Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[Stuart60611]

Originally Posted by poolkeeper1

Understood, But my first chamber is almost full and the second one is half way, in my reactor the 1/2 full one fluidized real well but the full one does not.
It seem the older the pellets get the more sticky they seem and tend to channel somewhat, which they did not do in the beginning. The MJ is wide open and does not move it around very much at all. I figure it can't hurt and I'll be able to dial it back some if needed. It's all guessing at this point and like everything else in this hobby it's trail and error.
Bill

I know what you mean by stickyness and channeling of the media after being on-line for a while. What I have been doing is tilting my reactor manually while filled and sealed so as to get my column of pellets to move around and break free from each other. This seems to loosen up all the media. I then re-plug in the pump and the media moves much better until I have to do it again in several days.

[buy_baff]

Originally Posted by Rizup

How much are you running right now? I have been running about 750ml or so on my 90g and haven't noticed a decrease in Nitrates yet. Pellets have been in the system for a little over 3 weeks now.

I'm running 500ml on my 90g for 6 weeks now. My nitraits are testing zero but they were zero to begin with. I'm thinking the bacteria may be nitraite limited. I'm thinking about takeing my fuge off line once I add some more pellits.

[johnnydoe]

update on my tank , when i started mine up i did use gfo and still had some brown spots in sand here and there ( small spots ) now 3 weeks later after the change over to EB pellets , 0 brown spots . i havent tested my water i dont have a test kit , but something is going on and looks good .

[Bugzme]

I want to use a brs reactor to run this. What modifications do I need to do to it? Can I use the plastic insert that comes with it minus the sponges

[poolkeeper1]

No, You need plastic inserts from any craft store, Sold as sewing backing for making needle point. They are sold in round discs around 4" diameter and you cut them to fit snugly in the cannister.
Without these the pellets will get out of the reactor. They are a whole 1.49 a pack of 10.
Bill

[poolkeeper1]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...1867825&page=3
This is them from another thread
Bill

[trueperc]

Help! I am started using these about two weeks now and my reactor is now become a nitrite(not a typo) producer. I have 3lt and have it tumbling. I had a mj 1200 but reduce to a 600 as I thought it was to much flow. Any thoughts. Now my nitrates before where 40 ppm that is why I am using so much. Please help as my tank is not happy. Should I reduce the flow more. I have them in this diy dual stage reactor that orginally has sulfur media in it. I have thought about moving the pellets to the second stage and putting back the sulfur media in the first stage.

[poolkeeper1]

Originally Posted by trueperc

Help! I am started using these about two weeks now and my reactor is now become a nitrite(not a typo) producer. I have 3lt and have it tumbling. I had a mj 1200 but reduce to a 600 as I thought it was to much flow. Any thoughts. Now my nitrates before where 40 ppm that is why I am using so much. Please help as my tank is not happy. Should I reduce the flow more. I have them in this diy dual stage reactor that orginally has sulfur media in it. I have thought about moving the pellets to the second stage and putting back the sulfur media in the first stage.

You do not state how many gallons your system is? The pellets are rated at 500ml per 100 gals of water, If you have placed an incorrect amout of pellets in your system maybe this has caused your problem. These are never used based on Nitrate levels as far as I'm aware and the flow you had was not too much, You may have slowed it down to the point it is stagnent (This is a guess) and i would check for the proper amount and flow and go from there.
Bill

[DJREEF]

Originally Posted by trueperc

Help! I am started using these about two weeks now and my reactor is now become a nitrite(not a typo) producer. I have 3lt and have it tumbling. I had a mj 1200 but reduce to a 600 as I thought it was to much flow. Any thoughts. Now my nitrates before where 40 ppm that is why I am using so much. Please help as my tank is not happy. Should I reduce the flow more. I have them in this diy dual stage reactor that orginally has sulfur media in it. I have thought about moving the pellets to the second stage and putting back the sulfur media in the first stage.

I suspect that when you pulled your other reactor offline that you had a fair amount of denitrifying going on in there that wasn't made up for by the rest of the system. U basically removed the nitrite reactor form your system with nothing in place to take up the slack.

DJ

[trueperc]

My other reactor has been off line for a while. At least three two months before starting these pellets. My system has a total water volume of 270 gallons. Since my bio load was high and I was already dealing with nitrates I figured 3lt would be fine. I have read that the amount was 500ml to 1 lt per 100 gallon. I too thought the flow was fine from all I have been reading. There is definitely bak in there. What do you think about running sulfur before or after ? Is it just part of the cycling of these pellets?

[tmz]

I don't think the pellets contain nitrogen, at least the polymers don't,so they shouldn't be adding ammonia and nitrite. The by products of the aerobic bacterial activity associated with the pellets are CO2, H2O , Ca and CO3 but the anaerobic breakdown of NO3 which may also be occuring may involve an interim step at NO2. Running sulfur may add to the nitrite level at least initially since sulfur denitrators produce NO2 during the early stages of bacterial growth(cycling).

[DJREEF]

Originally Posted by trueperc

My other reactor has been off line for a while. At least three two months before starting these pellets. My system has a total water volume of 270 gallons. Since my bio load was high and I was already dealing with nitrates I figured 3lt would be fine. I have read that the amount was 500ml to 1 lt per 100 gallon. I too thought the flow was fine from all I have been reading. There is definitely bak in there. What do you think about running sulfur before or after ? Is it just part of the cycling of these pellets?

Is something mysteriously missing in the system? Maybe something croaked and landed back behind the rockwork - maybe a large sponge crashed?

