem to me that my risk of increasing the amount of free toxic metals would be minimal. Would you agree? Also, is there a target ORP range? I have continued to get conflicting answers to that question.

 

[PDAlber]

After reading the positive feedback on these pellets, I've decided to order some for my tank. I have some quick questions, though (sorry if they've already been answered). I currently have GAC and GFO in two TLF reactors, which run in series and are fed by my return pump. I would prefer to replace the GFO with the pellets, but I see some people run both. My questions:
1. If I simply replace the GFO with pellets, can I continue running using the TLF reactors in series (GAC then pellets then output to the skimmer intake)?
2. Should I add another pump and run the two reactors seperately?
3. Or, should I continue running my current setup and add a third reactor for the pellets with its own pump?
I really prefer to keep thing simple but want to do whats best. Thanks for the help.

 

[bertoni]

You'll need to replace the GAC monthly, and I wouldn't want to disturb the bio-pellets that often, so I'd use two reactors, personally. Disturbing the bio-pellets could reduce their effectiveness for a while. That might not be an issue, though.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Disturb pellets

Disturb pellets

You'll need to replace the GAC monthly, and I wouldn't want to disturb the bio-pellets that often, so I'd use two reactors, personally. Disturbing the bio-pellets could reduce their effectiveness for a while. That might not be an issue, though.

After many months of running pellets in a BRS reactor i have found that the reactor gets clogged with debri that blocks flow through it and needs cleaning out every so often. I have seen no negative effects from rinsing the pellets in clean salt water to get the flow optimal again. This has helped in keeping the pellets tumbling as desired.
Bill:thumbsup:

 

[PDAlber]

You'll need to replace the GAC monthly, and I wouldn't want to disturb the bio-pellets that often, so I'd use two reactors, personally. Disturbing the bio-pellets could reduce their effectiveness for a while. That might not be an issue, though.

Just so I'm clear, you're saying run the pellets with their own pump so I won't disturb them when I change out the GAC? My main concern with running the reactors in series was that I would not be able to maintain proper flow through both. Do you think I should continue to run GFO?

 

[poolkeeper1]

Advice

Advice

Just so I'm clear, you're saying run the pellets with their own pump so I won't disturb them when I change out the GAC? My main concern with running the reactors in series was that I would not be able to maintain proper flow through both. Do you think I should continue to run GFO?

Jon Warner reccomends you run it in it's own reactor with around 100gph flow. As far as GFO goes i ran it until my Po4 was undetectable with the Hanna meter PPB and then removed it. The EB has been holding it at around 4PPB which is pretty good IMO without any help. JMO
Bill:thumbsup: