Pellet Users Poll: Flow

[thebanker]

Please take a second to vote on how much flow your pellets get vs. their perceived and / or documented effectiveness. I realize this is a subjective poll, because every person could be using a different volume of pellets in a different reactor, with a different flow pattern, etc.

[mark54321]

I have been using pellets for six months now in my 120gal. heavy stocked SPS tank and found out that for me the best results is that they are barely moving,almost not at all. My NO3 and PO4 readings are 0 and 0.02 respectively. My corals grow fast and colors are very vibrant.I have 14 fish total.I have 750 ml. of pellets.

[thebanker]

Thanks. Good to know what's working for you.

[Scej12]

Please take a second to vote on how much flow your pellets get vs. their perceived and / or documented effectiveness. I realize this is a subjective poll, because every person could be using a different volume of pellets in a different reactor, with a different flow pattern, etc.

Hey Mikey - thanks for setting up this poll - should help a lot if it gets the participation. I would also like to see parameters listed so that we can dig deeper into understanding the system, as well as it's possible effects.

My Prototype system is as follows:

- 500G total volume converting from a fish only (under-maintained) system into a thriving reef;
- LPS softies and Montipora's added 3 months ago with Nitrates 160+ ppm; Phosphates 1.5 ppm
- used gfo to bring phosphates down to .5 before taking off line;
- after 3 mos. the nitrates are down to approx. 40-60ppm
- approx. 3L of pellets running for the last 2 weeks. Lower 1/3 of reactor is slow flow, upper 2/3 of reactor is moderate flow. Nitrates appear to be dropping slightingly faster with apparent reason to believe the system should drop to 20ppm within a couple of weeks;
- pH has been slightly low even though dkH seems to be reasonable - just started supplementing with Alk dosing (kent pro buffer);

SG - 1.025
pH - 7.9 - 8.1
(using Alk to up this toward 8.2 - 8.4)
dkH - 9
Ca - 500-520
(Calc reactor CO2 supply cut off for weeks. Just took entire system completely off line)
- NO3 - 40-60ppm
(down from approx. 200)
PO4 - 0.5
(down from 1.5-2 with the help of gfo)

For the record - I do suspect that the extra biomass present [as a result of the bp process] is effecting additional load on the pH buffering system... i.e. might have to maintain higher dkH to keep natural range above 8.2. I know that the recommendation for dkH with ULNS is to not exceed 9, but I'm still curious to observe these parameters.

Sheldon

[s.reef]

Hey Mikey - thanks for setting up this poll - should help a lot if it gets the participation. I would also like to see parameters listed so that we can dig deeper into understanding the system, as well as it's possible effects.

My Prototype system is as follows:

- 500G total volume converting from a fish only (under-maintained) system into a thriving reef;
- LPS softies and Montipora's added 3 months ago with Nitrates 160+ ppm; Phosphates 1.5 ppm
- used gfo to bring phosphates down to .5 before taking off line;
- after 3 mos. the nitrates are down to approx. 40-60ppm
- approx. 3L of pellets running for the last 2 weeks. Lower 1/3 of reactor is slow flow, upper 2/3 of reactor is moderate flow. Nitrates appear to be dropping slightingly faster with apparent reason to believe the system should drop to 20ppm within a couple of weeks;
- pH has been slightly low even though dkH seems to be reasonable - just started supplementing with Alk dosing (kent pro buffer);

SG - 1.025
pH - 7.9 - 8.1
(using Alk to up this toward 8.2 - 8.4)
dkH - 9
Ca - 500-520
(Calc reactor CO2 supply cut off for weeks. Just took entire system completely off line)
- NO3 - 40-60ppm
(down from approx. 200)
PO4 - 0.5
(down from 1.5-2 with the help of gfo)

For the record - I do suspect that the extra biomass present [as a result of the bp process] is effecting additional load on the pH buffering system... i.e. might have to maintain higher dkH to keep natural range above 8.2. I know that the recommendation for dkH with ULNS is to not exceed 9, but I'm still curious to observe these parameters.

Sheldon

I noticed a slight drop in PH as well.

[DLANDINO]

I have been searching for this info as well and will tag along. I run a sump-less system and therefor can not plumb a reactor. So, I was contemplating trying my hand at pellets in a media bag in my deltec media chamber. There is water flow in this chamber but certainly not enough to "tumble" the pellets.

[JGYEAR]

System Specs
250 gallon total volume mixed reef
300 lb live rock/300 lb live sand
Reef Octopus 250 extreme dual pump protein skimmer
Korallin C-1502 Calcium reactor
(3) 250 watt 10,000K Metal Halide
(4) 39 watt T-5 Actinics
Aqua Controller to monitor system

SG - 1.025
pH - 8.2-8.3
dkH - 9-10
Ca - 520-530
NO3 - 0 ppm
PO4 - 0.5

The starting dose of BRS (PHA) Boipellets was 500ml two days ago (Flow in reactor is moderate). I will increase that to 750ml in four weeks.
I have carbon dosed for a year with vinegar mixed with kalk power to offset the ph affect of the vinegar and wish to move away from the daily dosing of the vinegar.
I know it's to early to see any changes yet. I will start posting updates weekly.