Nitrate reactor or biopellets?

Feltman · Apr 20, 2016

Breakthecycle2 said:
In regards to tank size, I was referring to the amount of pellets I would need to start.

It depends on the biopellets again I'll say the brs pellets cause thats what I use. They say 1 cup per 50 gallons but I would start with 1 cup per 100-125 gallons depending on severity of nitrates. Bring em down slowly so u don't shock anything.

cookr959 · Apr 20, 2016

+1 on bio pellets. I used them for the first time on my 45 gallon cube and my water is always pristine!

JPSika08 · Apr 20, 2016

Is it recommended to introduce the Bio-Pellets after cycling the tank? I have used them before but my tank was already established when I did this, now my new system finished cycling but don't know if I should wait some time or just begin with 1/3 of the recommended amount.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 21, 2016

Breakthecycle2 said:
8 months. I am running into too many issues with it. I keep getting a white slime outbreak from it and it doesn't seem to be able to keep the levels steady.

Ok, I can see the concern with the slime. With organic carbon dosing the bacteria have to grow somewhere, and sometimes they end up in an unsightly place.

I would just caution that using biopellets is far from a nobrainer over soluble organic dosing since it can be harder to control the dose than with soluble organics.

Breakthecycle2 · Apr 21, 2016

So, Im using Tropic Marine Bio pellets. The dose is 50ml per 100 liters of water. I used about 400 ml's to start in a 250 system. My question is, do I need to and a "cover" over the pellets (the mesh plastic) or just leave it open?

Breakthecycle2 · Apr 21, 2016

So should I be using a screen on top of the pellets? Also, I can't seem to get them to tumble, I'm running around 300 gph through right now. Any suggestions on how much to go up?

JPSika08 · Apr 22, 2016

Bio-Pellet reactor has this screen on top to avoid any pellet from going into the sump, better to leave it in.

Breakthecycle2 · Apr 22, 2016

Also, I think I made a mistake...the long tube in the middle of a reactor when you use GFO should that bee taken out or doesnt matter?

JPSika08 · Apr 22, 2016

That tube purpose is for flow to go to the lower section of the reactor and push water up to the outlet.
Removing it won't allow the pellets to tumble, be sure that the input to the reactor is connected to this tube.

If you search for Bio-pellet reactors, you'll see that most of them get water input through the bottom, this is to allow pellets to tumble.

ajcanale · Apr 22, 2016

How about an algae turf scrubber? More natural and safer means of nutrient removal IMO....At least worth researching and comparing.

Breakthecycle2 · Apr 22, 2016

Alright, I did a quick mod to the reactor with a funnel, a PVC end cap and a drill. I'm using a 260 gph eheim pump and it's tumbling perfectly. Before this, none of the pellets were even moving.

I followed this guy's DYI

http://forums.nvreefers.org/index.php?/topic/1422-better-flow-from-your-reactor/

Breakthecycle2 · May 1, 2016

I seem to be having some difficulty here. I started with a 260GPH pump. It didn't seem enough. I went to a 358 Sicce 1.5. DIdn't seem enough. Bumped it up again to a Sicce 2.0 550 GPH pump and the media still isn't tumbling much. Any suggestions?