Nope, it is plastic for sure. When I get home I'll see if I can get a picture. If not, I can open the top and see about scooping it out. I have been keeping a close eye on this... I have the reactor outside of the sump in front so I can see it 360 degrees. I just wanted to make sure there is even tumbling and to watch for clumping. All has been well just minor adjustments of flow over time.
Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product
- Thread starter Stuart60611
- Start date
Nope, it is plastic for sure. When I get home I'll see if I can get a picture. If not, I can open the top and see about scooping it out. I have been keeping a close eye on this... I have the reactor outside of the sump in front so I can see it 360 degrees. I just wanted to make sure there is even tumbling and to watch for clumping. All has been well just minor adjustments of flow over time.
day 12 of ecobak so far so good. the only thing i have noticed is there was a small clump today. gave the reactor a tilt, thats all it took. also seems like my glass in the main tank is staying clean longer. other then that nothing else. my phos. and nitrate where zero to begin with. i never had any algae problems before ecobak and i hope i continue not too. iam still running my phos. reactor and will continue to do so. i may use less ferric iron media when i change it out.
poolkeeper1
New member
Starve the Pellets
Starve the Pellets
If you continue to use GFO after the pellets are fully colonized with bacteria you are defeating the purpose and the pellets will be competing with the GFO for the Byproducts you added them to consume in the first place. This is not the way to be successful with the pellets, You must lessen and finally stop using GFO completely at some point or you will never achieve the wanted results! The Pellets will consume the Phosphate if you give it the chance by taking the GFO off line, Otherwise the GFO will just keep competing for the nutrients. Not the way to get good results from the Eco-Bak. JMHO
Bill:idea:
Starve the Pellets
If you continue to use GFO after the pellets are fully colonized with bacteria you are defeating the purpose and the pellets will be competing with the GFO for the Byproducts you added them to consume in the first place. This is not the way to be successful with the pellets, You must lessen and finally stop using GFO completely at some point or you will never achieve the wanted results! The Pellets will consume the Phosphate if you give it the chance by taking the GFO off line, Otherwise the GFO will just keep competing for the nutrients. Not the way to get good results from the Eco-Bak. JMHO
Bill:idea:
Last edited:
TheFishMan65
New member
poolkeeper, while I agree they should be cut back it may still be necessary to run GFO. It depends on the balance of Nitrates and Phosphates in the food IIRC. IIRC phosphates are used to preserve the food and may not balance the nitrates in the food. One of the pellet manufactureer actually says additional phosphate reducers may be needed,
poolkeeper1
New member
Possible?
Possible?
That may be so, But in my case until i got rid of the GFO completely the pellets did not perform anywhere near as good as when i took the GFO off line completely. The reason i believe this to be the case is that after almost a year and keeping the same routine other than no GFO and added pellets my Phosphate has remained at 12PPB steady (Hanna Checker) for many months now. This i think is due to the Nitrate limited theory as you can not reduce Phosphate to absolute Zero unless you are adding Nitrate, And i do not add anything except MB7 a couple times a week (4 Drops) And the Odd thing is i am upping my fish population weekly, They are small fish Disbar Anthia's 5, Hi Fin Cardinals 6, Cherub Angel 1, Six line wrasse 1, Sm Sail fin Tang 1, Yellow Watchman 1, Yellow Gobi 1, Green Mandarin 1, Black/White Occelaris clown Lg 1, Blue Damsel 1, Lg Pistol Shrimp 1, Tiger Cucumber 1 and I think i got them all but there could be some i forgot. So IMO the EB is doing a heck of a job without any help from GFO or anything else other than a good skimmer and regular filter sock changing.
Bill:thumbsup:
Possible?
That may be so, But in my case until i got rid of the GFO completely the pellets did not perform anywhere near as good as when i took the GFO off line completely. The reason i believe this to be the case is that after almost a year and keeping the same routine other than no GFO and added pellets my Phosphate has remained at 12PPB steady (Hanna Checker) for many months now. This i think is due to the Nitrate limited theory as you can not reduce Phosphate to absolute Zero unless you are adding Nitrate, And i do not add anything except MB7 a couple times a week (4 Drops) And the Odd thing is i am upping my fish population weekly, They are small fish Disbar Anthia's 5, Hi Fin Cardinals 6, Cherub Angel 1, Six line wrasse 1, Sm Sail fin Tang 1, Yellow Watchman 1, Yellow Gobi 1, Green Mandarin 1, Black/White Occelaris clown Lg 1, Blue Damsel 1, Lg Pistol Shrimp 1, Tiger Cucumber 1 and I think i got them all but there could be some i forgot. So IMO the EB is doing a heck of a job without any help from GFO or anything else other than a good skimmer and regular filter sock changing.
