Reactor question

[JBradford]

I know I've seen the answer to my question in a post before but I can't seem to find it again. I'm a week into running new reactors, both are 150 phosbands from 2 little fishies, 1 for carbon and 1 for biopellets. I started them off at 1/2 the recommended dosage and I know I'm supposed to increase to full strength over time. But my question is what kind of time frame should I increase the dosage. Add the other half over a month? 6 months? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Bpb]

I would actually be testing nitrates fairly often, every couple days at first for a few weeks until you see them level off. If you're trying to go ULNS and want to do things like dose individual trace elements and lots of amino acids/carbohydrates ect, then aim for zero, if you're just wanting to keep your nitrates in a manageable zone with just fish feeding and no other supplementing, aim for somewhere between 1-10ppm nitrates. Let your test dictate how many pellets you run.

Also for what it's worth, I never run rox 0.8 carbon in a reactor. It works too well. Strips the water and really irritates corals when I do. Others results may vary. I run rox 0.8 at 1/2 strength, passively in a media bag in a turbulent area of the sump. If you're using cheaper carbon like Lignite or Bituminous, a reactor is fine, just increase the strength by an extra tablespoon at a time every time you swap out the carbon, every 2-4 weeks I would guess


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DrPheel]

What is your plan with the bio-pellets ? not many people seem to understand the use of them. For carbon , I run a cup for every 100G of water and you don't need to do 1/2 recommended dose just make sure you swap it out monthly as it can leach stuff back into your tank when its saturated. As for the pellets, if you don't have a massive bio-load and trouble with your Nitrates don't even bother as it will be a issue in the long run.

Tell me a bit about your setup ( size, bio load , ect ) and il explain to you what the pellets will be doing for you. Most of the time its a **** show waiting to happen :(

[JBradford]

Sorry for the delayed response, work has been hectic and hasn't afforded me much free time for forums.

The tank setup is 90 gal DT, 20 gal sump, skimmer which I tend to skim dry, carbon reactor, and biopellet reactor. 75 lbs mixed rock with probably 20 lbs being live when I bought it, and about a 2 inch sand bed. I also run an ato so my water levels stay consistent, and I do weekly water changes, every Saturday, using fritz pro salt.

Bio - various coral, couple nems. 1 foxface, 1 yellow candy hogfish, 1 xmas wrasse, 1 clown, 1 diamond goby, and 1 porky puffer (I know I need a tank upgrade for him at some point he's little right now less than 4 inches long).

Because of the porky and the hogfish my CUC is down to nothing but three snails. And I'm not 100% sure why they haven't had their way with those three either. From research, talking to a couple local reefers, and couple lfs I decided to start the biopellets to help with the lack of CUC. Also because of the lack of CUC and how messy of an eater the porky is I have a bad algae problem mostly long hair green. I have a 3rd reactor for phosban of some sort to help with algae but I haven't put it online yet (that's my plan for this weekend actually, I've been waiting because I've read it can compete with the biopellets)

That's where I'm at. I'm new at this and learning everyday but by no means feel I know it all so I'll gladly take some more advice.

[JBradford]

I would actually be testing nitrates fairly often, every couple days at first for a few weeks until you see them level off. If you're trying to go ULNS and want to do things like dose individual trace elements and lots of amino acids/carbohydrates ect, then aim for zero, if you're just wanting to keep your nitrates in a manageable zone with just fish feeding and no other supplementing, aim for somewhere between 1-10ppm nitrates. Let your test dictate how many pellets you run.

Also for what it's worth, I never run rox 0.8 carbon in a reactor. It works too well. Strips the water and really irritates corals when I do. Others results may vary. I run rox 0.8 at 1/2 strength, passively in a media bag in a turbulent area of the sump. If you're using cheaper carbon like Lignite or Bituminous, a reactor is fine, just increase the strength by an extra tablespoon at a time every time you swap out the carbon, every 2-4 weeks I would guess


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Im using Fritz Pro carbon, supporting my LFS in that one. Probably will look into other brands when it's gone. And biopellets are Two Little Fishies NPX.