DJ

[trueperc]

I know the pellets are not themselves responsible, but more the bak that is growing on them. I know when I was running the sulfur, if it was producing nitrites you had to reduce the flow it order for the bak to break things down. If I reduce the flow any more say by putting a mj400 the pellets wouldn't tumble. Is this just a normal part of the process, the pellets need to cycle as in the same idea with liverock. I know maybe people don't test for nitrites anymore but it might be the reason a few people have found the pellets not work for them. The idea of the sulfur before is to help get the right denitrating bak growing on the pellets.
So thoughts, should I reduce the flow more, add sulfur or just stay the course and see if its just part of pellets cycling?

[trueperc]

DJ, its for sure the reactor as I have tested water coming out of the reactor and its double what the tank is.

[DJREEF]

Originally Posted by trueperc

DJ, its for sure the reactor as I have tested water coming out of the reactor and its double what the tank is.

Wow. That's a problem.

DJ

[poolkeeper1]

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...x/ab34d52d.jpg
Thought i would post a picture of my Rimless Powered by Eco-Bak! It seems the added extra amount is helping somewhat already as the Diatoms on the sandbed are very little.
Bill

[tmz]

The idea of the sulfur before is to help get the right denitrating bak growing on the pellets.
I don't think they are the same bacteria.

maybe people don't test for nitrites anymore but it might be the reason a few people have found the pellets not work for them

That's possible since a little nitrite will often show up as a lot of nitrate in a test.

Is this just a normal part of the process, the pellets need to cycle as in the same idea with liverock

Somewhat perhaps. They pellets as advertised rely primarily on aerobic bacterial activity to consume NO3 and PO4 with some anaerobic activity. It is the anaerobic activity that may take a bit of time and low to moderate flow may allow bacteria to build up to a point where the mulm provides some hypoxic areas.

[spleen93]

I don't think you have enough flow, personally. We have people complaining that they're not getting enough flow by using a MJ1200 with 1 liter of ecobak and you're using 3 liters with a MJ600? I think you're definitely getting areas of anaerobic denitrifying which is causing reduction of nitrate to nitrite. Since it's thought that the majority of the activity of these pellets is aerobic in nature, I'd actually increase the flow. I'd suspect that with 3L, you'd need at least 500-600 gph to get them to tumble appropriately.

[poolkeeper1]

Originally Posted by spleen93

I don't think you have enough flow, personally. We have people complaining that they're not getting enough flow by using a MJ1200 with 1 liter of ecobak and you're using 3 liters with a MJ600? I think you're definitely getting areas of anaerobic denitrifying which is causing reduction of nitrate to nitrite. Since it's thought that the majority of the activity of these pellets is aerobic in nature, I'd actually increase the flow. I'd suspect that with 3L, you'd need at least 500-600 gph to get them to tumble appropriately.

+1 that's what i said right off the bat, no one else seems to agree. Plus i still think he has too much EB for his water volume too. I have not seen it said anywhere that EB is rated at up to 1,000ml per 100 gal of water. JMO
Bill

[bertoni]

I would increase the flow after rinsing the media with some clean saltwater. An anoxic environment might produce nitrite for a while, much like a denitrator.

[trueperc]

This is such a great forum. Thanks for all your help. I will reduce half the amount of pellets and really crack up the flow. I a pump that will do the job for sure.

[poolkeeper1]

Originally Posted by trueperc

This is such a great forum. Thanks for all your help. I will reduce half the amount of pellets and really crack up the flow. I a pump that will do the job for sure.

Don't go too far in the extreme opposite of what you had, I think as long as the pellets are gently tumbling you should be alright. Maybe start with 1/2 of what you had before and get it moving and see where it goes, Good luck.
Bill

[PowermanKW]

When N and P pellets came out there was a lot of discussion on giving them a lot of flow. Warner Marine says no such extreme flow is needed with EcoBak. That running them in a mesh bag in the sump is fine. However, starving flow in a reactor is what I would avoid. I had mine tumbling gently just to be able to see all the media moving and to know I did not have any channels or areas without flow. So you don't need a tornado, just get some flow.

And ya.... my MJ 900 was not enough on my 500ml.... I put a Mag 5 in to run my ecobak and carbon reactors in parrallel.

[Hemlock71]

Add another soon to be user to the gang, Jon sent mine out today and was very pleasant to deal with. I'm going to try these on one of my BRS reactors with the plastic mesh mod.

[JRaquatics]

I just received 1L of the new Warner Marine EcoBAK pellets to experiment on my personal 180gal display. I have been intrigued about the solid vodka dosing for some time know and with the a company like Warner Marine entering this market I just had to give it a shot. With work and summer activities my tank has taken serious neglect so effects of this product will be easily noticed and I plan to keep everything controlled for 4-5 months to evaluate this very promising product. If it works like I imagine it will this will be added to the list of common reef necessities like GFO and activated carbon.

A little about my tank, equipment, livestock and maintenance.
I have a standard AGA 180 gal with a 75 gal sump. The sump contains a DSB of about 8" but I no longer have any macro algae. I have a Reef Octopus XP3000ext on the system and only use activated carbon on occasion. The systems circulation is provided by 3 MP40 Vortechs. I will place the new Warner Marine EcoBAK Pellets in my ATB media reactor and will feed it off of my manifold that is fed off my Reeflo Dart return pump. I plan to test the water parameters tonight and place the media on line.

Here is the most recent shot of the 180gal with the LEDs on. I will get a more up-to-date shot tonight to document the results.