Fishie August 4, 2014 Share August 4, 2014 so I had a thread out with my failed attempt to do vodka and vinegar dosing . now I am going to do Carbon Dosing with biopellets. I just got the following 1) hydra aquatics FR-45 reactor 2) Ecobak Plus biopellets I still continue to use prodibio ...don't know if its doing anything good though. will post results and pics of everything as I document it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 August 4, 2014 Share August 4, 2014 Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie August 5, 2014 Author Share August 5, 2014 unboxed , the fr-45 was larger than i thought, well made...plumbed everything in and connected directly to skimmer took roughly 200ml of the biopellets..gonna go slow this time...and soaked in ro water.. ill add them in tomorrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelin911 August 5, 2014 Share August 5, 2014 Definitely start slow, maybe even slower than you think is wise then slowly up the amount. I thought I went light the first time I used them but it still caused issued for me. Good luck! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der ABT August 5, 2014 Share August 5, 2014 Don't add them straight away ...run them in a 5g bucket with a heater add some mb7 or bacteria of your choice and let it go until it turns the water milky aka algae bloom. Then throe it in the tank....get them seeded this way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie August 5, 2014 Author Share August 5, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie August 5, 2014 Author Share August 5, 2014 Don't add them straight away ...run them in a 5g bucket with a heater add some mb7 or bacteria of your choice and let it go until it turns the water milky aka algae bloom. Then throe it in the tank....get them seeded this way uhhh wish i read this before i soaked them overnight and threw in...maybe ill do this for few of them when i add next time? i do dose with prodibio...so should i just dump prodibio in the media outlet next time ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie August 5, 2014 Author Share August 5, 2014 (edited) i took the reactor FR-45 outlet and instead of dropping it over with the fixed PVC they had into the sump...i ran flexible pvc pipe (black) to the skimmer pump ...which you can see in the 2nd pic ..its at the bottom of the sump...black PVC pipe from reactor outlet goes to elbow connected to T -PVC which has the straight end direct to the skimmer pump and one end open for normal sump water to enter my return pump feeds the reactor itself..which is the 2nd pic big blue knob ...i adjusted it so they are all moving and not having mayhem in there Edited August 5, 2014 by Fishie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2nhle August 7, 2014 Share August 7, 2014 Thank you for sharing. Any update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 7, 2014 Share August 7, 2014 uhhh wish i read this before i soaked them overnight and threw in...maybe ill do this for few of them when i add next time? i do dose with prodibio...so should i just dump prodibio in the media outlet next time ? It takes a lot longer to seed them in the tank than in a bucket as you are not concentrating the bacteria in the tank but depending on what flows through to colonize. When you run it in a bucket the bacteria is very concentrated and will start to colonize the beads quicker and then will start to move off into the water. It took about 2-3 days in the bucket when I added biopellets for it to turn cloudy but then when I added it onto my system it never got cloudy again. The biopellets are dissolving, but not very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie August 7, 2014 Author Share August 7, 2014 I added couple vials of prodibio directly through the media port , turned off skimmer, uv for a day ... so far they are just churning nothing happing yet...I think it will be 2 weeks or so before anything starts to happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 August 7, 2014 Share August 7, 2014 Best bet is probably to be patient anyhow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k August 7, 2014 Share August 7, 2014 I use BP reactors on 5 different tanks including my own. When initially seeded in the bucket, they work quicker but I'm seeing times of 2-4 months before they start to reduce N03 quickly. I usually put 1/2kg in small reactors and a full kilo in a large one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie August 18, 2014 Author Share August 18, 2014 i noticed my flow starting to reduce in the reactor...it was the sponge on the top of it that starts to clog reducing flow... so i am thinking of remove the sponge...and then attaching a filter sock at the end of the pipe leading to the skimmer side..this way i can easily remove anything large that goes through and i don't limit my flow at all... its also easy to clean the pipe/filter sock ...than opening the reactor and cleaning the foam pad still nothing happening with the pellets...just being patient with it...don't expect anything until maybe 2 weeks later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie September 6, 2014 Author Share September 6, 2014 don't see anything happening just yet...so i am adding another 250ml of biopellets...should put me close to 500ml recommendation is 1000ml for 200gal water volume... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2nhle September 8, 2014 Share September 8, 2014 Tagging along. Thank you for keeping us update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie January 5, 2015 Author Share January 5, 2015 after about 5 months now of running biopellets I am not seeing anything that would indicate it is having a large impact for the good on my system. I did see such results much quicker when I tried vinegar and vodka...so I am now trying a hybrid solution the theory is that with my biopellets established the addition of vodka provides more place for the beneficial bacteria to grow in the reactor .. I have started with just 1ml per day of vodka I am not using any vinegar this time...only vodka as for coral growth everything is growing well...but not all are coloring up well. here is a list for SPS good growth and good color - setosa, rommels watermelon, red planet, ora pearlberry, tyree TDF, JF psunami, Red Dragon, gard bonsai, Oregon Tort, Purple Monster good growth and Poor color - pink lemonade more brownish, Shock Tart should be dark green/purple and red but is all pale green currently , cc needle in a haystack light pinkish atm, ultimate rainbow light purple/brown i have a strawberry shortcake that at times shows good color /growth then flips to the reverse so haven't locked that down yet. most of all i think they need stability which with all my experimenting im not sure i have provided...although its getting there and i don't expect to be making any more drastic changes. KH 8.5 ( working on lowering this to around 7) CA 420 MG 1370 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 January 5, 2015 Share January 5, 2015 Interesting to see if the addition of vodka helps. Any change in your readings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k January 6, 2015 Share January 6, 2015 all corals will not always be full of color depending on what other corals are present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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