Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[nadking]

I made the plunge and ordered some ecobak the other day from TB aquatics, great company by the way. My tank is 210 gallon display with appx. 40 gallon sump. I put in 500ml of the ecobak into an mr1 reactor with a quiet one 1200 pump. The ecobak is tumbling, but mostly on one side, I am not too worried as Ive read this is pretty normal for others with this reactor and using smaller amounts of ecobak. I plan to add the other 500ml in two weeks, for a total of 1000ml. I will see how things are looking and will consider adding more depending on how things react. Here are a few shots of the tank as of today, I have been getting poor polyp extension as of late aswell as a lack of color. I believe it is due to an increase in feeding and bioload, I recently added 3 tangs. Hopefully the ecobak will help with the greenish cyano im getting on some of my rock and sand, as well as the diatoms in the sand.

[platax88]

Originally Posted by jsdancer

Well guys a bit of news.
After 3 weeks and 2 days and 1 liter of EB my No3 is .02 and Po4 is at 0.
I am using Salifert test kits. I will purchase those new Hanna digi readers for Alk and Phos. Drummer1 aren't you using one?
I have no algea blooms and water is crystal clear. I have had to clean glass only once per week. I am usually a broadcast type feeder for fish and corals.
I turned off all pumps and was getting ready to feed when I looked from the top down. I swear I had good sps coloration but I can say that some of my colors are really popping out.
It will be great to see how EB does for us in the long run.
I THINK it is time for EB successful reefers out there start to show off their EB reef tanks.
From inception of this thread there are many of you who I am sure have already taken some before and after shots.
Come on show' em!

Awesome! I pickd up a hanna phosphate checker long with the pellets. SOOO much easier than a test kit. I will also be gething the alk checker soon.

What were your params like before EB?

[zoolan70]

Originally Posted by nadking

Hopefully the ecobak will help with the greenish cyano im getting on some of my rock and sand, as well as the diatoms in the sand.

I don't think the Eco-Bak will help with the diatoms, will it? I've always felt they were silica driven, not nutrient driven. Unless you are using salt with super-high silica content, I've always had them burn out in a few weeks to a month.

[g8rorchid]

I checked my nitrates prior to beginning using ecobak(approx 4 weeks ago) and then checked it again yesterday and it is the same 60ppm. Do I need to add more to the 500ml that I am running on my 90g???

Thanks!

[nadking]

Originally Posted by zoolan70

I don't think the Eco-Bak will help with the diatoms, will it? I've always felt they were silica driven, not nutrient driven. Unless you are using salt with super-high silica content, I've always had them burn out in a few weeks to a month.

I had been using red sea salt, I started using seachem salinity last water change. I do not know if the red sea contains silica or not, is it something you can test for?

[platax88]

Originally Posted by g8rorchid

I checked my nitrates prior to beginning using ecobak(approx 4 weeks ago) and then checked it again yesterday and it is the same 60ppm. Do I need to add more to the 500ml that I am running on my 90g???

Thanks!

If your Nitrates are that high you need to look for the source. This can be a detritus trap, dirty sandbed, wet/dry. I don't think the pellets will help if the source for such high N03 exists. The pellets may just be spinning their gears keeping it from getting worse but you need to find where the problem is.

Most people using the pellets are are trying to eliminate the last traces of Nitrates maybe from 20ppm and lower... just my $.02

[jsdancer]

My phosphates were around 10ppm and nitrates were around 20 to 25ppm.

Originally Posted by platax88

Awesome! I pickd up a hanna phosphate checker long with the pellets. SOOO much easier than a test kit. I will also be gething the alk checker soon.

What were your params like before EB?

[platax88]

Wow ph4 @ 10ppm ... I would call EB a success for you

[cbadrik]

How many ml of pellets will fit in the BRS Jumbo canister?

[reefkt]

Originally Posted by g8rorchid

I checked my nitrates prior to beginning using ecobak(approx 4 weeks ago) and then checked it again yesterday and it is the same 60ppm. Do I need to add more to the 500ml that I am running on my 90g???

Thanks!

For my case, I have 500ml EcoBAK and skim wet.
It take couple months to drop about 20 ppm nitrate.
Just be patient.

[MikeandNicole]

I asked this question on another thread but figured I would try it here as well.

I am running a BRS dual reactor, should I have carbon first or the WM pellets first?

[zoolan70]

Originally Posted by MikeandNicole

I asked this question on another thread but figured I would try it here as well.

