Is that a typo? 900ghp? That seems like alot for a little TLF reator, much more than what I was planning. I was gearing towards 500gph or so. Guess I have to rethink my reactor again.

haha sorry that was a typo. Meant to say maxijet 900 with 230 gph. :-)

Im running 500ml on a TLF with a MJ1200 going full blast

x2 !
My point exactly, with fast flow how can bacteria have time to consume anything?

Unless the idea behind this (like was mentioned by Ian) is not to get anaerobic, and bacteria will consume what ever is attached to the individual pellet.
I have to report though that bubble algae is disappearing slowly, i used to have quite a bit of it and now almost nothing (!).
But there was one change, i started using Coral Snow and Zeo bak, so i don't know yet if i am convinced, but hey this is fun !

ordered mine last night due to this thread. also placed an order with another company for some new digital aquatics gear seeing as ive run out of space on my power bar's. I also has a plan for sponge replacement on reactor that might work out well.

I think the difference here is biology, Kien and RuGlu6. Slow flow through a media reactor to increase contact time is typically based on chemical absorption and binding with carbon and GFO. Bacteria on the other hand, in ideal growing conditions, can proliferate insanely fast. It's not unheard of for bacteria colonies to double their population in a matter of minutes. Well, anyone who's suffered through a dinoflagellate bloom in their tank has seen this with their own eyes. This is also why bacterial based ULNS trumps algal based nutrient reductions, for example (not that algae doesn't work, but it grows slower).

Ah! That makes total sense! Guess I'll crank it up and strap on a MJ1200 this weekend :-D

I think that falls fro different media. The biopelets probibaly do not need the contact time like Rowa or carbon?

I tried using enkamat and found the pellets still get through quite easily. I then used quilting mesh and its working very well in keeping the pellets in the phosban reactor while allowing the mj1200 to flow at max.

Sorry, but as someone who doesn't quilt a whole lot, could you please post a picture so I can know what it looks like? Please and thank you?

hey Tony
For the record I don't quilt either and i'm sensing a tone of mockery of my feminine side :)
to prove my lack of quilting abilities, its actually a needlepoint mesh that I'm using. I saw it in the fabric section of any craft store and its been very usefull in many DIY applications. They come in many different mesh sizes too.
Here's a youtube video of what it looks like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30xYy_JlT8Q

Oops I was typing the same time as Chin_Lee
Tony, Walmart has it, it's plastic needlepoint canvas like a big window screen, it's the same stuff used in making viv's to wrap the eggcrate.

You can sort of see it on top of the eggcrate.
I'm using a double layer of enkamat and single layer canvas.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...s/IMG_1428.jpg

Window screen has been working for me. Not the metal stuff, make sure it's plastic.

I can just picture all those crazed reefers aimlessly wandering hardware and craft stores looking for that perfect perforated material.. :lol: I get very strange looks when a salesperson asks me what I'm going to be using something for.. :biggrin:

Woot got my pellets today. Thanks Ian for super fast shipping. Going to hook it up tonight and will give everyone update after 1 week :-)

Your tellin me. You should have seen some looks at the building supply store when I was building my 7'l Powdercoating oven!
"I'm building an oven" "HUH?" "Ya a walk in Oven" "Huh?"

LOL! Nice! Sometimes they want you to explain.. and at that point I just give up. Just help me find the damn part, it is not for you to understand!

Help! My Phosban reactor keep leaking and i can't fit it into my sump. is it because i have too much flow? I am using 500ml with MJ1200. What the heck i am doing wrong? I really hand tight it.

Is it just one phosban reactor or do you have it daisy chained (hooked up) to a second phosban? Sometimes when people daisy chain them and put a restricting device like a valve at the outlet it causes back preassure in the phosban which will cause it to leak. Sometimes even clogged up second phosban will cause the first phosban to build up enough preasure to cleak. Are you using the sponges? Is it leaking out of the main head or out of one of the nozzles?