Bill:thumbsup:
jsdancer
New member
I have been keeping 1 liter of Eco Bak now since August of 2010.
So far product is working as advertised!
According to Salifert test kit I have
0.0 Phosphates
0.2 Nitrates
Nitrates fluctuate between 0.02 and 0.05
Phosphates have remained at 0 since a few weeks after running the entire 1 liter.
Since this thread opened up in May 2010, any of you who started back then, have you had to add any more product?
So far product is working as advertised!
According to Salifert test kit I have
0.0 Phosphates
0.2 Nitrates
Nitrates fluctuate between 0.02 and 0.05
Phosphates have remained at 0 since a few weeks after running the entire 1 liter.
Since this thread opened up in May 2010, any of you who started back then, have you had to add any more product?
TheFishMan65
New member
poolkeeper,
So you are adding nitrates to remove the last of the phosphate. You could also use a small amount of GFO to remove the last of the phosphates. This is the way I understood the manufacturerer. If adding nitrates (by the way how is this done) is cheaper by all means I would keep it up. But if GFO is cheaper you may want to try that.
I am just starting out, but like you have followed the numerous threads.
More for those just tuning in and to verify my understanding. There is a balance of nitrate, phosphate and carbon used by the bacteria. The carbon comes from the pellets, If the food (or other additions to the tank) does not have that balance and imbalance will occur in the tank and either phosphate or nitrate will build up.
So you are adding nitrates to remove the last of the phosphate. You could also use a small amount of GFO to remove the last of the phosphates. This is the way I understood the manufacturerer. If adding nitrates (by the way how is this done) is cheaper by all means I would keep it up. But if GFO is cheaper you may want to try that.
I am just starting out, but like you have followed the numerous threads.
More for those just tuning in and to verify my understanding. There is a balance of nitrate, phosphate and carbon used by the bacteria. The carbon comes from the pellets, If the food (or other additions to the tank) does not have that balance and imbalance will occur in the tank and either phosphate or nitrate will build up.
poolkeeper1
New member
No I am not and have no plans to do so, Reason being that absolute zero Phosphate may not be a desirable result in a closed system due to several reasons. the main one being that every time a fish goes to the bathroom so to speak it adds Nitrate/Phosphate same as every time you feed you add it too so absolute 0 may not only be impossible but counter productive, Kinda like a dog chasing it's tail so to speak. I see no negative effects with my levels being where they are for quite some time now as i started before they were even on the market. My SPS looks the best it has ever looked even better than when I dosed Vodka and it is way more cost effective and lots less work, Oh and did i mention cost is way cheaper than GFO or Vodka.
Bill:dance:
langtudatinh01
New member
Bill, did you start the biopellets with MB7? i took my offline 2 weeks ago. i had some issue with bacteria i think. my skimmer did not produce any darker skimmate than before. i think maybe my system does not have the right trend of bacteria. my LPS did not happy with the biopellets. i lost my frogspawn during the trial.
poolkeeper1
New member
No
No
No the MB7 is a recent addition as a friend convinced me to try it. The Fact of some LPS not reacting positive to EB is not new and kinda hit or miss on certain species not doing well in the ULNS clean water. I had a Yuma that reacted the same way yet I keep Acans that look better than most of my friends that do not use EB. I don't have that answer but my guess is they like dirtier water and they don't get enough of something lacking in this environment.
Bill
No
No the MB7 is a recent addition as a friend convinced me to try it. The Fact of some LPS not reacting positive to EB is not new and kinda hit or miss on certain species not doing well in the ULNS clean water. I had a Yuma that reacted the same way yet I keep Acans that look better than most of my friends that do not use EB. I don't have that answer but my guess is they like dirtier water and they don't get enough of something lacking in this environment.
Bill
TheFishMan65
New member
If every one is happy great Bill. How do you go about adding nitrates? I may want to try this as this might be cheaper than GFO if I have too much phosphate.
Thanks
Thanks
Add nitrate..... a few table spoons in RO/DI increase No3 to 3ppm
http://cgi.ebay.com/Potassium-Nitra...630?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230cb281f6
http://cgi.ebay.com/Potassium-Nitra...630?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230cb281f6
TheFishMan65
New member
Thanks Zedar. I guess the extra potassium does not hurt anything?
poolkeeper1
New member
Nope
Nope
According to Jon Warner, As long as you have flow going through the reactor at a 100GPH min you will be fine Tumbling is not absolutly needed, Half of mine do not tumble at one time or another while the other side does, Then the next day the other side is and the side that was is not! Make no difference that i can see.
Bill:wavehand:
Nope
According to Jon Warner, As long as you have flow going through the reactor at a 100GPH min you will be fine Tumbling is not absolutly needed, Half of mine do not tumble at one time or another while the other side does, Then the next day the other side is and the side that was is not! Make no difference that i can see.
