Recirculating Biopellet Reactor

[Ryan391]

I am sure this has been answered, but I cannot find the answer. Does the Reef Octopus Bio Churn recirculating reactor need a feed pump?

Does anyone have any experience with this reactor? I was considering this or the Reefdynamics Biopellet Reactor.

Am I wasting my time? Does it really make a differences, should just get a tube that tumbles pellets?

[dartier]

Originally Posted by Ryan391

Am I wasting my time? Does it really make a differences, should just get a tube that tumbles pellets?

If you are intent on using Biopellets, then a recirculating reactor is highly recommended. This allows you to control the flow through the reactor to fine tune the effect of the pellets. Otherwise, you end up having to have such a high flow to keep the pellets tumbling you can strip your water column of nutrients.

The Reef Dynamics are well regarded. For that reason I did a DIY version of their reactor.

Dennis

[seeweed]

I switched to reef dynamics for the same reason

[Ryan391]

Dennis,
Which reactor did you DIY? Which pump are you using? Do you have pics?

[Ryan391]

seeweed,

How long did it take for your reactor to kick in? Do you have a really aggressive tumble with a low flow through? Did it require a lot of trial and error to get the reactor running properly?

[Ryan391]

Dennis,

I have another question, You say if you are intent on using Biopellets... What do you mean? Are you in favor of another carbon source, or alternative filtering method?

I am not sold on Biopellets. I am using NOpox now and I am not convinced that is the best filtration method. I started to research Zeo, but soon abandoned that idea because none of the pieces are readily available locally. I feel like I need at least one LFS to support my method. Locally, it seems more stores are in favor of Biopellets than anything else. Many of them push the Two little Fishes, or Hydra style reactors. The Reef Octopus 120R is readily available is the reason for my original post.

I have a Reef Dynamic Skimmer and it has been flawless for a couple of years. I cannot say that for several other brands. I also really enjoyed the video Jeff did on explaining his reactor. It seem he actually researched the process and not just put a few pieces of plastic together and called it a reactor.

[dartier]

Originally Posted by Ryan391

Dennis,
Which reactor did you DIY? Which pump are you using? Do you have pics?

I was afraid you were going to ask that I DIY'd the Nextreef MR1 and I do have pics, but only of the first attempt, which was not best approach. I can post pics below along with the a description of the revisions that improved it and how I would do it were I to do it again.

Originally Posted by Ryan391

Dennis,

I have another question, You say if you are intent on using Biopellets... What do you mean? Are you in favor of another carbon source, or alternative filtering method?

I am not sold on Biopellets. I am using NOpox now and I am not convinced that is the best filtration method.

Heh, we seem to be trying the same things, just at different times. I had been using Vinegar, but was not able to get my P04 down, so I decided to try the All In One biopellets and that is what the reactor was for.

The All In One pellets worked, but were messy by my standards, and left a white/tan residue all over my sump and required me to clean the residue off the strainer in the reactor or it would clog. I am not big on maintenance, so I thought I would go back to a liquid carbon source as there is very little maintenance required.

So I switched about a week ago to DIY NOPOX, ethanol and vinegar combined in the same ratio as N03P04-X (ratio from this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2408985). The results of the switch are great so far. My P04 has dropped to 0.012 ppm (4 pbb). I have never seen P04 this low in my tank. I am using the 2ML/100L recommendation from Red Sea, and will reduce my dosage if the current results hold.

Here are the photos of my v1 reactor.







My suggestions on how to do it better (and what I changed to improve it) are:

• The pump is a Jebao DC2000, so it is controllable, so I did not need the valve on feed side. The valve I used was a big true union and could have been eliminated altogether.
  
• I tried to make the reactor self feeding with the lower valve and strainer. I removed this all together in V2 and just fed it from a bulk head. Not worth the trouble in my opinion.
  
• The top strainer (pump input side) is too low and allows the pellets to float and clump too easily. I made a V2 revised horizontal feed just below the PVC fitting in the MR1's lid. This was the biggest change and made the most difference. This is how Reef Dynamics does their's and I can see why.
  
