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Starting Bio-Pellets

downbeach

downbeach

I am going to try a bio-pellet experiment. I am currently using two BRS reactors in my fuge, one for GFO and another for GAC. My plan is to convert them one at a time to a bio-pellet reactor. So, two questions:

1)Which reactor would be the best one to convert first, GFO or GAC?

2)How long would you wait before implementing the second reactor?

I have ordered the appropriate bio-pellet insert for the reactors and larger pumps.

Anything else I need to consider?
 
asonitez

asonitez

I've been running Biopellets for about a month now. Started with pretty much no nutrients in check. As of list night I zeroed out on everything.

My advice - I'm running bio-pellets on 2 tanks. I'm running them in NextReefMR1 Reactors T-ed off from a MAG 18 Return manifold. For tank #1 I threw in the full dose of Bio-pellets and the tank turned into a cloudy mess. Every sock, Sponge, and Skimmer went nuts pulling out some seriously rancid stuff... I removed my filter socks and you should too. I stopped my Carbon and GAC and GFO because the pads clogged so fast it was useless to keep pulling them offline and cleaning out the filter pads every few hours. Filter socks will clog in HOURS instead of a day or so. Cloudiness lasted for about a week at which point everything became crystal clear.

Second tank I dosed Bio-pellets over time... but they didn't seem to IMPACT my algae and nutrients as quickly as dosing my full dose and having the tank stablize itself.

Run a powerful skimmer and throw in a oxygen brick in the tank if you don't have a lot of surface gas exchange. The CLOUDINESS seemed to cause my temps to raise maybe cause the bacteria and water held more heat so I kept an eye on my heat as well.


make sure those pellets TUMBLE. PLAN on CLEANING YOUR SUMP THROUGHLY after this because there will be smelly SNOT balls EVERYWHERE! lower the water level in your skimmer the first few nights the CLOUD comes in or it will overflow by morning.

Skim WET during this process.
If you want to kick start the process throw in a few doses of Microbacter7
Feed your fish well.
 
downbeach

downbeach

Based on BRS the reactors I'm currently using will only hold about half of what they recommend for a system of my size, but since it's also recommended to start with a half dose, I figure one reactor at a time would satisfy that requirement anyway.
Removing the GFO reactor is my guess, but wanted a second opinion.
I'm not having any nutrient or algea problems, this is more of an exchange of methodologies. I'm going to remove whatever Chaeto I have left in the fuge section, since it really isn't growing anyway, add some more LR, add the one reactor and monitor my water param's. If the nutrients remain undetectable, I may not add the second reactor, and may just take the GAC reactor off line and keep monitoring, and just let the sump go cryptic.

Did you remove the socks due to clogging(snot balls)?

I have some Zeobak I entend to use.
 
falconut

falconut

NJRC Member
I been using the WM EcoBAK pellets for over a year and a half. I simply added the full 500 ml in a TLF reactor. I was running GFO too for the first 6 months. I decided to pull the GFO offline after the 6 months and my levels have stayed undetectable since.

I kept using filter socks and my tank didn't turn cloudy either. Daniel also uses the WM pellets and I don't believe he had any cloudy issues either.

I replaced my carbon with the pellets and kept the GFO online. I didn't want to take a chance on getting a PO4 spike while the pellets were seeding. Just the way I did it.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I have 1000ml of the WB biopellets... just waiting to replace my GFO also. I'm pretty much in the same boat as Jim (downbeach) in that I have a BRS dual reactor that currently holds GFO and GAC.

It's funny you started this topic Jim, because I was researching this topic all weekend. From what I gathered, the BRS dual reactors are probably not the best equipment to run the pellets in. While they can work, I've heard that they don't tumble the pellets enough. Maybe that was a matter of which pumps these people were using, or maybe it's just the design of the reactor itself.

I was thinking about getting a new reactor in the GB this month... but not sure which one to get. However, I found This BRS Mod that supposedly works pretty good with the pellets in a single BRS reactor... but the dual reactor could work if you don't use the other canister for something else (due to having to run the flow in reverse).