Bill:wavehand:
SaltyNovice
New member
Update - SaltyNovice
Update - SaltyNovice
OK, I want to give an update on my use of the Eco-Bak pellets by WM. This is the 8th week of running them. I've had only a few "œvisual" improvements up to now. Today my Nitrates tested out at 20 by API and 25 by Sailfert. The numbers where 80+ for API and 50 or so with the Salifert two weeks ago. So I'm definitely seeing some improvement. My Phosphates are still at 1.0 by Salifert - but I've been really feeding heavily to try to get the Phosphates up the last month or so because I felt like the Phosphates to low to allow any reduction in the Nitrates. At least that was my thoughts on the process.
One funny thing I have noticed the last 4 days. I've had a bad Diatom algae outbreak all over my sand for quite sometime. It would regress at night with lights out, but would come out everyday with the lights. The funny thing is that only half the tank has had the diatoms the last four days. The other half is fairly clear of the diatoms with or without the lights. I wonder if this is possibly due to the sand holding some phosphates and nitrates and it is leaching back out now that I'm starting to see some control of the nitrates ---- what do you guys think?
My alkalinity is still running high at 14.4 dKH by Salifert. I stopped dosing CA and MG to see if I can get it back down. It has dropped 1.0 the last two weeks. But that may be because of the skimmer really working hard and me just replacing with RO/DI. The SG was 1.023 the lowest it's ever been. Anyway just wanted to leave an update for those who are keeping up with some of our experiments?
All other Params:
PH 8.1
CA 470
MG 1170
Update - SaltyNovice
OK, I want to give an update on my use of the Eco-Bak pellets by WM. This is the 8th week of running them. I've had only a few "œvisual" improvements up to now. Today my Nitrates tested out at 20 by API and 25 by Sailfert. The numbers where 80+ for API and 50 or so with the Salifert two weeks ago. So I'm definitely seeing some improvement. My Phosphates are still at 1.0 by Salifert - but I've been really feeding heavily to try to get the Phosphates up the last month or so because I felt like the Phosphates to low to allow any reduction in the Nitrates. At least that was my thoughts on the process.
One funny thing I have noticed the last 4 days. I've had a bad Diatom algae outbreak all over my sand for quite sometime. It would regress at night with lights out, but would come out everyday with the lights. The funny thing is that only half the tank has had the diatoms the last four days. The other half is fairly clear of the diatoms with or without the lights. I wonder if this is possibly due to the sand holding some phosphates and nitrates and it is leaching back out now that I'm starting to see some control of the nitrates ---- what do you guys think?
My alkalinity is still running high at 14.4 dKH by Salifert. I stopped dosing CA and MG to see if I can get it back down. It has dropped 1.0 the last two weeks. But that may be because of the skimmer really working hard and me just replacing with RO/DI. The SG was 1.023 the lowest it's ever been. Anyway just wanted to leave an update for those who are keeping up with some of our experiments?
All other Params:
PH 8.1
CA 470
MG 1170
swissgaurd
New member
so i ran the pellets for 5 months,polyp extension and growth was very good as with the clarity of the water.
only thing i didnt like was the red algae on the sandbed,no mater what i did i couldnt get rid of it.
i assumed the sandbed was to mature,its ten years old.
so unplugged the reactor. red algae is starting to disapear.
i did a big mistake in leaving the reactor sit for 3 weeks,the pellets were starting to turn grey.
in all the years ive kept marine fish ive never smelt anything as bad as this,and believe me ive smelt some rotten stuff,it was actually worse than sulfar. actually while i was washing the reactor i was getting a headache.
while i was removing the reactor from the system about 1/2 cup drained into sump,ive done a water change and im hoping for the best.
only thing i didnt like was the red algae on the sandbed,no mater what i did i couldnt get rid of it.
i assumed the sandbed was to mature,its ten years old.
so unplugged the reactor. red algae is starting to disapear.
i did a big mistake in leaving the reactor sit for 3 weeks,the pellets were starting to turn grey.
in all the years ive kept marine fish ive never smelt anything as bad as this,and believe me ive smelt some rotten stuff,it was actually worse than sulfar. actually while i was washing the reactor i was getting a headache.
while i was removing the reactor from the system about 1/2 cup drained into sump,ive done a water change and im hoping for the best.
gary faulkner
New member
Is there a proper way to store the pellets if we take them off-line? That has been one of my concerns and I haven't seen it addressed here.
Thanks
drummereef
Team RC
I would think rinsing them thoroughly in RO/DI then letting them air dry before storing them in a zip-lock bag would be appropriate. When I bought mine they were dry and in a sealed plastic bag. That's how I would re-store them if I had too. You would just have to go through the seeding period again after putting them back online.
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