Offical Eco-Bak Thread

6272862829 · May 5, 2013

Tennsquire said:
I started Eco-Bak in my 75 gallon reef in late March. My PO4 levels have always run a little high, which I think it partly due to the fact that my live rock has been in my tank forever (12+ years; it originally came from "Flying Fish Express" if that rings a bell with anyone). I've been running GFO for a while as well, but was still seeing levels of up to .30 PO4 with a Hanna Checker. I also run Seachem carbon and, occasionally, Seachem's phosphate product (the name escapes me right now). I'm using a PhosBan reactor with the Eco-Bak, and I used about 1/3 of the recommended dose to begin with and haven't added any. I've been dosing with bacterial additive, although I also use prodibio (bio digest and bio-optim) every other week. Nitrates have typically been low, but are now reading undetectable (Salifert). Yesterday's water testing indicated that I'm finally at 0 phosphates, which surprised me. I'm even seeing some of the caluerpa in my system dying off, so I knew something was working. I've also noticed that the skimmate the system is generating absolutely stinks; more so than it has in a long, long time. No ill effects on any sps corals, which is why I used less EB than recommended. I'm not totally happy with the phosban reactor, but I'm going to keep running EB. Good stuff that's showing some results for me after about 6 weeks.

Try adding an algae scrubber to your system. You won't regret it.

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Tennsquire · May 5, 2013

iiluisii said:
Try adding an algae scrubber to your system. You won't regret it.

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I'm about out of space under the tank. With the sump, my top-off reservoir, and my dosing reservoirs, I don't know where I'd put one at this point....

6272862829 · May 5, 2013

Tennsquire said:
I'm about out of space under the tank. With the sump, my top-off reservoir, and my dosing reservoirs, I don't know where I'd put one at this point....

How much room in inches you have above your sump. And is there a compartment in your sump that the water level seats lower at all

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Dowtish · May 5, 2013

No reason to run a scrubber IMO, if he finally is those kind of numbers. Only 6 weeks in, and he's not even using the recommended amount.

shellynjason · May 5, 2013

Tennsquire said:
Yesterday's water testing indicated that I'm finally at 0 phosphates, which surprised me. I'm even seeing some of the caluerpa in my system dying off, so I knew something was working. I've also noticed that the skimmate the system is generating absolutely stinks; more so than it has in a long, long time.

That's great news Scott! I just cleaned out the skimmate eariler today and for the first time ever I noticed the smell was real bad, sounds like it's a good sign.

Tennsquire · May 5, 2013

shellynjason said:
That's great news Scott! I just cleaned out the skimmate eariler today and for the first time ever I noticed the smell was real bad, sounds like it's a good sign.

The only other variable is that I added a clam I got from Dr. Mac at the swap. I know they help with water quality, but I don't think it's been long enough for it to make that much of a difference.

6272862829 · May 5, 2013

Dowtish said:
No reason to run a scrubber IMO, if he finally is those kind of numbers. Only 6 weeks in, and he's not even using the recommended amount.

There is a reason. To stop using GFO and spending money in it.

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shellynjason · May 6, 2013

I added a crocea clam from the frag swap too.

shellynjason · May 7, 2013

... and po4 is .14 today *sigh*.

Dowtish · May 7, 2013

shellynjason said:
... and po4 is .14 today *sigh*.

Shelly

Are you using a Hanna Phos Checker?

shellynjason · May 7, 2013

Dowtish said:
Shelly

Are you using a Hanna Phos Checker?

Yes I am I go through alot of reagent packets let me tell you (I'm obessive about this po4) ... I cleaned out the ReefOct biopellet reactor just now , there indeed was a chunk of ecobak clogging it. So I will report P04 on Thrusday it should be better. Though not sure why HC GFO can't keep up I see it slow tumbling. I didn't even feed yesterday because I was in La Vergne working all day and night and checked the p04 before the morning feeding today. The tank looks good though.

Dowtish · May 7, 2013

Once you get to the C2 mode and add the reagent are you holding the button down til you get the 3 min. Countdown?

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gmoney243 · May 8, 2013

Even if she isnt it will read low not high. But its odd that gfo isnt keeping it down. How old is the gfo? If you have a lot of phos it will exhaust fast.

