How does a Recirculating BioPellet Reactor Work

Thraciandrummer · May 12, 2016

Hi All,
So I have watched several DIY builds on youtube of people building their own recirculating biopellet reactors. I was thinking of making one myself instead of buying one as they do not seem too hard to build. My question is, how exactly do these recirculating reactors work. I see that in all these builds people are pumping water from their tanks into the reactor, this water then recirculates around the reactor. I then see that they limit the amount of water that comes out of the reactor back into the tank. I am a little confused about how this works. If the same water is constantly within the reactor with only a small amount coming out, how is all the water in the tank being treated by the biopellets? I would figure that a biopellet reactor would be much like a GFO reactor where water from the tank is constantly pushed through the GFO reactor and then pumped back into the tank so that all the water in the tank could eventually hit the GFO. I clearly need to be educated on how these recirculating biopellet reactors work before I even attempt to build one.

Thanks in Advance

Salty1962 · May 13, 2016

Bio-pellet reactors are only a medium for good bacteria to colonize and reduce your NO3 and PO4. By circulating water around the pellets, you oxygenize and enable a certain amount of the bacteria to sluff off. That's why it's important to plumb into skimmer or place the output of the BP reactor near the feed of the skimmer enabling it to remove the bacteria that has consumed the NO3 and PO4. It's important to tumble the BPs so they won't clump on you. I use one and it does help with my NO3 and PO4. I bought a Skimz BR83 and it works great. I can adjust the tumbling of my BPs through the dc pump. Hope this helps, google BP reactors, there's allot of good info out there. I believe BRS has a good video on it. Good luck!

Irsug1 · May 13, 2016

The object is to be able to control the tumble of the bio pellets. Too fast and they are less effective, too slow and they clump and can become toxic. And to control the output effluent.

Thraciandrummer · Jun 1, 2016

Well I finally got my Aquamaxx BP reactor and it's been going for about 2 days now. I added 1 cup of pellets for my 125 gallon tank plus 40 gallon sump. I know I ideally need 2 full cups of pellets, but I read it's best to start with half the needed amount. When should I add the other 1 cup of pellets?

zoomonster · Jun 1, 2016

Thraciandrummer said:
Well I finally got my Aquamaxx BP reactor and it's been going for about 2 days now. I added 1 cup of pellets for my 125 gallon tank plus 40 gallon sump. I know I ideally need 2 full cups of pellets, but I read it's best to start with half the needed amount. When should I add the other 1 cup of pellets?

I would break that other 1 cup up and add a 1/2 cup more 2 weeks apart. Some recommendations I have seen start at 1/4 the full dose and add another 1/4 dose every 2 weeks until at recommended capacity.