New reactor design for bio pellets reactor
 

Yesterday i cleaned my bio pellets reactor and got to say i did not like cleaning it so I did some searching for new toy and see this thread

http://reefbuilders.com/2011/10/23/a...in-biopellets/


With the unique way of side spinning pellets, I am curious if it will reduce pellets clogging problem, thus reduce the cleaning part.

Your thoughts?

I have a Vertex UF-20 with a Mag 5 pump (also run my chiller off the same pump), and it works beautifully. I ramped mine up gradually, but eventually had the full 1000 ml Vertex pellet bag in it, and it was tumbling nicely right to the top. I have been running it now for about 6 months and have never had any pellets clumping or clogging. What's important though, is not to use the sponge filters. Instead I used a mesh both top and bottom.

I have 3 NextReef MR1 and I imagine its like most other reactors, water flows in threw 2 holes in the bottom. From what I see of these is there is a series of small holes in 4 rows inside where the pellets are. I could easily see this working much better and might just have to modify one of my reactors to give it a go.

hmm interesting, don't you get clogging with all the mulms got created? I ran mine on deltec fr 509 with no sponge but eventually it will clog up over time.

what interesting me in this design is that it spin the pellets around instead of tossing it up toward the out let, which make it less logging. I am not sure how to modify my reactor to make it spin like that

I too have 1000 ml in my reactor and have not had them clog up but I am running a 2500 gph pump dedicated on them as well.

This is exactly what I do as well except I use a Mag 7 which runs the Vertex pellet rector, a BRS reactor for carbon and a TLF reactor for GFO.

I have never had mine clog, and never clean it. The only maintenance is to pour in more pellets when it gets low (about every 3 months).

If your reactor is tumbling properly, there is no mulm. All the bacteria stays with the pellets as they slowly dissolve. I've heard that tumbling too fast is not good either.

Also, I use MB7, which seeds the right bacteria for these pellets. And I have never had a cyano problem either, and I use the full 1000 ml bag for my 100 g tank. The trick, I think, is to ramp up slowly, and heavy use of MB7 initially.

I bought one of these back in November, but still have not put it online yet. Also with potential tank upgrade, I might just hold it off till then.

Will provide a quick review when I have it up and running.

Mine ran great for a year in a TLF 500. I have about 500ml in my tank. Just recently the reactor has been fine, but the HOSE is the one clogging. I have this Tee'd off my return with LOTS of flow, but so much mulm builds up in the hose that once it clogged it was continuing to clog daily for a week or 2. I replaced the hose 2 times during this only to have the new hose clog and get cleaned out, swapped direction and it would run for another day. Anyways... to fix it I changed how the TLF used flow so that i could get a better less turbulent turnover. I removed the bottom plate, and since the top plate is attached with a rubber fitting, I directed the bottom of the downspout to the edge of the reactor. This causes everything to turnover in a nice roll, seems to work well. No more clogging :D.

These new reactors seem to do that(just sideways), and the large spout size looks like it would provide enough flow with a smaller pump. My TLF with a MJ1200 wouldn't get anything close to the turnover I wanted because of the small openings, these would probably work well with a MJ since there would be little back pressure.

any chance you can show us how your pellets tumble?

So i guess the key for success is fast flow and soaked pellets very well

coleus - have a look at the new reef dynamic biopellet reactors. dedicated tumbling pump which has enough suction to pull in water from your sump as well. its hard to explain but you will understand after you see the videos on their product page. there is some very good info on bio pellets and there use that you might like to see.

http://www.reefdynamics.com/Reef-Dyn...s-p/bpr135.htm

2500 gph, wow that is crazy haha. I used mj1200 on mine, probably that is why it is keep logging

thanks, will check this out.

With my reactor filled with 1000 ml of pellets it's a little more then half full & with the pump on the pellets only get to about 3" from the top. The only time I tune off the pump is to put more pellets in.

OK, will try to get a vid of it and post the You-tube link here.

here is link to mine http://www.youtube.com/embed/UaEi5WkkMUg

I think the tumbling is ok but eventually it will clog because of the mulms. I am using MJ1200 pump right now but if i put a higher pump, the pellets get tossed to the top and clog right there or passed through the screen.