• I switched the internals to using 1/2" PVC from 3/4" in the photo. This allowed me to use a 3/4" uniseal on the top feed (for the new horizontal strainer) which is a perfect diameter for a 1/2" female-female slip fitting. A 1/2 strainer then just slipped into this inside the reactor and was easy to remove for maintenance. It also allowed me to adjust the bottom section to use 1/2 pipe and lock the piping into the relief on the bottom of the MR1 that the original downpipe used. This made it very robust and and allowed for an even flow. I drilled holes around the circumference of the down pipe like the original MR1 pipe used.
  
• I originally had a 1/4" John Guess fitting threaded into the lid for the drain. I found this clogged too easily and went back to the original fitting for the MR1 with a 1/2" hose.

When I was drilling the higher feed port, the lip on the MR1 prevented me from using my drill press to drill the hole with my hole saw. I used a hand drill. Big mistake. Of course the hole saw caught and jerked the drill and cracked the reactor. It still worked OK, but I should have made a jig out of wood to allow the reactor to lie on the drill press and a I would have had a perfect hole.

If you eliminate all the valves and just use the pump as your flow control, you can orient it vertically and get it much closer to the reactor body and not be so big and unwieldy like my first attempt was.

This reactor was internal only as the Jebao's are not water tight. They do work very well for this sort o f application though.

Dennis

[Wangspeed]

I'm pretty happy with my RD recirculating BP reactor. I have the 135 on a 90 gallon. Really my only complaint is that the Eheim pump vibrates more than anything else in my sump which is generally DC pumps.

Avast Marine also has a recirculating kit for their reactors now. This is a recent addition. They use Sicce Syncra which may be more quiet.

[PolyReef]

Originally Posted by Ryan391

Dennis,

I have another question, You say if you are intent on using Biopellets... What do you mean? Are you in favor of another carbon source, or alternative filtering method?

I am not sold on Biopellets. I am using NOpox now and I am not convinced that is the best filtration method. I started to research Zeo, but soon abandoned that idea because none of the pieces are readily available locally. I feel like I need at least one LFS to support my method. Locally, it seems more stores are in favor of Biopellets than anything else. Many of them push the Two little Fishes, or Hydra style reactors. The Reef Octopus 120R is readily available is the reason for my original post.

I have a Reef Dynamic Skimmer and it has been flawless for a couple of years. I cannot say that for several other brands. I also really enjoyed the video Jeff did on explaining his reactor. It seem he actually researched the process and not just put a few pieces of plastic together and called it a reactor.

Exactly....very few companies does research like a reef dynamics..
Is always a good idea to get something very well-made so going to last you long time.Biopellets can give you very good result when it comes reef echo systems.
If you have spare 30 minutes of your time check this video maybe going to explain to you a lot about Bio pellets.
http://youtu.be/B_FYSc6soh0?list=UUV...OdkhT8kvYnqMWA

[vpaul79]

Here is one I just created using a BR110, works very well.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2456407

[Ryan391]

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My tank is very clean with nopox. I do get that slime in the sump too. I just thought I could do better with bio pellets.

In fact the effluent control is really got my attention.

Does anyone have a reef dynamics bio pellet reactor to sell ?

[Relativity]

The pellets are no longer spinning like they used to. I don't know what is wrong with the unit. Maybe it's clogged. Had it for about a year.
It runs with a second pump

[Ryan391]

That RO unit does not look right. Why are the pellets at the top?

I think I am going to buy the Reefdynamics one. It is on sale and I cannot look for a used one since I do not have enough posts.

I have been using nopox for awhile. I have dosed it pretty heavy when things got out of control. I have considered continuing the nopox or a custom mix as Dennis has done. I had done VSV mix before. I got clear water but not a lot of control of algae and phosphates.

The Reefdynamics Reactor and I have not decided which pellets are my plan for now.

Any suggestion on pellet brands?

[gdemos]

If you'd like, Here's a thread I have in running my RD BPR: I have no issues with the reactor other than waiting for the pellets to kick in but most of all how it mates to my skimmer and resulting skimmer tuning issues:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2457099

[Ryan391]

i was just reading that thread. Sounds like you are having a heck of time. I use MB7 and Nopox now. MB7 is like a wonder drug.