N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[bertoni]

Maybe. Some people seem to have issues with alkalinity at higher levels when running with carbon dosing. I'd watch the corals carefully, in any case.

[Eric The Red]

Originally Posted by bertoni

Maybe. Some people seem to have issues with alkalinity at higher levels when running with carbon dosing. I'd watch the corals carefully, in any case.

Thanks. I'm dosing kalk which keeps my ca at 440 and my alk at 9. I have some room to cut back on the kalk to bring it down.

[tmz]

I think 440ppm calcium and alk at 9 are fine. I've been dosing vodka and vinegar for 2 yrs and nine months with alk(9.6 to10dkh) and calcium( 550ppmplus) higher than that maintained with kalk dosing 24/7 with good color and growth. NO3,0.2ppm-0.5ppm; PO4,<.05ppm.

[Eric The Red]

Originally Posted by tmz

I think 440ppm calcium and alk at 9 are fine. I've been dosing vodka and vinegar for 2 yrs and nine months with alk(9.6 to10dkh) and calcium( 550ppmplus) higher than that maintained with kalk dosing 24/7 with good color and growth. NO3,0.2ppm-0.5ppm; PO4,<.05ppm.

Okay, cool. I assume your param's above are for a tank w/ SPS?

[reefkeeps]

I'm on week 3, tagging along......

150 Gallon tank with about 600 ml in an Avast media reactor.

[TheFishMan65]

What are you using to tumble that?

[this is me]

When can I see a reduction in nitrate and phosphate? I'm on day 4 and it doesn't seem to do jack.

I started ~100ml in an SMR1 reactor on Sunday night. The pellets got good tumbling action in the reactor.

[rogergolf66]

It can take a month or more but have heard people see results in a little as 2 weeks. Its not a majic bean needs time to work

[Eric The Red]

It worked for me in 4 days. My trates went from ~ 20ppm to zero. I started with ~ 300ml of pellets in a 2LF 150 reactor. (90G DT). My trates dropped so fast it shocked my corals and the fish were a bit off. I know some people had them work in 2-4 days while it takes others weeks or more. I can't say why the results differ....?

[reeftivo]

just now transitioning to pellets after good results with zeovit for a year and a half.
Travel and work have been increasingly difficult for zeo additive dosing.

I'm on day two with a small 54 gallon gross (45 net)system and will update as things progress.

I'm using the BRS reactor with a mag 3 and starting with 250ml of pellets. I soaked the pellets in DI water for a week then dumped the DI water and let the beads soak in tank water with 2 drops of zeobak for an hour or so before I placed them in the reactor. The reactor is working nicely so far with the mag 3 but I also have the aquamaxx small reactor that I may use later if the BRS starts clumping or channeling too much. The aquamaxx design is nice for stirring the pellets but I don't like the way the outlets are positioned at the top and the fact that I can't turn them in different directions unless I run 45's or 90's.
If things go south then I can always go back to zeo but time will tell. My no3 is 5ppm (tunze) and my po4 is .06 (hanna).

Bioload is medium with sps, softies and 4 fish in a 39 DT w/ 15 gal sump so I was wondering if I should continue regular feeding for a while or increase the feeding now. I feed spectrum to the fish daily along with spirulina brine cubes and mysis cubes once a week to mix it up.

any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

Tivo

[soverjas]

I am in the process of cycling a new system. Just started reading NO2/NO3 in the water today after only reading NH3 for the past 10 days. My NH3 dropped from 1ppm to .25. No2 went from 0 to to .25ppm and NO3 from 0 to 5ppm. Now that the cycle is moving forward when is a good time to start running my reactor with bio-pellets.

[soverjas]

anyone please help!

[Scej12]

Originally Posted by this is me

When can I see a reduction in nitrate and phosphate? I'm on day 4 and it doesn't seem to do jack.

I started ~100ml in an SMR1 reactor on Sunday night. The pellets got good tumbling action in the reactor.

