WM EcoBak Bio Pellet Tumble Rate in NextReef MR1

[Funky_Fish14]

Hey Folks,

So I just picked up a NextReef MR1 Reactor, and a 500ml can of Warner Marine's EcoBak ULNS Pellets.

The can calls for 250ml/ 50gal water volume... since I am just over 100(~120), I figure 500ml should be fine to start with and try out. The MR1 reactor suggests low flow rates (below 160gph) in general, not specifying any media type.
The Ecobak Pellet packaging says 100gph/liter of pellets. Now this means at half a liter, 50gph is the recommended flow. WTH? This is not what i hear for any sort of pellet flowrates? So I hooked up a Maxijet 600 (160gph) with a ball valve onto my reactor incase I was just crazy... but even with it running full-tilt... im getting hardly any movement of the pellets, if I shake the reactor they move around for a bit then just settle and stop.

Should I hook up a maxi-jet 1200 to this reactor, or better yet one of the extra Mag 3.5's I have sitting around? I feel like they should be tumbling a lot more... or maybe this reactor doesnt have to?

PS. I soaked the pellets for 4 hours in R/O water before putting them into my reactor, which is running hooked up to a pail of new R/O water which I plan to run for at least a day or two with the pellets in this R/O water before hooking up to the system.

Thanks!
Cheers,

Chris

[Funky_Fish14]

Ahh... I just found the Ecobak thread in the Reef Chemistry forum... however I didnt really find a direct answer to the flowrate... it seems it varies from person to person?

Also... should I remove the foams and put in the plastic mesh stuff used for knitting backing? I have some sitting around... but if I can just leave the foam I might as well.

Thanks for the help.

Chris

[Ward1]

Ahh... I just found the Ecobak thread in the Reef Chemistry forum... however I didnt really find a direct answer to the flowrate... it seems it varies from person to person?

Also... should I remove the foams and put in the plastic mesh stuff used for knitting backing? I have some sitting around... but if I can just leave the foam I might as well.

Thanks for the help.

Chris

I run the MJ1200 on a BRS reactor. The goal is to keep the entire load of pellets tumbling in the reactor. People are using diferant types of pumps/reactors so you just have to find the pump that does this for you.

The foam needs to come out asap. As the pellets break down it will produce this snot type stuff and will clog things up quickly. (24 hrs in mine)

[moondoggy4]

When you use the knitting stuff use 4 slip ties have the mesh up against the flow on top. For the bottom screen, between the bottom of the reactor and the first hard plastic screen. I would also use the Mag 3 or the MJ 1200 for which has the best flow.
I friend of mine use a mod for the Next reef MR1 he cut off the bottom piece with the two holes and then put a 3/4'' slip coupling on it and drilled a lot of holes all the way around it, this way the water flows evenly all the way around.
Another thing to try is a small magnet and put it inside the reactor and if the stuff get s clogged you just move the magnet to loosen it up.

[Funky_Fish14]

Ok, so what they claim about low flow is crap! Haha. Thanks for the responses. And I'll get that foam out too.

Cheers,

Chris

[Funky_Fish14]

Boo,

I took the foams out and put in the plastic knitting mesh... No worries. Swapped my pump up to a MJ1200... Not enough power to suspend all the pellets. So I switched up to a mag 3.5... and still... not all the pellets are suspended. The problem I believe is because of the holes in the bottom of the MR1 input under the media tray.. they are drilled on either side of the tube and only those areas of the pellets are getting agitated. Im thinking of just drilling the acrylic tube itself?

Cheers,

Chris

[MedRed]

Why did you go for an MR1 instead of an SMR1? I have 1000ml of ecobak in an SMR1 with a Mag Drive 3 and I have plenty of tumble (probably more than I need).

I think the issues I've seen with flow and tumbling with with bio pellets have been in reactors not optimized for them.

[Funky_Fish14]

Cause the only reactor the store had where I purchased was the MR1. I didnt really look into the reactors beforehand, the MR1 just looked like a decent unit. Now I seem to understand/read that the MR1 does need more juice than the SMR1. I read around 400gph?

[Funky_Fish14]

So I made a diffuser in hopes of fixing the flow problem.

Here is the problem part that causes only half of the pellets to get stirred up (in the reactor, this sits upside down from the pictorial orientation)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/Funky_Fish14/IMG00182-20110206-2154.jpg

The piece i made from 1" pvc coupler.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/Funky_Fish14/IMG00181-20110206-2152.jpg

Installed(w/ superglue) with the vertical parts slightly obstructing the outputs:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/Funky_Fish14/IMG00184-20110206-2155.jpg


And a video of the whole thing running. I am still not getting 100% tumble... A noticeable improvement throughout, but there is one dead spot.
So... the tumble rate, aside from in the dead spot... is this sufficient? Warner Marine Claims that their bio pellets dont need heavy waterflow/tumble.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/Funky_Fish14/th_reactortest.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/Funky_Fish14/?action=view&current=reactortest.mp4)


Thanks for the responses,

Chris

[MedRed]

That looks pretty good. Is it possible to make 2 more holes in the tubing? I imagine your your dead spots come from the covered up areas at the base of the tubing.

