N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[jmoney]

Originally Posted by las

Quote:
Originally Posted by las
I have a 90 gallon with a 4" Deep sand bed... My plan is to remove the sand bed and use the NP bio pellets.

How much of the bio pellets should i use for this tank?( I purchased 1000ml)

Should i let the bio pellets get established with the bacteria before i remove the sand bed?

How long would that take?

Thanks

- I would start out with 400ml , you can always after a couple of weeks add some more .
removing the sand bed can be tricky , why remove ?

Thanks for the help.

The sand bed is becoming more and more ugly. Also, Nasarius snails have buried themselves and die under the sand cuz there is not enough food for them. I dont want future problems with a failing sand bed. I have alot of money spent in corals that i dont want to die. Also, it takes up alot of room and water volume.

How long should I wait for the BP to establish themselves before I pull out the sand bed?
Im using a TLF phosban reactor with 500 ml of BP. The maxijet 400 which is rated at 110GPH doesnt seem to be agitating the BP enough. Any idea how much flow would be needed in this reactor?

I would use a mj1200 nearly full blast

[jmoney]

Originally Posted by cvye

I have 3 BTAs and they are doing fine. No negative reaction from any invert that I can see, including leathers. My leathers in the tank where I'm dosing sugar are not liking that at all.

I think it was a temperature thing, we have been having bizarre weather here in texas,but right now everything is looking fine, been 4 days and my water has gotten very clear, still seeing green hair algae turning kind of greyish

[las]

jmoney,

I just threw a random pump i had on it thats rated at 266gph....I have the valve fully open and it seems to be ok... do you know what the MJ 1200 is rated at? I realize that it would be better to have a bigger pump, so that once a week i could open it full blast and shake things up. I dont know how much flow the TLF phosban reactor can handle. Its got flimsy rubber elbow connectors on top... I dont want a leak....

[sandgoby]

So about 4 weeks in now and everything looks great. The cyano that I had is practically gone. Also any algae I had in the DT is gone. I made some other mods during this time.

Added 500ml Bio Pellets in a Phosban Reactor
Swapped out T1000 skimmer for a Alpha Vertex 170
Added a cryptic fuge.

These 3 items have made a heck of a difference in the appearance of the tank.
I am running the discharge of the Bio Pellets near the Skimmer and the pickup for my stand alone Fuge. I have noticed an increase in feather dusters in the fuge. Dunno what was the major factor, maybe all 3 items but I am very happy with the results.

S

I have before and after pics below.

[stormrider27]

/\ Congrats! I am thinking about adding a cryptic fuge,can we see a picture of yours?

[jmoney]

Originally Posted by las

jmoney,

I just threw a random pump i had on it thats rated at 266gph....I have the valve fully open and it seems to be ok... do you know what the MJ 1200 is rated at? I realize that it would be better to have a bigger pump, so that once a week i could open it full blast and shake things up. I dont know how much flow the TLF phosban reactor can handle. Its got flimsy rubber elbow connectors on top... I dont want a leak....

i think the mj1200 is like 279 or something so that sounds close enough, and yeah I feel you on the TLF reactor thats why i switched to the brs

[sandgoby]

Originally Posted by stormrider27

/\ Congrats! I am thinking about adding a cryptic fuge,can we see a picture of yours?

Thanks, Sure I'll post some pics tomorrow.

S

[sandgoby]

Ah what the heck I got bored and got out the camera, I have a few pics of the setup below. Forgive the not so great quality. I'll have to get the good camera back from my daughter.

The first is an almost full sump shot.
The 2nd and 3rd are shots of the cryptic fuge. I am surprised with the all the different sponges that have grown.
The 4th pic is of the stand alone fuge. It's hard to see from the pic but the feather duster worms have really taken off.

S

The one thing I forgot to add, I think I'll start a thread on it but I am debating on adding a DSB to the Cryptic Fuge.

[alessandro]

Originally Posted by tntneon

-I run the BP`s w/o GFO , i do still have a little carbon reactor (which i don`t take offline).
you will skim phosphates , i measured my skimmate few times on phosphates
and i always (i do wet skimming) produce about 2 l /week with around 2 - 3 ppm PO4 and 200 ppm NO3 in a system of 35 g.
Display reads 0.1 -0.2 ppm NO3 and PO4 always zero.


greetingzz tntneon

Hello,
Some of you dutch guys tried to use biopellets together with zeolites? experiences?