Dowtish · May 8, 2013

She changes the gfo out weekly.

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shellynjason · May 8, 2013

Dowtish said:
Once you get to the C2 mode and add the reagent are you holding the button down til you get the 3 min. Countdown?

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Absolutely! I definately know how to use the Hanna checker ... seeing I check 3-5 times a week for three months now. In the beginning I watched a youtube video on it too to get all the 'tricks' (seeing c2 only waits 2-3 minutes for you to shake the reagent in the water tube).

After the po4 read .14 I then checked my saltwater mix and it read .00 (because I noticed a film in my saltwater mix standing water - and I do keep it covered and clean water change buckets thoroughly after use and clean lids, heathers, powerheads weekly).

Tennsquire · May 8, 2013

shellynjason said:
Absolutely! I definately know how to use the Hanna checker ... seeing I check 3-5 times a week for three months now. In the beginning I watched a youtube video on it too to get all the 'tricks' (seeing c2 only waits 2-3 minutes for you to shake the reagent in the water tube).

After the po4 read .14 I then checked my saltwater mix and it read .00 (because I noticed a film in my saltwater mix standing water - and I do keep it covered and clean water change buckets thoroughly after use and clean lids, heathers, powerheads weekly).

Do you test at both the output of the GFO reactor and the tank water proper? I do that to make sure the GFO is still working (it should read lower). I haven't re-tested, but need to do so to see if I get a repeatable reading from this past weekend.

Tennsquire · May 12, 2013

.09 PO4 yesterday. I do feed my fish heavily and my BTA regularly. I changed the PhosBan reactor to get more flow through the EB; don't know if that has anything to do with it (or if my last couple of PO4 tests were incorrect), but will test again today. Skimmer is still producing exceptionally stinky skimmate and macroalgae is still dying off. I'm thinking maybe the die off may be contributing, and I am going to up the amount of EB today as well since I started with less than recommended to begin with.

Dowtish · May 12, 2013

The faster the tumbling of the pellets, the more aggressive the stripping of phos and nitrates. You need to be careful not to tumble too much or too fast so to speak, this can cause things to happen to fast and your corals might not like it. When you add more pellets it will tumble even more evenly as well. So just keep an eye on your parameters once you add more pellets, so they dont go down too fast. And make sure skimmer is capable of handling what is being sloughed off. One way you will know is if you begin to see cyano.

Tennsquire · May 13, 2013

Dowtish said:
The faster the tumbling of the pellets, the more aggressive the stripping of phos and nitrates. You need to be careful not to tumble too much or too fast so to speak, this can cause things to happen to fast and your corals might not like it. When you add more pellets it will tumble even more evenly as well. So just keep an eye on your parameters once you add more pellets, so they dont go down too fast. And make sure skimmer is capable of handling what is being sloughed off. One way you will know is if you begin to see cyano.

Thanks for the info. I did add some more EB yesterday, but not much. I live by the mantra that nothing good happens fast in a reef tank, and have for many years. I re-tested PO4 this weekend, and it's back down to zero (both in-tank and at the output of the GFO reactor). I couldn't figure out the PO4 blip last week until I went back through my aquarium log, which I've diligently kept since re-starting my 75 gallon reef last Spring. I dosed phyto a short while before testing last week (new clam; lots of sponges and other filter feeders), and think that's the culprit after reading up on how the stuff is cultured. Amazing how little changes can show up in water chemistry fairly quickly. So I think that my Hanna checker is working fairly well, but that my feeding gave me a temporary rise in PO4. Water is absolutely crystal clear; the clearest it's been in a long time, and the tank has a "beach" smell to it now (having grown up on the water in Fla, it's unmistakeable, but hard to explain, and it's not that "low tide" smell either).

shellynjason · May 14, 2013

So last Thursdays p04 reading was .10 ... then I went on vacation for the last four days and could not feed the tank. And just now checked p04 and it is .13.
(my 10% water change was on last Wednesday afternoon). So no new water and no food for four days yet p04 crept back up. Alk dropped to 7 this week , from the steady 8 it was at for the month. Every thing looks healthy though and I had a coraline algea growth spurt this weekend while gone -new pink dots all over my new frag shelf.