N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[Toadally]

Originally Posted by pecan2phat

Wow, thanks for answering all my noob questions on the sulfur denitrator and ozone/UV use.
I'll probably leave the ozone on since it's only 50 mg (max recommended by Deltec) into one of the two Eheim recirc pumps on my skimmer. UV I will have to decide on.

Can you recommend my approach on starting up the bio beads?
I plan to use the recommended 550 ml per 75g by the manufacturer so I have 4 bags. Do I start with 1100 ml in the reactor then add an additional 550 ml per week or should I only start with 550 ml?
Thanks again

I would start with half the recommended amount and then after 4 weeks go to the full amount. Thats what I have done without any issues so far.

[jh2pizza]

Well, Three weeks after George modified my reactor to a Recirc style, I can honestly say that I am happy with the results. Nothing measurable, coral seem to have better color and the glass is always clean. The power was interrupted at the house due to a storm yesterday for 3 hours. The recirc pump was on the ER circuit, but the feed pump was not. Within 3 hours, the reactor was so cloudy, you would not be able to see through it at all.

[jh2pizza]

Just curious. How did we come up with the notion that the reactors output should go directly to the skimmer? When dosing other carbon sources, its pored into the sump and didn't matter.

Just wondering.

[sirreal63]

Into the skimmer to skim out any sloughed off bacterial mass, rather than have it flow through the system. Obviously some still gets into the tank, but the idea is to skim out as much as possible before the main tank.

[daveonbass]

hello guys...I'm back in the BP club.

The rice didn't work out at all for me so I've put the BP back in the reactor (cause I have nothing else to put there). So maybe they will kick in, but I'm more or less counting this as a new DAY ONE, and not presuming that I've been doing this for 4 months.

After trying the cheaper rice, I can greatly see the advantages of the polymer system. a lot less to go wrong with the BP than the rice...less to worry about, I guess thanks to the manufacturer.

BUT...

I still gotta get them to WORK...haha.

(anyone miss me?)

[tntneon]

-Just try dosing some vinegar too , as mentioned earlyer.
Vinegar is about 8-10 less potent than vodka and for some reason (unknown)
you don't have the cyano outbreaks (vodka can trigger).
Once you see nitrates drop you could decreasing the dosage to zero and then only let the BP's do there work.

Don't know if i ask it earler , but did you test for copper ?
maybe there are not enough bacteria due to copper issues, or dieing off and leaching N back into the system , it's just a thought...

With me the results are very very good , and therefore i find it so strange that the BP's previously didn't seem to work with you

here are some pictures taking from my little tank , running the BP's about 8month's or so.











greetingzz tntneon

[SimonSKL]

Originally Posted by daveonbass

hello guys...I'm back in the BP club.

The rice didn't work out at all for me so I've put the BP back in the reactor (cause I have nothing else to put there). So maybe they will kick in, but I'm more or less counting this as a new DAY ONE, and not presuming that I've been doing this for 4 months.

After trying the cheaper rice, I can greatly see the advantages of the polymer system. a lot less to go wrong with the BP than the rice...less to worry about, I guess thanks to the manufacturer.

BUT...

I still gotta get them to WORK...haha.

(anyone miss me?)

Dave, I didn't miss you as I was following the rice experiment thread also and I almost jumped onto the rice train

From what I can understand from the discussion in the rice thread, there are just too many unknowns and variables in rice to predict outcome. Initially people reported good skimmate production but as time went on, people started to see nitrate rising and physical changes of rice due to decomposition. The biggest unknown is the long term impact of heavy metals in the rice. One reefer running on rice had a power outage and his rice reactor turned into a hydrogen sulfide generator

It's been 10 days since I added 300g of aragonite sand to my BP reactor and I am pulling about 100ml of skimmate from my 100g system per day. I was wishing more though. Since I stopped both my ATS and GFO around the same time I was a little bit concerned if 1000ml BP alone was adequate in keeping my N&P at zero. To my surprise, it did and the GHA seem stop growing. I have not changed my feeding pattern.

[bertoni]

I think a BP reactor would turn into a hydrogen sulfide generator, too, if the power went off. The bacteria would make the water anoxic fairly quickly, IMO.

[SimonSKL]

Originally Posted by bertoni

I think a BP reactor would turn into a hydrogen sulfide generator, too, if the power went off. The bacteria would make the water anoxic fairly quickly, IMO.