It takes time to develop a large enough culture on the pellets; and sometimes it comes down to quantity as well. If you've been running months and don't see any action; or if there is evidence of pellets being consumed with no measurable drop in 'trates... it may likely be a simple fix of adding more pellets.. When I was starting my system I used a bucket test.. i.e. put some aquarium water with measurable NO3 in a pail with your pellets... if by morning there is no Nitrates/Phosphates then the pellets are indeed working and you just might have too little to run your tank load... HTH

Originally Posted by rogergolf66

It can take a month or more but have heard people see results in a little as 2 weeks. Its not a majic bean needs time to work

+++

Originally Posted by Eric The Red

It worked for me in 4 days. My trates went from ~ 20ppm to zero. I started with ~ 300ml of pellets in a 2LF 150 reactor. (90G DT). My trates dropped so fast it shocked my corals and the fish were a bit off. I know some people had them work in 2-4 days while it takes others weeks or more. I can't say why the results differ....?

Again I think quantity has a lot to do with the inconsistencies IMO and experience... My system creeped down very slowly for months (probably 6-8 or so until I finally managed to find a way to get 2.5 - 3L into my reactor. Then all of a sudden my trates dropped and stayed at 0ppm unless my pellets diminished below the optimum quantity.

Originally Posted by reeftivo

just now transitioning to pellets after good results with zeovit for a year and a half.
Travel and work have been increasingly difficult for zeo additive dosing.

I'm on day two with a small 54 gallon gross (45 net)system and will update as things progress.

I'm using the BRS reactor with a mag 3 and starting with 250ml of pellets. I soaked the pellets in DI water for a week then dumped the DI water and let the beads soak in tank water with 2 drops of zeobak for an hour or so before I placed them in the reactor. The reactor is working nicely so far with the mag 3 but I also have the aquamaxx small reactor that I may use later if the BRS starts clumping or channeling too much. The aquamaxx design is nice for stirring the pellets but I don't like the way the outlets are positioned at the top and the fact that I can't turn them in different directions unless I run 45's or 90's.
If things go south then I can always go back to zeo but time will tell. My no3 is 5ppm (tunze) and my po4 is .06 (hanna).

Bioload is medium with sps, softies and 4 fish in a 39 DT w/ 15 gal sump so I was wondering if I should continue regular feeding for a while or increase the feeding now. I feed spectrum to the fish daily along with spirulina brine cubes and mysis cubes once a week to mix it up.

any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

Tivo

I personally would carry on as normal - the pellets will catch up regardless.

Originally Posted by soverjas

I am in the process of cycling a new system. Just started reading NO2/NO3 in the water today after only reading NH3 for the past 10 days. My NH3 dropped from 1ppm to .25. No2 went from 0 to to .25ppm and NO3 from 0 to 5ppm. Now that the cycle is moving forward when is a good time to start running my reactor with bio-pellets.

You can start right away. It matches the demand of your tank. It is also said that if you give it time to grow with your tank you can avoid the potential start-up bacterial bloom.

Sheldon

[reeftivo]

Thanks for the reply Sheldon!

Will continue as advised! Trates as of last night are hanging in there at 5ppm and po4 is now at .04ppm. The po4 most likely is a bit lower because I'm running rowa gfo in a tlf reactor. I've read that I want to try and keep a balance of po4 and nitrate in order for the pellets to work so with my levels right now, do you think I'm fine? I stay as close to NSW levels as I can-dkh 6.5-7.5, ca 400-420, mg 1280-1300, sg 1.025.

I know it's only starting day four but the tank looks as good as it's ever been so I'm excited so far (fingers crossed!).

Tivo

[Eric The Red]

I wouldn't worry about the GFO. I found that the pellets did a fine job of getting rid of trates, but my phosphates were still too high. I have been running both pellets and GFO for well over a year now with great success.

BTW...that Rowaphos is the best GFO around...IMHO.

[soverjas]

Originally Posted by Scej12

You can start right away. It matches the demand of your tank. It is also said that if you give it time to grow with your tank you can avoid the potential start-up bacterial bloom.

Sheldon

Thanks for the reply!