OK, here is mine. Sorry for the really crappy vid, though. Only had my BB available. That line in the middle is the water line in the sump, in case you were wondering. But it does show the amount of tumbling in my UF-20. It is only about half full now, and needs to be filled up again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU94i...QKxohK_Q4dg-E2

Ok i don't get it, mine pellets are tumbling similar to your but after a week or so, mulms start to get clogged at the top screen

Sorry, but I missed what brand pellet reactor you have? Mine is the Vertex UF-20 using a Mag 5 pump, but also running through my chiller. It has 3/4 diameter tubing, so can handle quite a bit of flow. It is tall, and takes a very small footprint, which I like, too.

I replaced (as recommended for bio pellets) the top and bottom foam screens with mesh. If I left the foam ones in place, for sure they would clog. When I fill it with 1000 ml pellets, it is tumbling about 2 inches below the top, but not high enough to stick to the mesh screen and clog.

I do wash the pellets in warm water and soak over night first before adding to the reactor. I started off very slowly, though, and took about a month or more, before I filled it up to the top. And I use that MB7 as mentioned before.

But, no, have never had them clog, and always tumbled nicely, even after a few power outages (up to 6 hours), they always started up fine. And I don't have any mulm anywhere, in my tank, or sump. I also feed the output of my reactor to the input of my skimmer.

I push my dual Vertex UF-20s with 1000gph and like you, mine clogs over time too. However, the clogging is not due to the mulm. My reactor plate holes at the top (and bottom sometimes) clogs with all sorts of sponges and other organisms that thrive in the reactor :sad: A thorough cleaning is just part of the maintenance schedule for me.

I use vertex pellets and Deltec fr 509 reactor with MJ 1200. I soak my pellets over night too. Maybe i should plump the outlet right into my skimmer and share the same skimmer feeding pump.

Gonna try that and see. Thanks for sharing your experience

What Kien? You are back ? no wonder the weather is so freaking COLD today hahaha. You are right, not just the mulms but i all got all sort of organism got stuck and require cleaning which i HATE. Prefer set it and leave it way

That sounds like too much flow for the UF-20. My Mag 5 (spec is 500 gph) is probably running at about 3 or 400 gph, after going through my chiller.

Also, are you using a mesh at the top and bottom plates? Without those, my pellets would escape, and as mentioned before, the foam screens would clog. And the foam screens would also require a higher flow pump.

Also, what pellets are you using? I use the Vertex Probio Pellets. Haven't tried any others.

Like I said, mine takes no maintenance, other than adding pellets every 3 months, and no build up of stuff inside the reactor.

Not sure what kind of skimmer you have, but I have a needle wheel with air venturi input pump on mine, and would not want to mess with changing the input. I just have the outlet tubing from my reactor just close to my skimmer input. I think that is important, so the skimmer gets rid of any mulm.

I had a really dirty mature tank with very high nitrates and phosphates. It is amazing how clean it is now, algae all gone, and rocks nice and clean, and building coralline again on them. I am going to reset it in a couple months, but almost doesn't need it now after running this reactor. But I don't like my current sand bed, so am still going to do it.

My skimmer was also pulling a lot of really dark and very smelly skimmate, so it was doing its job, too.

For one UF-20, probably yes. I have two of them in series and the pump is dialed back a bit so it's not quite 1000gph.

yes I'm back and I brought the cold because it was just too damn hot in Florida :neutral:

Stop being so lazy and suck it up butter cup!

lol butter cup. Hmmm who has not changed the water for a month?... not me...

Looks like you had a great time in Florida, post more picts on facebook you lazy ass, welcome back to the COLD.

I have BK 200 deluxe running, it does pull lots of dark brown skimmate but still get so much mulms or sponge in reactor, will try to move the outlet close to feeding pump and see if it helps

Are you using MB7? And how long have you been running your pellet reactor? I think it takes a while to build up the right kind of bacteria for the pellets to do their job, and not produce mulm. Are you by chance also dosing vodka? Have heard that produces a lot of mulm.

what is MB7? i have mine running for 2 years now and no vodka dosing. Lots of mulm and lots of Scypha sponges

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s..._ID=bw-bac0500

OK, if your not using MB7 or something like it, that could definitely be your problem. This stuff really works. Dose heavily to start off, and then a cap about once a week.

Give it a try, and also feeding into your skimmer and see what happens. Hopefully your mulm will disappear. Let us know what happens.

I dosed zeovit already so not sure if i want to dose anything else, maybe zeovit is the problem. As i remmember, i did not have the clogging problem for 6 months or so into running pellets but it is getting worse and worse now after 2 years running it.