I was out of town the last couple days and a storm knocked out power to my house for about 6 hours. I came home last night and everything seemed to be okay in my tank. Water temp was about 83F. How long do you think hydrogen sulfide will start producing once the reactor stops?

[philbo32]

Originally Posted by SimonSKL

I was out of town the last couple days and a storm knocked out power to my house for about 6 hours. I came home last night and everything seemed to be okay in my tank. Water temp was about 83F. How long do you think hydrogen sulfide will start producing once the reactor stops?

This is a really difficult question to answer as it would be different for each tank. It depends what temp the water is, what type and number of bacteria are in the reactor. as soon as the water becomes anoxic (completely devoid of oxygen) sulphate bacteria numbers can start to increase using sulphate as an oxygen source. So it depends whether the water gets completely anoxic or not. If when you smell the water in the reactor and it smells eggy then hydrogen sulphide is probably present. Also sulphite can precipitate out of the water column as a byproduct, this has been associated with black dust like particulate.

[bertoni]

I agree that it's very hard to say. The more nutrients in the water, and the more media in the reactor, the faster the water would go anoxic, for example. Another big issue would be the volume of the reactor vs the volume of the tank.

[bluereefs]

Originally Posted by SimonSKL

I was out of town the last couple days and a storm knocked out power to my house for about 6 hours. I came home last night and everything seemed to be okay in my tank. Water temp was about 83F. How long do you think hydrogen sulfide will start producing once the reactor stops?

I turn off once reactor with aprox 1000 ml of bp after the bacterial bloom (aquarium and reactor was white from bacteria ), reactor stay in same water inside the sump (it was just turn off ) and took more then 24 hours ( 48 IIRC ) that I start to sense smell from him, no black dust or anything black, actually he was milky white. That was hapening in my diy reactor, he have open top so maybe exposure to air prolong development of hidrogen sulfid.

[SimonSKL]

Can anyone share their actual experience on impact of BP to their tank after extended power outage? I just wonder if some kind of safe guard needs to be built in to keep the BP reactor from dumping the contaminated water into the tank once power is restored.

[jeffeg]

Here are my experiences with the NP biopellets so far.

Tank Information
Elos 120 (90 gal) - setup 7 months so far
11 fish (2 clowns, 4 anthias, PBrown tang, Royal Gramma, Firefish, 2 chromis)
Feed 2-3x daily
SPS/LPS mixed tank
Elos ns1000 skimmer
NextReef SMR1 NP Biopellets Reactor - mj1200 pump
BRS duel reactor running gfo/carbon
alk 8 CA 470 mg 1300


I've never really had any problematic algae problems, except for a little bit of red turf algae on my pumps, and a little more buildup of film algae on my glass that I was comfortable with, even running gfo. After a day I always had to clean the glass. Did not test for nitrates or phospates. After reading up on the biopellets I decided to give it a try (main reason was for the film algae buildup on my glass..=).

On Tuesday July 27th I installed the biopellet reactor at night and directed the output about 2 inches from my skimmer pump. Thusday night I noticed the tank looked a little bit hazy. The next morning the tank was experiencing a bacterial bloom, not the milky super bloom, but a definate hazeiness to the water. The fish, acroporas and lps didnt seem to mind the haze, my anemones definately hated it though, and totally closed up. Skimmate changed to a more thicker, chunkier foam from the bacterial mass, and my filter socks were clogging in half a day. The glass had a different kind of whitish film and I could see some white strings of bacterial mass on my vortechs.

Saturday evening the bloom started to die down, the skimmer was still pulling a very thick foam out, and the filter socks weren't clogging up so fast. The anemones started to inflate again. The whitish film on the glass was gone.

Sunday morning the tank looked pretty good. Skimmer was still pulling out very thick foam, and there was no signs of the bacterial masses on the pumps. I noticed my the top chamber of my biopellet reactor there's still a ton of it. Anemoes are super inflated again. Sps and Lps all look great.

Now 11 days in, my glass is staying very clean, and can go without a swiping for almost 3 days. My back glass that used to get a this greenish buildup stays very clean. The tank water is clearer than ever and I think even my sand is more white. Polyp extension on my sps is better than before. It seems like all my corals have a little extra vibrance to them. Just my experiences so far.

[tmz]

Originally Posted by SimonSKL

Can anyone share their actual experience on impact of BP to their tank after extended power outage? I just wonder if some kind of safe guard needs to be built in to keep the BP reactor from dumping the contaminated water into the tank once power is restored.