[Funky_Fish14]

The last dead area is from the vertical piece in the PVC obstructing the flow. However I notice after it has been running awhile... the major part of the dead spot is moving and shifting... There is just 1 small 1" section right at the bottom that hardly moves but the rest of the reactor is now moving. I think maybe I need to narrow that vertical piece on the PVC on that side, and it should solve it completely.

MedRed: I put the verticals on the PVC piece infront of each of the holes to direct some of the flow sideways, and it worked, directly opposit the holes the flow is crazy so now it is just the little PVC verticals, well just one on one side, slowing it. Again, that spot is mostly shifting now. I'll have to play with narrowing it a bit.

Thanks for the input!

Chris

[Funky_Fish14]

PS. I was using the PVC to avoid drilling my reactor. Also, drilling through that Acrylic tube would be a bit awkward as that diffuser plate is glued to the rod. I could remove it but at the risk of breaking it.

[johnnyb05]

you can try this. it works alot better then the plastic canvas. i did all sorts of mods on my reactor and this worked the best. the cone with a piece of plastic canvas at the top of reactor. it came at out a 6 volt flashlight. if you dont have maybe a small funnel can be modded. the video is long and boring lolhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7g7NcWCgbM&feature=player_detailpage

[campos]

Hey Folks,

So I just picked up a NextReef MR1 Reactor, and a 500ml can of Warner Marine's EcoBak ULNS Pellets.

The can calls for 250ml/ 50gal water volume... since I am just over 100(~120), I figure 500ml should be fine to start with and try out. The MR1 reactor suggests low flow rates (below 160gph) in general, not specifying any media type.
The Ecobak Pellet packaging says 100gph/liter of pellets. Now this means at half a liter, 50gph is the recommended flow. WTH? This is not what i hear for any sort of pellet flowrates? So I hooked up a Maxijet 600 (160gph) with a ball valve onto my reactor incase I was just crazy... but even with it running full-tilt... im getting hardly any movement of the pellets, if I shake the reactor they move around for a bit then just settle and stop.

Should I hook up a maxi-jet 1200 to this reactor, or better yet one of the extra Mag 3.5's I have sitting around? I feel like they should be tumbling a lot more... or maybe this reactor doesnt have to?

PS. I soaked the pellets for 4 hours in R/O water before putting them into my reactor, which is running hooked up to a pail of new R/O water which I plan to run for at least a day or two with the pellets in this R/O water before hooking up to the system.

Thanks!
Cheers,

Chris

I had the same issue so I am now running a maxi-jet 900. Works perfect

[campos]

Hey Folks,

So I just picked up a NextReef MR1 Reactor, and a 500ml can of Warner Marine's EcoBak ULNS Pellets.

The can calls for 250ml/ 50gal water volume... since I am just over 100(~120), I figure 500ml should be fine to start with and try out. The MR1 reactor suggests low flow rates (below 160gph) in general, not specifying any media type.
The Ecobak Pellet packaging says 100gph/liter of pellets. Now this means at half a liter, 50gph is the recommended flow. WTH? This is not what i hear for any sort of pellet flowrates? So I hooked up a Maxijet 600 (160gph) with a ball valve onto my reactor incase I was just crazy... but even with it running full-tilt... im getting hardly any movement of the pellets, if I shake the reactor they move around for a bit then just settle and stop.

Should I hook up a maxi-jet 1200 to this reactor, or better yet one of the extra Mag 3.5's I have sitting around? I feel like they should be tumbling a lot more... or maybe this reactor doesnt have to?

PS. I soaked the pellets for 4 hours in R/O water before putting them into my reactor, which is running hooked up to a pail of new R/O water which I plan to run for at least a day or two with the pellets in this R/O water before hooking up to the system.

Thanks!
Cheers,

Chris

I had the same issue so I am now running a maxi-jet 900. Works perfect

[pjcvsi]

I basically did the same thing as Johnnyb05, but used a plastic funnel that I trimmed with a pair of scissors to fit the reactor. I spent about $5.00 on a piece of PVC tubing, a coupler, and the funnel. It took an hour to get it setup.

It is working excellent. I did need to use a bigger pump to get the right amount of tumbling though - approx 300gph.

Johnny - thanks for the inspiration.

[sjorford]

One other thing you can try is upping the size of the plumbing connections on the MR1. The smr1 has larger tubing, i was experimenting and found that the smaller connections didn't allow enough flow to really do the job.

[UncleKen1313]

Hi. I know this is 2 years old. As an FYI for non do it yourselfers,
NextReef sells a BioPellet upgrade kit go their MR1 reactor.

It can found in their online store for about $20.

http://nextreef.gostorego.com/reactor-parts/mr1/upgrade-kit.html

[orly20]

Awesome Uncleken1313,

I am looking to get me the mr1 shorty reactor to run some bp.

Thanks

[moondoggy4]

Hi. I know this is 2 years old. As an FYI for non do it yourselfers,
NextReef sells a BioPellet upgrade kit go their MR1 reactor.

It can found in their online store for about $20.

http://nextreef.gostorego.com/reactor-parts/mr1/upgrade-kit.html

I shows you everything that you need and can buy for about 10 bucks at HD.

[Teaggs]

I plan on getting the MR1 just to run carbon. Is that okay or would I need to go to the larger model? The pump is going to be a tee off my mag 18 with a ball valve so I am sure I can get plenty of flow in there as needed. What about the sponges. Should I just go with the mesh right away and do away with sponges? Thanks