Warner Marine Now Has A Pellet Product

[cunningham]

^^^^^^^
Thats Wild!

[TheFishMan65]

Dish soap is a bad idea in a fish tank . I have had mine overflow, but nothing like that.

[b_s_c1]

I could use a little help with these pellets. I have been running them for nearly a year now and never had to add any more. It still appears that I have the same amount as I started with. Looking in the reactor the pellets look like new with no noticeable bacteria growth on them. There does seem to be bacteria in the reactor just not on the pellets. For most of the year I kept the flow just enough to gently roll the pellets. What could be the problem. These pellets should deteriate as the bacteria eat them correct. Does it mean that I do not have the proper bacteria string in my system that utilizes the pellets.

[aculross]

What are your nitrate and phosphate readings? I wouldn't worry about how the pellets deteriate if your levels are good. I've been running mine for about 8 months now - while the level of pellats have dropped, it's not very much but my nitrates have gone from like 70ppm to rock solid zero so I know they are working !

[b_s_c1]

No problem with nitrates but my phosphates have started to climb currently at .13. I do believe it is because I have increased feeding but the last result made me wonder if the pellets are doing there job.

[aculross]

I still have some phosphates as well, although not that high. Perhaps a bag of GFO in the sump/2nd reactor to help?

[bertoni]

I think the reactor would be a lot more effective.

[snaza]

Hi guys,

I'm still having the issue of my skimmer over flowing randomly every couple of weeks (not skimmate, just water). The water level is set where its always been so i'm dropped it ibit for now. I've got the reactor exiting pretty much directly into the intake of the skimmer(ATB cone). should i move the reactor outlet away from the intake (still in the same partition of the sump though)

of a side note. N03 and P04 are 0.00-0.01 on Hana

thanks

[bertoni]

I'd move the input and the output further apart, since that sounds easy. Good luck with the skimmer! They seem to be cantankerous from time to time.

[snaza]

Is flow thru the reactor or keep the pellets tumbling 'more' important?

My pellets are only moving a little but flow is about 300-400g/h on the reactor output. Its been 6 months since the last one but i've just got another bad cyano outbreak. should i reduce the reactors flow to 200g/h (therefore pellets will barely move)

cheers

[Buganddoug]

You want them to barely move.

[bertoni]

Barely moving likely is good enough. More flow might help a bit, as long as the media doesn't get torn up.

[gotfrogs]

Man, I finally made it to the end. It took me a few days but I made it through all 1,400+ posts! I am thinking about using EcoBak on a new tank that I am setting up. I was looking at reactors and came across the 1200ml Octopus Hang On Bio Pellet Reactor 3.5" but have not seen any mention of it in this thread. What are your thoughts? I like how it has a cone shaped bottom.

[MentalNote]

Got Frogs,

There is a really good review posted on the hang-on octopus reactor somewhere on this forum. It is fairly recent, should be easy to search for. It is the smaller diameter reactor one though.

I personally switched from a modified Nextreef MR1 reactor to a Reef Octopus BR-70. I used a MJ-1200 (295 GPH) to provide flow for the MR1 and did not have a good tumble. In the BR-70 I am using a MJ-400 (106 GPH) and I still had to reduced the flow. I do not know is this is due to the cone shaped bottom or another design aspect but I am now a big fan of the Reef Octopus reactor.

[solitude127]

How often do you rinse your pellets?

[aculross]

Good question solitude127 - I've been running mine for 9 months now - I wonder if I should give 'em a rinse?

[NyReefNoob]

you dont rinse them, rinsing them would take all the bacteria that consumes them off the pellets and would be like starting all over again

[Buganddoug]

I have never had to rinse my Pellets in 18 months and I have used 2.5L now. I think why some people have to rinse there pellets is because the reactor are causing dead spots for flow and the pellets clump up. I have seen many pellets in reactors that have dead spots they will cause the pellets to clump up and get all stuck together. That is why some are having too rinse them.

[TheFishMan65]

I never rinsed mine. I have cleaned the reactor twice. Dump everything in a bucket, clean off the algae (it is a little too close to the sump light), clean the screens. Dump it all back in. I loose a few pellets, but not too many.

[mos90]

i had to take mine off line for a bit on my 125. i was running 500ml and raised the dosage to 750ml. within a week some of my sps corals were losing tons of color and lacked pe. i think it was a combination of too much light an low nutrients. i plan to add them back but i want to wait until corals recover. im going to use 3-400 ml next time. my no3 was 0. po4 was .03

for the time being i turned off my mh's and am running just the t5's , lower my lights some. its surpising how much par 320watts of t5's can put out with the right bulbs. par in most of my tank was still 100+ in the sand bed.

[aculross]

I just did what TheFishMan65 did on my TLF 150. It's been 8 months and I figured I should open it up. Nothing was sticking, but there was a bunch of gunk on the screens - I'm sure flow is better now !

[snaza]

Hey guys,

Been running my tank for 8 months now. mostly used caribsea base rock with some LR. since the start i've had sort of snott slimy stuff over my rocks and back panel. also lots of bubbles. I also get really bad waves of cyano which last a month or so. not sure if its realated to the pellets but i'm thinking about taking them offline to see if it goes away. my tank is 200g with about 800ml of pellets in a reator staight to the skimmer.

All params are stable and P04 and N03 are 0.00 on multilple hanna. Everything seems to be going well then all of a sudden sps looks bad. poor PE, loosing colour and some even RTN. then its seems to come good again. I'm just confused and not sure what else to blame.

i'm thinking about trying a bit of Rowaphos to see if i can get rid of the algae.

anyone got any ideas or also get the snotty algea stuff.

thanks

Aaron

here is a bad pic of my back wall.

[falconut]

I've been running my pellets for about 18 months now. I still have my original 500ml of EcoBAK and they have only slightly dissolved. I imagine it depends on the bioload. My friend Buganddoug has had to add to his over the same time, but his bioload is way more than mine.

I haven't opened the reactor since I added them. If they start to clump a little, I just increase the flow, then decrease it.

[b_s_c1]

Originally Posted by falconut

I've been running my pellets for about 18 months now. I still have my original 500ml of EcoBAK and they have only slightly dissolved. I imagine it depends on the bioload. My friend Buganddoug has had to add to his over the same time, but his bioload is way more than mine.

I haven't opened the reactor since I added them. If they start to clump a little, I just increase the flow, then decrease it.

Some thing is going on with my pellets. I was beginning to think that they were not working. I could not see any bacteria growth and the amount of pellets never reduced. I shut down the reactor for a few days and seen a noticeable decrease in skimmite. That was enough indication that the pellets are doing what they are suppose to do.

[falconut]

Oh, and my PO4 and NO3 levels have been undetectable with very minimal to no algae. It may be the reason my chaeto died off too. I only get the film on the glass about once a week, where before it was every few days. Seam to be working fine.