[recife111]

Some of you dutch guys tried to use biopellets together with zeolites? experiences?

i have, however i doubt anything will come of it,
the zeolites will just strip more out of the water.

[jmoney]

just an update its been about a week now...my water is pretty sparkling clean, but theree is still some hair algae, im assuming it will take about 4 weeks for there to start being major effects on algae...PE is still wonderful on corals

[BradR]

Anyone care to guesstimate how many liters of pellets equal a daily dose 500cc vinegar w/ 1tsp sugar? (Can't say no to the hungry fish.)
It'd be nice to get the red/black stuff off the rocks in the aquarium.

[stormrider27]

Originally Posted by sandgoby

Ah what the heck I got bored and got out the camera, I have a few pics of the setup below. Forgive the not so great quality. I'll have to get the good camera back from my daughter.

The first is an almost full sump shot.
The 2nd and 3rd are shots of the cryptic fuge. I am surprised with the all the different sponges that have grown.
The 4th pic is of the stand alone fuge. It's hard to see from the pic but the feather duster worms have really taken off.

S

The one thing I forgot to add, I think I'll start a thread on it but I am debating on adding a DSB to the Cryptic Fuge.

Thanks for posting the pics!

[montrealreef]

am I the only one who has not had good results with these?

It's been almost 8 weeks and the only thing I've noticed is that my pH now runs at 7.6-7.8 instead of 8.0 to 8.2 (and yes the output is right next to my skimmers intake) so hopefully that means that there are bacteria growing on them ( either that or the pellets are dissolving and releasing acid into the water). I still need the same dose of vodka. Whenever I try to decrease the vodka dosing a little bit, my nitrate and phosphate spike and I get tons of cyanobacteria.

I'm going to give them another 2 weeks. If no appreciable benefit by then, I will toss them in the garbage. I think that I have just wasted 130 dollars... wish I had bought a doser instead.

[jmoney]

Originally Posted by BradR

Anyone care to guesstimate how many liters of pellets equal a daily dose 500cc vinegar w/ 1tsp sugar? (Can't say no to the hungry fish.)
It'd be nice to get the red/black stuff off the rocks in the aquarium.

I don't think it works like that, you cannot overdose the pellets so it would be however many liters of pellets to total system volume, and some people still choose to do other carbon dosing on top of it

[tntneon]

Originally Posted by montrealreef

am I the only one who has not had good results with these?

It's been almost 8 weeks and the only thing I've noticed is that my pH now runs at 7.6-7.8 instead of 8.0 to 8.2 (and yes the output is right next to my skimmers intake) so hopefully that means that there are bacteria growing on them ( either that or the pellets are dissolving and releasing acid into the water). I still need the same dose of vodka. Whenever I try to decrease the vodka dosing a little bit, my nitrate and phosphate spike and I get tons of cyanobacteria.

I'm going to give them another 2 weeks. If no appreciable benefit by then, I will toss them in the garbage. I think that I have just wasted 130 dollars... wish I had bought a doser instead.

-I`m sad to hear that montrealreef
How was the situation before you got started with BP`s, did you have high nitrates, did it decrease or not ?
At first i also saw cyano taking over the GHA who was already present , then slowly starting to move out with the GHA as well .
But i have to say i`m starting to have a little bit of cyano again , maybe i already have to replace half of them (i`m already using them for 5 to 6 month`s).
I don`t see any spikes in nitrates or phophates.

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

Originally Posted by sandgoby

So about 4 weeks in now and everything looks great. The cyano that I had is practically gone. Also any algae I had in the DT is gone. I made some other mods during this time.

Added 500ml Bio Pellets in a Phosban Reactor
Swapped out T1000 skimmer for a Alpha Vertex 170
Added a cryptic fuge.

These 3 items have made a heck of a difference in the appearance of the tank.
I am running the discharge of the Bio Pellets near the Skimmer and the pickup for my stand alone Fuge. I have noticed an increase in feather dusters in the fuge. Dunno what was the major factor, maybe all 3 items but I am very happy with the results.

S

I have before and after pics below.

