I was getting about half this much before using the pellets. So I assume they are doing what they are supposed to be.

After 14 days of running the N-P Reducing pellets and MicroBacter7 the results are:

1. nitrates reduced from 20 to 10 on Salifert and Elos kits
2. darker, thicker skimmate
3. clearer water
4. cyano completely cleared up

Very promising so far! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

I never even noticed you cad cyano.....couldnt take my eyes off the amazing livestock long enough i guess :)

It was just starting to break out when you were here, then got fairly ugly in the next few weeks.

After 3 weeks of running the pellets and no water changes the nitrate level seems to have leveled off at 10. Which is a whole lot better than before the pellets when I was having to change 10% of the water weekly to keep the nitrates under 20. (Saved $25 in salt already!) :biggrin:

Lance, are you running the full dose of pellets?

I am now. I was only running a half dose for the first two weeks because that is all I had. The rest of my order came earlier this week.

Ah ok, good to know. Be interesting to see what happens when you add the other half :biggrin:

After coming back from holidays I was pleased to see the tank in good shape. Three weeks without a water change and the nitrates measured out at 10 ppm. The N-P reducing pellets are working better than I had hoped. :biggrin:

Welcome back Lance.....good to hear the tank did well while you were gone......Its also good to hear about the bio-lentils.....*I wonder if I could add a couple more fish if I stared using them:mrgreen:*....thats a pretty dramatic improvement you've seen.......sounds like its kinda like time realeased carbon dosing huh?......We will be getting them at the shop soon:twised:

Thanks Doug. It was nice to come home to healthy tanks. 17 days away was the longest stretch to date and I must admit I did stress a bit from time to time, but the Dos Equis and tequila mellowed me out again. Are you thinking of trying the pellets?

mmmmmm tequilla:wink: (cabo)..........Im not sure I really need to, but they do intrige me.....Tony tested my trates awhile back with his fancy gadget and they tested out at 5......but like I said....if using them could mean readings of 0.....then I could probably add a fish or.....um three:mrgreen:.....you must be excited about your results!

Yes, very much so. I've been battling nitrates in this tank from day one. Very frustrating. All SPS are now doing much better. Even seeing some decent growth now. :biggrin:

Lance how are you running the pellets? You should be closer to zero by now. Let me know how you have them and let's see what can do to break through that 10 barrier. Mine levelled off at 10 too as you might recall but literally FELL to zero within days of fixing things.

To give you an idea of what's going on in my tank: 14 fish, fed 5 times per day via autofeeder, plus nori once or twice a day, plus mysis once per day, PLUS frozen krill or whatever the eel eats .. and zero nitrates.

Tony, I'm running the pellets in a Phosban reactor with an MJ-1200. 18 fish (65") fed twice a day plus nori once per day. 70g sump with live rock and chaeto, MR-3 skimmer with dual Becketts, Phosban Reactor running Rowaphos and BRS Reactor running carbon. I was dosing MicroBacter7 to jump start the bacteria growth but haven't dosed since I left for vacation.

holt crap Tony you feed alot i thought that i was bad 3-4 times with flakes and brine

Holy mother of pearls!!! Man, and I thought I was overfeeding. Compared to Tony I am virtually starving my fish! :lol: that's it I'm cranking up the autofeeder! Thanks to the pellets my nitrates ran to zero pretty quick. I didn't have a lot of the clumping issues that people are having but running the pellets in a TLF phosban is kind of annoying and I will be getting a bigger reactor.

You don't need to seed them with bacteria. I took mine offline, cleaned them in tapwater and let them dry out for 3 days and then put them back online and the reactor was emitting zero nitrate effluent within a day.

How much are they moving in your reactor, and do you have any foam or enkamat on the output?

They don't dump a lot in at a time but enough to keep the fish chasing the pellets for a minute or so.

I didn't used to feed this often but I wanted to see how far I can push the pellets. Smaller feedings more often is a more natural approach IMO.

Plus with the flukes thing, I wanted to make sure everyone was eating so that their immunities were fully charged, so to speak.

They tumble pretty good, all the way from the bottom to the top. I took the top foam out and replaced it with fine plastic mesh.

How high up the reactor are they running when moving?

If it were me, I'd take the filter right out, and take out enough pellets so that it can run full bore without burping any pellets into the sump. No more than 1/2 - 2/3 up the reactor.

And save up for a MR-1 reactor (actually it's pretty cheap all things considered).

They run about 2/3 of the way up the reactor. Where can one get the MR-1 reactor?

Oceanic Corals sell them http://www.oceaniccorals.com/store/i...&productId=131

Got mine from Oceanic - http://www.oceaniccorals.com/store/i...&productId=131

There's also a slightly larger version for $20 more (http://www.oceaniccorals.com/store/i...&productId=132 ) if you really want to go nuts (actually I think there are 2 to 3 sizes up technically).

I think one could already easily run 2litres of pellets without any output foam in the standard sized one though.

Ordered the MR-1 last night.

:laluot_08: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
I've been running the N-P Reducing Pellets for awhile now and can't get the nitrate level below 10 whereas Tony and some others have seen their levels drop to 5 and lower. Although 10 is much better than the 20 to 25 range it was at before the pellets, I want it lower yet. Out of curiosity I tested the saltwater in the 32 gal Rubbermaid trash can I mix it in: Nitrates = 10 (WTF!) So I then mixed up 5 gals of SW and measured it: Nitrates = 0 I mix my saltwater 2 days before I need it, so in 2 days nitrates go from 0 to 10! :surprise: No wonder I'm having trouble with nitrate levels in the tank. I better find myself a better water container and throw this trash can in the trash can. I have a 50 gal food safe container for the RO water, so I better get another one for SW. For those of you who are using Rubbermaid containers, it might be a good idea to check the nitrate levels in your water.

Whooooo Hooooo! 3 weeks with no water change and the nitrates are still under 5. :whoo:
Cyano is gone; turf algae is almost gone; over-stocked tank and fat fish. Man, I love these pellets!

:mmph:Lance where did you pick up the food grade container? All mine are Rubbermaid. And I need water and lots of it. :sad:

Thats great Lance.....time for another fish?:biggrin:


Most UFAs will carry schtuff like that Leah.....I could say something here about rubber but.....:tape2:

Leah, I got it from a local water supplier. It wasn't cheap though. $150. :sad:

Nothing wrong with Rubbermade, Leah. Give em a rinse and good to go.

Doug, do people really still use rubber anymore. :redface: Do YOU??? :wink:

$150 :eek: ,

I picked up my 50g food grade container from rainbow valley feeds for $20

Thanks Marie!... much better price :biggrin:

I went around all the feed and plant stores looking for rain barrels. The feed store had these food grade barrels available....I had to cut the top off though.

Mine used to contain caramel syrup....

I went there asking for food grade containers and they told me they didn't have anything. :sad:

Your just not pretty enough Lance:razz:.....maybe send someone with.....um ......other assets next time:wink:

Huh! My wife tells me I'm pretty quite often ............. "You're pretty stubborn!" or her favourite, "You're pretty single-minded!"

Was that before or after or during the little incident? :wink:

No the incident was: "You're pretty _ _ _ _ _ _ _ stupid!"