It is leaking the main head. I cut the sponges into half like in your thread. I do not daisy chained to anything.

if needed Ill ship you a replacment oring if you can fix it by monday

Is your flow control valve on the inlet side of the reactor or the outlet? If it's on the outlet side, switch it around to the inlet side (ie. between powerhead and reactor). This way the reactor can't pressure up. Also check to see all hoses are seated all the way in. Sometimes when that's not enough you can take some twist ties, or zap straps, and squeeze the hoses onto the fittings, or the rubber ends onto the hose inserts. Last but not least open up the reactor and check that the O-ring is still in there, and that there isn't a little bit of debris interfering with the seal.

It's not the flow, my carbon reactor leaks like crazy if I let it, and I run way slower flow through it. I had to do all of the above to make it stop leaking.

agreed flow has nothing to do with the leaks

Thanks you for your kind offer.

My control valve is between the reactor and maxijet, I don't get leaking from hose, it is from the lid. I open it up and the o-ring is still there. I am going to try put some tape and see if it is still leaking tomorrow, Right now, I tilt it so that the leaking water going into my sump. I also notice by tilting it, i got my pellets bouncing nicely.

the oring in one of my reactors was a little small than it should be. i had to stretch it out a little bit and then quickly install the oring and screw on the lid in order for it to sit properly. give that a try

Pm me on monday and let me know because I bought a couple extra orings because I had the sam problem.

Cheers
Ray

Hey Ray,

Where do you order extra orings?
Thanks

I got mine from J&L. they dont always have them in stock tho thats why i bought a couple when they did.

Cheers
Ray

You can also get O-rings from Rona and Home Depot, but you'll kind of have to peruse the selection to find one the right diameter and thickness..

you could also try hi-tech seal's

i saw a healthy selection of orings at Lordco if you have one nearby

Large and difficult sized o-rings are sometimes expensive and hard to find. In the past I purchased the required OD o-ring material off the roll and cut/glued the size to fit.

Not sure if this method helps but it worked great for what I was doing.

Just to give you guys a heads up.
using pellets since Dec 30. the cheato colony totally collapsed yesterday,
looks like there is some nutrient depletion going on. Also noticing hair algae collapsing as well (noticeably easier to grab and dispose of the hair algae).
jmtcw

I am not sure if low nutrient is good for my tank beacause it is mostly LPS.

i have got some LPS as well, so i feed them more directly now with Cyclopeze, reefroids etc.

My one day update. I emptied my skimmer cup yesterday and now i notice the color is dark brown instead of dark green that i used to get. My nitrate is reading at 15, will update the reading after one week.

So to solve the leaking problem i have to tilt the reactor a bit so any leaking will go into the sump. The same thing happens to my other reactor :-( I use both reactors for pellets now, 500ml on each. For carbon, I just put in a bag and put it into my filter sock.

I am seeing some real changes now... Algae on glass is dead and just hanging on, I am not touching it, as I don't want to pollute water anymore, letting the fish and cleaning crew clean things up. Some areas of rock that had fine algae do not anymore, the algae is dead and is brownish and just hanging on. Again letting the fish and cleaning crew clean things up.

The skimmers are going crazy, lots of skimmate and the days of green tinged skimmate is also gone. The color is brown to dark brown, again an indication of no live algae.

So, today I took one step further, since I am using a large Deltec Fluidizer with MJ 1200, I had room left inside. So I now am running approx. 1.5L of NP BioPellets along with my current 1.5L of Zeolites.

I still have new Zeolites in bags, so will keep running them, but once I have used them up, I am considering the next step to be removing the ZeoRX.


On a sad note: I have had a mandarin since pretty well the beginning of my tank setup, it has been about 5 days now and I have not seen him. So after about 1.5 years I think he fell victim to a crab, mantis or maybe is in my right side overflow (however I am unable to check it as it is against the wall). He was beautiful, rest in peace if you are gone.

curiuous. why remove the zeostones?

Well to see if the Pellets can keep things going, and if so, then I don't have to bother pumping reactor everyday, don't have to buy stones and so on. Would make things even easier. But if by chance things were changing for the worse, I would put them back in. Personally I haven't had much luck with the Zeolites, not like I have with the BioPellets.

Backorder status....

New order of Biopellets arriving later this week; however, we have very few 500ml bags so anyone looking to order will have to go with the 1000ml instead. Better value anyway.

Cheers!