Not exactly but in a similar vein, I had my sufur denitrator produce H2S . Running the effluent through gfo will speed the oxidation and limit exposure to toxins. Anoxia plus organic material ,ie a carbon source is needed by the SO4 reducers .
May not be a bad idea to run these reactors through gfo if you are going to be away for a while.
There are devices you can purchase to ensure certain outlets won't turn back on without resetting by you, some folks have used them on return pumps to insure against a flood if a siphon on an overflow breaks during an outage.

[tmz]

I turn off once reactor with aprox 1000 ml of bp after the bacterial bloom (aquarium and reactor was white from bacteria ), reactor stay in same water inside the sump (it was just turn off ) and took more then 24 hours ( 48 IIRC ) that I start to sense smell from him, no black dust or anything black, actually he was milky white. That was hapening in my diy reactor, he have open top so maybe exposure to air prolong development of hidrogen sulfid.

Just for clarification hydrogen sulfide is a gas. The odor indicates its there. Once it moves out of the reactor to oxic areas it oxidizes to sulfide( the balck dust) and other things which in themselves are harmless.How long it lasts in the water depends on a number of variables in the tank .It can last as at oxic gas for several hours to a day or so. If you are running gfo or have high iron in the tank it will oxidize to a harmless state faster.

[Toadally]

Originally Posted by tmz

I turn off once reactor with aprox 1000 ml of bp after the bacterial bloom (aquarium and reactor was white from bacteria ), reactor stay in same water inside the sump (it was just turn off ) and took more then 24 hours ( 48 IIRC ) that I start to sense smell from him, no black dust or anything black, actually he was milky white. That was hapening in my diy reactor, he have open top so maybe exposure to air prolong development of hidrogen sulfid.

Just for clarification hydrogen sulfide is a gas. The odor indicates its there. Once it moves out of the reactor to oxic areas it oxidizes to sulfide( the balck dust) and other things which in themselves are harmless.How long it lasts in the water depends on a number of variables in the tank .It can last as at oxic gas for several hours to a day or so. If you are running gfo or have high iron in the tank it will oxidize to a harmless state faster.

That's interesting that you say hydrogen sulfide turns to a black dust once it gets into the water column. I have something black that has been accumulating on my rock and certain spots on the sand. Do you think this is what you're talking about, or is it just some type of algae? Thanks!

[bolo7735]

I just started on the BP last Monday. My skimmer pump had issues and will not get a replacement until Tuesday. Is it OK to keep running the BP reactor? Tank is doing fine and has not cloud up in any way.

[DJREEF]

Originally Posted by Toadally

That's interesting that you say hydrogen sulfide turns to a black dust once it gets into the water column. I have something black that has been accumulating on my rock and certain spots on the sand. Do you think this is what you're talking about, or is it just some type of algae? Thanks!

The black 'dust' that tmz refers to are oxidized metals that result from the biochemical anaerobic processes. I'm thinking your black 'dust' is algae, unless you're seeing it through the glass from underneath your tank.

DJ

[DJREEF]

Originally Posted by bolo7735

I just started on the BP last Monday. My skimmer pump had issues and will not get a replacement until Tuesday. Is it OK to keep running the BP reactor? Tank is doing fine and has not cloud up in any way.

It should be OK. It'll take a couple of days to culture the pellets out. I wouldn't bake a cake getting that pump on there when it arrives, though.

DJ

[jh2pizza]

I think a BP reactor would turn into a hydrogen sulfide generator, too, if the power went off. The bacteria would make the water anoxic fairly quickly, IMO.

Ours seemed to be ok after 3 hours with little to no oder. I was a little concerned with it as well not knowing how the bacteria would react without air.

[venomcc]

I'm tempted to get started on this, but does anyone have an opinion as to the brand of bio pellets? Vertex NP, Warner Marin Ecobak, others?

[sterling18]

I just added a mesh bag full of Warner Marin EcoBak pellets last night. I don't have a reactor handy so I plan on shaking the bag every couple of days. It sits right by the intake of my skimmer.

[Toadally]

Originally Posted by DJREEF

The black 'dust' that tmz refers to are oxidized metals that result from the biochemical anaerobic processes. I'm thinking your black 'dust' is algae, unless you're seeing it through the glass from underneath your tank.

DJ

It must be algae then...I guess the bio pellets aren't workin so good. They've been in for a month now.

[pecan2phat]

Wow, these pellets are not that light.
I added 1/2 (1100 ml) of my total amount into a 5.5" diameter fluidized reactor and this stuff is not moving at all. I have about 500gph going through the reactor too.