-That`s a real improvement
I also notice a increasing number of feather dusters just above the level of the pellets in my sump

greetingzz tntneon

[sandgoby]

Originally Posted by montrealreef

am I the only one who has not had good results with these?

It's been almost 8 weeks and the only thing I've noticed is that my pH now runs at 7.6-7.8 instead of 8.0 to 8.2 (and yes the output is right next to my skimmers intake) so hopefully that means that there are bacteria growing on them ( either that or the pellets are dissolving and releasing acid into the water). I still need the same dose of vodka. Whenever I try to decrease the vodka dosing a little bit, my nitrate and phosphate spike and I get tons of cyanobacteria.

I'm going to give them another 2 weeks. If no appreciable benefit by then, I will toss them in the garbage. I think that I have just wasted 130 dollars... wish I had bought a doser instead.

Hey Montrealreef,
Could we get a little more info and recent history on your setup? No experience here with carbon dosing but I don't believe that running the bio pellets and dosing at the same time is a good idea. I have read that some have noticed a spike in Nitrates after the initial switch to the pellets and then it drops. But more info I believe would help here.

S

[BradR]

Originally Posted by jmoney

I don't think it works like that, you cannot overdose the pellets so it would be however many liters of pellets to total system volume, and some people still choose to do other carbon dosing on top of it

I see. Thanks!

[solos2]

Update:

After adding agaronite sand (50-100g suger grain sized and 50g 2-3mm pellet sized) to the NPBP reactor, everything seems to be in working order. NO3/PO4 continues to be zero but it may take a while before I can identify if adding aragonite sand will actually improve its performance.



Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOfbenfUGog

[tntneon]

Originally Posted by solos2

Update:

After adding agaronite sand (50-100g suger grain sized and 50g 2-3mm pellet sized) to the NPBP reactor, everything seems to be in working order. NO3/PO4 continues to be zero but it may take a while before I can identify if adding aragonite sand will actually improve its performance.



Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOfbenfUGog

-Nice set-up you have
Do you already use a calciumreactor ,to maitain Ca and carbonates ?
If not , do you measure any difference in the Ca and alkinity levels after adding the aragonite ?
Something i`m very curious at
If you see any increassement in Ca or alkinity , i think i`m gonna try it to.
Now i have to dose sometimes 2 times a day (liquid) Ca and alkinity to maintain the propper levels , would be nice if i could easely reduce that a littlle bit

greetingzz tntneon

[solos2]

I'm dosing kalkwasser to maintain ca/kh right now, and I really doubt the calcium from the dissolved aragonite is gonna be significant or detectable, I did notice some sand have gone missing after a few days, but I cannot conclude if they're really dissolved or simply blown out of the reactor by the water flow.

I did notice a stronger smell from the reactor, however, perhaps the bacteria population inside the reactor indeed increased a lot, but I'll need more time to observe the tank to identify if there's really a difference.

[cvye]

Originally Posted by montrealreef

I'm going to give them another 2 weeks. If no appreciable benefit by then, I will toss them in the garbage. I think that I have just wasted 130 dollars... wish I had bought a doser instead.

Send them to me, I'll gladly pay shipping charges. Best thing I've done for my reef in a long time. I'll be putting them on my small tank when I get the chance.

[jmoney]

also you may want to check if you have enough pellets or water is running through the pellets sufficiently, Mine are flat out churning in their reactor

[tatuvaaj]

It has been a long time since my previous "report" so here goes

I updated the amount of NPBs to 5 liters (!) and results have been excellent. Nitrates are dropping close to zero (first time since starting this tank) and water is crystal clear. Without NPBs or DOC dosing nitrate raises quickly to 25+ ppm.

The amount of nuisance algae is also clearly dropping, despite iron dosing. I still use GFO but the amount needed has decreased significantly (from 2000 to less than 500 ml). It also seems that NBPs are able to reduce CDOM as the frequency I need to replace GAC is reduced.

I continue to use open canister setup with relatively slow water velocity. This setup seems to work better than fluidizing filter in my case. My "reactor" is simply an old 10 liter GAC bucket:



Overall I'm very happy with NP-Biopellets and will continue to use them. Initially I thought they might be bit too expensive but after making some calculations it became clear that they are a lot cheaper than running a refugium.