From what I read, you should still run GFO for the first 4-6 weeks until the bacteria gets established so that you can keep the nutrients stable until the pellets are ready. I also read that you can't run pellets and carbon in a dual reactor because the carbon will get clogged by the output of the pellets, and the carbon will also filter out any of the beneficial phyto plankton, etc that the pellets will create.

I'll keep an eye on this thread because I really want to find the best solution here too.
 
downbeach

downbeach

Actually I do have two single reactors, and have ordered the bio pellet refillable cartridge from BRS, along with two MJ 1200's and the PHA pellets. I figured since I already had two reactors I'd try them first. If they don't do a good job, i.e tumbling, etc., I'll just buy a reactor made for biopellets.

I think one of the SRO's would be a good choice if one of these reactors don't do the job. I have a vertex I've posted in deals and steals that would work, but is just too big for my cabinet.
 
falconut

falconut

NJRC Member
Running GAC and pellets in a series isn't the ideal situation. Not just the clogging, but they will probably need different flow rates and the GAC will need to be changed more regularly, so you'll be disturbing the pellets more than you should. If you can separate the two chambers and use two different pumps or a teed off single pump it may work.
 
downbeach

downbeach

falconut said:
Running GAC and pellets in a series isn't the ideal situation. Not just the clogging, but they will probably need different flow rates and the GAC will need to be changed more regularly, so you'll be disturbing the pellets more than you should. If you can separate the two chambers and use two different pumps or a teed off single pump it may work.
Click to expand...

Actually I do have two single reactors, and have ordered the bio pellet refillable cartridge from BRS, along with two MJ 1200's and the PHA pellets. It's not the dual unit they sell. I have ONE that is for GAC and ONE that is for GFO. So, I will take ONE of the reactor's and make it into a bio pellet reactor and keep ONE of them as either the GFO or the GAC.
 
falconut

falconut

NJRC Member
downbeach said:
Actually I do have two single reactors, and have ordered the bio pellet refillable cartridge from BRS, along with two MJ 1200's and the PHA pellets. It's not the dual unit they sell. I have ONE that is for GAC and ONE that is for GFO. So, I will take ONE of the reactor's and make it into a bio pellet reactor and keep ONE of them as either the GFO or the GAC.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're good to go. Did you ever decide which one you were replacing with the pellets?
 
downbeach

downbeach

The advice I'm getting is about 50/50 on which one to remove first. I may just add another foam piece to one of the reactors as a separator and run both in one.
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I have 180 gallon mixed reef tank. That I could not keep clean for more than a day or two. So Jon Warner sent me some EgoBak to try out. I started with 1L of pellets in May of 2010 and in November of 2010 I added 500ML more because I used up 500ml in six months. Now in July I need 1L again.
My tank in the last year has been very clean. EgoBak Rocks in my Tank! This is one of the best products I have used in this hobby in more than 15 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
steamman said:
Care to elaborate? What do you prefer?
Click to expand...


I like Warner Marine EgoBak pellets been using them since May 2010. From what I have read people have little to no problems with them. Jon Warner has told me who he makes them for. He makes them for two big skimmer company's because they had so many customers complaints about big problems with there pellets. Jon has told me not to say who the company's names.
 
The_Codfather

The_Codfather

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Daniel said:
I like Warner Marine EgoBak pellets been using them since May 2010. From what I have read people have little to no problems with them. Jon Warner has told me who he makes them for. He makes them for two big skimmer company's because they had so many customers complaints about big problems with there pellets. Jon has told me not to say who the company's names.
Click to expand...
Come Dan spill the beans :)
 
downbeach

downbeach

It's been just over a week since I re purposed my GFO reactor into a bio-pellet reactor. I used the bio-pellet insert from BRS and the PHA pellets they recommended, and put a MJ1200 pump on it. The pellets have a relatively slow steady tumble. My water parameters were good to start with, and haven't changed. The only thing that I can say is that, I've noticed a slight increase in the skimmers skim mate production, and it's a little darker. This methodology is supposed to take a few weeks to fully mature, so I'll keep you posted.
 
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