[reeftivo]

Originally Posted by Eric The Red

I wouldn't worry about the GFO. I found that the pellets did a fine job of getting rid of trates, but my phosphates were still too high. I have been running both pellets and GFO for well over a year now with great success.

BTW...that Rowaphos is the best GFO around...IMHO.

Thanks Eric The red for the info and ecouraging remarks!

Yep! I really like Rowaphos too! Been using it for many years now.

My concern with using it (GFO) so early in the pellet process was that it may remove the po4 too quickly before the bacteria on the pellets could colonize sufficiently to remove nitrate thus throwing things out of wack.

I'll keep my older rowa in the reactor and let it run it's course as long as things are going well. I'll have to get some pics up this weekend of my skimmate. The skimmer is acting funky because of the new equipment and skims well for a while, then the head drops out. The junk it does collect is what I like though so once things settle down I anticipate consistent nasty nog.

Still excited!

Tivo

[reefkeeps]

I have only been doing it for 5 weeks, I pulled the GFO a couple of weeks ago but I have noticed less green on the glass since doing so. I have also noticed the colors on my corals have improved, I'm still waiting for the white bloom, so far just black nasty skim-mate.... I'm up to 800ml on a crazy stocked 150.....

[reeftivo]

I'm sure someone else with experience will chime in but from what i've read, if your perams were low for trate and phos when you started the pellets, then you may not experience a noticeable bloom at all.

Did you have high nitrates when you started?

Sounds like you're getting good results! I read that one of our fellow reefers had no results for many months until he dosed sugar for a few days the POW! Bacterial bloom!

After that he said his pellets kicked in. I wouldn't try it unless I was in his situation though.

[this is me]

Originally Posted by this is me

When can I see a reduction in nitrate and phosphate? I'm on day 4 and it doesn't seem to do jack.

I started ~100ml in an SMR1 reactor on Sunday night. The pellets got good tumbling action in the reactor.

Update. So far so good. No algae bloom yet but going through a bacteria bloom. Nitrate is now undetectable after a week of running the pellets.
10-23-11: Started 100ml of BRS bio pellets in NextReef SMR1 reactor w/MJ1200. Nitrate tested high with Redsea, Elos, API. Not sure about the nitrate number but it was bright pink.
10-27-11: Tested nitrate. No change. Tank looks normal. Removed GFO. Changed GAC.
10-28-11: Tested nitrate again before leaving town for the weekend. Test solution is a little lighter but still have color. Tank is starting to become hazy.
10-29-11: Got a call from home alerting me that the tank is really cloudy. I asked how's the fish and they were fine so I said don't worry about it. Keep watching the tank to see if there's an upside down fish, call me right away.
10-30-11: Came back from my trip at night and tank was still cloudy. Tested nitrate and it's colorless. Redsea, Elos, API.
10-31-11: Tank is clearing up nicely

[reeftivo]

couple photos of my simple sump w/ the brs reactor

Day 6 = trates are holding now at 4ppm and po4 is .02 hanna photometer.

so far so good

[Scej12]

Pretty interesting looking skimmer you have there - what exactly is it called - I'm just a bit of an equipment junkie is all... and never saw this one before...

Sheldon

[Scej12]

Pretty interesting looking skimmer you have there - what exactly is it called - I'm just a bit of an equipment junkie is all... and never saw this one before...

Sheldon

[this is me]

Is the skimmer will always skim out a lot of stuff? Every since I started the pellets, I have to empty the collection cup almost everyday. I have a pretty large collection too I thought. The skimmate is light tea color but it smells horrid!

[tntneon]

Originally Posted by this is me

Is the skimmer will always skim out a lot of stuff? Every since I started the pellets, I have to empty the collection cup almost everyday. I have a pretty large collection too I thought. The skimmate is light tea color but it smells horrid!

That's normal , i too have my collectioncup attached to a container .
The skimmate in the container is light brown/green colored , but the sedemented gunk in the collectioncup is almost black brown and smells bad ( no rotten egg smell though).
If you don't clean your cup regulary , the whole neck can become blokked , experienced already 2 times.
With wet skimming it will not happen so fast but then you are get alot of skim water a day.

greetingzz tntneon