NPX-Xtra Beads BETA testing thread!

[Tom R]

My current system is 450G. I have been using ZEOvit for the last 2 + years.
I decided to go off the ZEOvit system last October mainly because of its cost. Since the end of January my tank has experienced a number of issues.

I decided to use NP BioPellets to control both nitrates and phosphates in my system as one of the problems since discontinuing ZEOvit was a breakout of algae.

On April 10 I added 1000 ml of NP pellets, I wanted to ramp up the use of BioPellets over a 3 month period.

I decided to convert my 3 liter ZEOvit reactor into a fluidized pallet reactor. I added a mesh mode to the upper and lower lids of the ZEOvit reactor. My ZEOvit reactor uses a Sedra KSP2500 pump and with 1000 ml of pellets about 2/3 of the pellets would tumble. The Sedra 2500 was not strong enough to tumble all of the pellets in the 6 inch wide reactor.

On May the 25 I added another 550 ml of the original pallets. The Sedra 2500 was unable to tumble the pellets at this point. As I had a Mag 7 sitting on the shelf, I swapped out the Sedra 2500 for the Mag 7. This now tumbled the pellets very well. Today I added another 625 ml of the new smaller pellets to the reactor and they are tumbling very nicely.

As I have been experiencing a Cyno outbreak since introducing the pellets I have been dosing 45 ml of Brightwells MB7 a week and this is slowly reducing the Cyno Bacteria in my tanks. To dose the MB7 I shut off both the Pellet reactor and my Skimmer. I then add 45 ml of the MB7 to the Pellet reactor and stir it up. I then let the Pellet reactor sit for a couple of hours with the pellets covered in a mix of water and the 45 ml of MB7. I then turn on the pellet reactor and about 6 hours later I turn on the skimmer.

Since starting the NP Pellets I have see an improvement in my tanks overall condition.

I will update this thread as time goes on with my tanks improvement.

Tom R