N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[gary faulkner]

Originally Posted by Scej12

evoi19 but I would also check your venturi to ensure it is not blocked with stray pellets or anything - that has happened to me once or twice when a couple of floaters escaped their reactor which was plumbed directly into the skimmer pump.

SJ

Almost forgot. I found a couple of pellets jammed into the needles of the needle-wheel pump. You might want to check this also.

[Scej12]

Np. you pic looks like a break-in/water tension adjustment - I'm betting you'll start getting some super foamy skimmate in the next couple of days.. That looks just like my skimmer looked when it was brand new - the acrylic takes some time to break-in before your water tension begins to stabilize. I believe I read an article about this that explained the process, but not sure where... might have been d&d website but can`t say for sure. perhaps your new reactor also has that 'new acrylic syndrome' for lack of a better description.. but to put it simply... just wait it out. If by this time next week you still have a problem then perhaps some more drastic action, but I'm thinking it will correct itself.

Sheldon

[evoi19]

Ok sounds good. I'm going to check the skimmer pump and make sure nothing is clogged. If everything looks good, I'll wait it out and see what happens.

[Moser]

I had the original NP biopellets and my skimmer stopped skimming for a week or so.... it then went crazy when all had broken in.

I recall that I had to increase the flow into the skimmer for a while to get any foam head, but it settled back down eventually.

Wait it out.....

Mo

[Aquarist007]

sorry wrong post

[plankton99]

I just started my Reef Octopus BR-70 Bio Pellet ractor today.

Here are some pics.





Overall Tank


Some grey corals, lets see if the Bio Pellets help these....

Here's a Tyree Bali Tricolor that went brown


Here's a Ice Fire Echinata that has lost its color





Here's my tank video from today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9qVOUBMik



Here's my tank thread if anyone is interested
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1928659




NOTE; my phosphates and nitrates are ZERO. My only problem is browning or no color in my corals. I am hoping the Bio Pellets fix this.

[purge43]

Do these beneficial n/p reducing bacteria ONLY live on the pellets themselves? Could a second reactor be placed inline after the BP reactor with some bioballs or one of those high surface area bio-filter medias to increase the population of these beneficial bacteria? The data only seems to reflect that they dont live in the water column.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That could be useful to help take up released organics. GAC might also be a good surface. A lot of bacteria grow there in my system dosed with vinegar.

[gregr]

Thanks for the comments about increasing oxygen levels. I added a pump to break up the surface even more in my tank.
For those of you figuring out the best pump for the Reef Octopus reactors-- I highly recommend getting a slightly oversized pump and installing a ball valve in-line. On the 110 reactor I'm using a Rio Hyperflow 10 and it works beautifully- I could get away with the next size smaller most likely. My reactor has been running two months now, nitrates zero and phosphates 0.02 when I tested last week. Corals look great and are growing faster than I've ever seen them grow.
It's only been two months and I can see the pellets are significantly smaller- almost half their original size already!

[gary faulkner]

plankton99

Nice tank. I like the way you have a shelf for the frags to grow out on. In the vid. I noticed that the pellets are really moving, might want to slow them down to a slow boil, if you know what I mean.

[plankton99]

Originally Posted by gary faulkner

plankton99

Thanks Gary.

Nice tank. I like the way you have a shelf for the frags to grow out on. In the vid. I noticed that the pellets are really moving, might want to slow them down to a slow boil, if you know what I mean.

Is it bad to have a fast boil like I have? Will the bacteria grow better on a slower boil? I didnt want to put a valve on the Maxijet 1200 due to limited space but if there is significant benefit for a slower boil, I'll Do it!

[bazineta]

The point is to keep the pellets moving in order to prevent them from clumping up and developing anoxic regions, but not to have them moving so much that the bacteria is constantly being blown off of them, rather than developing on them.

So in short, yes, I'd go with a lot less movement than you appear to have at present.

[Tony Romano]

Originally Posted by Scej12

1. never used this type of reactor;

2. most cases, maxi-jet nozzles are up-sized using pieces of flex hose.. i.e. I think the 1/2" (13mm/15mm eheim tubing) fits the nozzle, then a 16/19 or 19/22 ehiem hose can can be fit over top of that; may also benefit from using cable-ties... but to answer your question: work it out with flex tubing.

SJ

Item 1 -- Why not?

[Scej12]

never needed to... have my own as part of a filtration (interchangeable reactor) system I've designed.... nothing against any other reactors though ... just prototyping my own is all..

Sheldon

[Dream2aReef]

We've been looking into getting one of these but we're still researching and trying to figure out what will work best with our system. We're over run with HA in one of our tanks and hopeing this might help with the problem.

[Scej12]

p.s. trying to get my patent done right now... can never seem to sit down long enough to respond to WIPO's correspondence..!!

[NyReefNoob]

i use the vertex uf-15 and a mj1200 for the feed pump, and have it dialed halfway back

[evoi19]

Hey i just wanted to give an update:

I started pellets last week (from my earlier posts) and for some reason my skimmer just wasn't skimming anymore. Well it's been finally resolved and on Monday it started to pull in the dark green/black gunk. Yay! Going to add the rest of the pellets in another week.

[gary faulkner]

Originally Posted by evoi19

Hey i just wanted to give an update:

I started pellets last week (from my earlier posts) and for some reason my skimmer just wasn't skimming anymore. Well it's been finally resolved and on Monday it started to pull in the dark green/black gunk. Yay! Going to add the rest of the pellets in another week.

Congrats, now you're cooking!

[Rhodes19]

I'm using a Reef Octopus BR 140 and I'm feeding it off of my return pump. The problem I'm having is that only half or one side of the reactor has the pellets tumbling the other half just sits there. Is anyone else having the same issue? I've played with the flow but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

[SimonSKL]

I came across this new biopellet reactor. It is quite an innovative and compact design with the pump built right underneath the reactor chamber saving a lot of connecting hoses. The pellet movement is just awesome. I understand the flow rate can be adjusted also.





You can watch how well the pellets are agitated in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ulsD...layer_embedded

[gary faulkner]

Originally Posted by Rhodes19

I'm using a Reef Octopus BR 140 and I'm feeding it off of my return pump. The problem I'm having is that only half or one side of the reactor has the pellets tumbling the other half just sits there. Is anyone else having the same issue? I've played with the flow but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Make sure the reactor is perfectly level. I had the same problem untill I got it level.

HTH

[Sohal Tang Tim]

my br-140 is tumbling the pellets, 1000ml, absolutely perfectly with a mag5
pump backed off to almost half... I know...that will eventually damage the pump so I may have to run a bypass instead of the valve....

If your pellets on one side are not tumbling it may be because they are covered with air (assuming they are brand new) and they have clumped....
I would shake the unit slightly side to side occassionally and it will likely
free them up into the normal tumble... Also..yes...make sure it is level.


Mine tumbling slow and perfectly consistent....

You should notttttttt be having that problem.

Perhaps you do not have enough flow????

Tim

[Scej12]

Originally Posted by SimonSKL

I came across this new biopellet reactor. It is quite an innovative and compact design with the pump built right underneath the reactor chamber saving a lot of connecting hoses. The pellet movement is just awesome. I understand the flow rate can be adjusted also.





You can watch how well the pellets are agitated in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ulsD...layer_embedded

I did come across these a few weeks back while poking around for kool stuff. It's quite a nice concept and I would think should work great - preventing a lot of the clumping issues possibly...

SJ

[Rhodes19]

Originally Posted by gary faulkner

Make sure the reactor is perfectly level. I had the same problem untill I got it level.

HTH

Hi Gary,

Thanks. That was my first thought but its sitting on the floor.