I am running a BRS dual reactor, should I have carbon first or the WM pellets first?

I wouldn't run them both. If you have to, run the carbon first, otherwise it will get plugged with bacteria from the Eco-Bak and cause issues. You would be better off to run them in separate reactors.

[platax88]

I got my Avast mr5 reactor today... it was fun to build. Now I am just letting it cure overnight and tomorrow I will add the 500ml plus another 250.

Hopefully things start tumbling with the new reactor. The pellets have gunked up in the past 2 days in the tempdiy reactor I've been using.

[jsdancer]

Good luck to you!

Originally Posted by platax88

I got my Avast mr5 reactor today... it was fun to build. Now I am just letting it cure overnight and tomorrow I will add the 500ml plus another 250.

Hopefully things start tumbling with the new reactor. The pellets have gunked up in the past 2 days in the tempdiy reactor I've been using.

[platax88]

Originally Posted by jsdancer

Good luck to you!

Thanks! I brought the reactor online this morning, with the full 1000ml (took poolkeeper and JW's advice) and it's tumbling nicely. I am very happy with this reactor and plan on getting another for carbon.

BTW I am running a quiet one 1200 pump on it dialed back.

[platax88]

Do you guys ever get white stringy slime on your pellets? Like I posteed earlier, i added my second 500ml to the reactor. The pellets are tumbling nicely but here is a pic of the white "buggers"... I assume this is just bacteria film and all is good. I have been runnig EB now for a week.

[Texas]

I had the same slime on my pellets. It was from a higher organic load in my fish only tank. Jon said not to worry about it. I did finally take mine off line and stick it on a bucket with saltwater and increase the flow and flush it all out. I had to strain the water off a couple of times too before it was all gone. After that it did not come back.
p

[platax88]

Originally Posted by Texas

I had the same slime on my pellets. It was from a higher organic load in my fish only tank. Jon said not to worry about it. I did finally take mine off line and stick it on a bucket with saltwater and increase the flow and flush it all out. I had to strain the water off a couple of times too before it was all gone. After that it did not come back.
p

Ha, that's weird, my organics where low to start with N03-3ppm, pH4-.08

I wonder if it's because the pellets where not tumbling for a few days in my old makeshift reactor?

[Texas]

Mine were tumbling with more flow than Jon felt I should have to start out. I have them cranked way back now and see very little movement but my nitrate and phosphate are at 0 with API tests. To begin with I had very little nitrate or phosphate but had to do large water changes to keep the nitrate in check since I feed the fish 3 times a day. When I first started I had a big bacteria bloom that clouded my tank for several days. I did several water changes to get that under control and then put the pellets back online with less flow and have had no problems since. They have been running a little over 2 months now.

What it seems most people are doing is more flow than the 100gph that was recommended, I had mine with the powerhead wide open and it was suppose to pump 130 gph. It is now more like 60gph in a nextreef reactor. Jon also felt my skimmer was not skimming enough which could have been another reason that I had the build-up of slime.
p

[platax88]

Thanks P...

I got it at a very slow tumble and the output goes right into the intake of my skimmer (MSX 250) I havent experienced a bloom but I started with 1/2 the dose and my nutrients were low already. I'm not gonna sweat the buggers

[zoolan70]

I have that same stringy goo in my reactor after 10 days or so.

So far, I've not seen any real change in the tank, good or bad. I know that is the expected result, just wanted to put it out there for anyone following along. My algae issues tend to cycle, so the fact I've not had to clean the glass every day isn't an indicator of progress...yet.

[wloftin]

I have that same stuff... kinda flaky "bird wing" shapes? I wasn't sure what it was... my pellets are just hanging in a bag in my overflow going into the sump... i started finding this stuff in the sump.

[jsdancer]

I had the same thing when I added 250ml to the already 250ml that was in the reactor.
I did nothing about mine except shake the reactor to move it around. A week later it was gone when I added a stronger pump.

[drtrash]

I am at the 60 day mark and PO4 is zero but nitrate is still around 25 ppm. Never was able to get P to go to zero with GFO but still waiting for N to go down.

[zoolan70]

Originally Posted by drtrash

I am at the 60 day mark and PO4 is zero but nitrate is still around 25 ppm. Never was able to get P to go to zero with GFO but still waiting for N to go down.

Could your pellets be P bound? If the bacteria require both P and N to grow, and your P is at zero, is it possible that there isn't enough food for them to multiply, therefore they won't consume any more nitrate? Just a thought...