Hi all, I maintain a 200g tank that the owner overfeeds. i have tried to tell him what that does to the water but he wont listen. Anyway his parameters are good besides nitrates (30ppm) and phosphates (1.4). i added chaeto but it does not seem to be growing. I decided to try vertex pellets. i put 1000ml in a reactor and let it sit w ro water for a few hours. it fluidized nicely. i told them the water might go cloudy and it did for 4 days. when i came back 1.5 months to later to service it was all clumped together at the top of reactor. i stopped the pump broke it all up by swishing back and forth and started pump again. it has been fluidizing nicely now. the trates and phates havent moved. by having them all clumped up are they worthless now, should i toss and try a new batch? also i do not run a skimmer on that tank as per the owners request, is that horrible?
Vertex bio pellets
- Thread starter clownlover
- Start date
- Location
- FREEPORT,LONG ISLAND
Well you need a skimmer or do a ton of wc every week,
the pellets should be good still but keep an eye on the flow so that does not happen again
WITH PO4 AT 1.4 YOU MUIST NOT HAVE CORAL???
the pellets should be good still but keep an eye on the flow so that does not happen again
WITH PO4 AT 1.4 YOU MUIST NOT HAVE CORAL???
he actually has a thriving coral selection. acans, gsp, anemones, zoa's, palys, hammer and frogspawn, corraline encursting everywhere. all growing beautifully for over 8 months. suprisingly NO algae whatsoever. the only corals that didnt do well was one monti and a colony of xenia. i am actually heading there tomorrow ill try and take some pics. i use a hanna checker that gives a reading of 1.4 but i also use a salifert that says its .5 so i dont know.
ryangrieder
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Northern Jersey
His request was not a skimmer? that tank needs a skimmer... Pronto. it may look good, but with a skimmer you will hit perfection...
- Location
- poughquag, ny
if using the pellets you need to run a skimmer, what reactor are you using for the pellets and what pump ?
- Location
- poughquag, ny
if you or him had done any research you need to run a skimmer when using the pellets to pull all the extra bacteria out, not using one with the pellets can cause a major problem, he would have been better off with a denitrifier then the pellets
can you enlighten me as to what major problem this would cause
- Location
- poughquag, ny
are you doing the maintanance on this system ? did he reccomend them or did you ?
yes im doing the maintenance on it and after the sulfur fiasco i recommended the pellets. being my first time i did read up on them and spoke with my supplier. i told him that there was no skimmer and he told me it was needed primarily to increase O2 in the system as the bacteria might lower the available oxygen and to put the outflow from reactor in a highly oxygenated area of sump and so i did.
- Location
- poughquag, ny
- Location
- poughquag, ny
yes i am, i dont suggest for people to use any product unless they know the purpose of it good or bad, i spent several months researching before i started to use them, same as when i used vodka, sugar and other stuff, sulfur denitrator. if you have a client that doesnt want to use a skimmer i suggest taking the pellets off line, dosing vodka is easy and does almost the same thing but the dosage has to be followed correctly
any pics with results using bio pellets? These reduce the phos and nitrates in the tank correct? Reproduces bacteria amongst the reef and helps the bone on corals grow stronger, does anyone have before and after shots of their reef using bio pellets?
At this time I'm using phosban w/TLF 150. I see you can use the
Bio pellets with it, just need different screens
I'm thinking of changing over to Bio Pellets
Q: When you talk about flow, how much?
Do you have to rince pellets like w/phosban?
Bio pellets with it, just need different screens
I'm thinking of changing over to Bio Pellets
Q: When you talk about flow, how much?
Do you have to rince pellets like w/phosban?
i was told to let the pellets sit in ro water over night they get the reactor going. as stated on this thread the outflow should go to skimmer. for flow i use a mag 3, on my chamber with 1 liter pellets open wide its a nice soft tumble. i havent noticed any reduction in anything. i must have done something wrong i guess.
also went by there again today. used hanna phos meter and read 1.8!!!, used salifert phos and it tested .25. salifert nitrates are still at 25ppm. do you guys think i should unplug and let sit for a day and they plug back in? maybe not colonized? weird though bc tank had white out for 4 days.
installed downdraft skimmer but pump is underpowered so waiting for a new one.
installed downdraft skimmer but pump is underpowered so waiting for a new one.
- Location
- Far Rockaway
Ok first you number will go up first as the pellets start to builb up bac . I hope you started with a small amount of pellets first and i hope your using a pellet reactor . Alot of people say you can use a TLF reactor yeah if you running them on a 10g . There are new reactor out now like Reef OCT make now a pellet reactor . You need a big camber to builb bac in the pellets if you use a TLF reactor you will only have a small amount of bac in the chamber and the pellets are not working at 100% . If you look at all the pellet reactors thay are wide and long so every pellets has plenty of room for bac to grow and feed. You will not get this with a TLF reactor. So have a good reactor and good flow throw the reactor and a really good skimmer . It will take 2 to 3 mounths before levels will drop 6 to 8 before there down to 0 depending how bad your system is.
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