N/P Reducing Pellets ("Solid Vodka") - "Wow" ... 3 month update

[Chin_Lee]

good idea on this mod Kevin. this should create enough direct flow to keep the pellets tumbling nicely.

[Borderjumper]

I woke up this morning with a cloudy tank. The pellets were barely moving. The hoses had started to plug again. After cleaning the hoses the pellets are tumbling again.

Anyone know if the cloudy is bad for my tank?

[Chin_Lee]

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

I woke up this morning with a cloudy tank. The pellets were barely moving. The hoses had started to plug again. After cleaning the hoses the pellets are tumbling again.

Anyone know if the cloudy is bad for my tank?

same thing happened to my friend. his pellets stopped tumbling, got clumped together and all the hoses and holes got gunked up. He couldn't get the pellets to stop spitting out cloudy white stuff and it appeared some of his corals were reacting badly to it. finally we took it offline and had to wash all the pellets to get the gunk off them. apparently took a long time to clean them. They are now dried and i'll start them up again next week with the mod mentioned above.

[Borderjumper]

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

same thing happened to my friend. his pellets stopped tumbling, got clumped together and all the hoses and holes got gunked up. He couldn't get the pellets to stop spitting out cloudy white stuff and it appeared some of his corals were reacting badly to it. finally we took it offline and had to wash all the pellets to get the gunk off them. apparently took a long time to clean them. They are now dried and i'll start them up again next week with the mod mentioned above.

my pellets didnt gunk together at all and tumbled very nicely as soon as I cleaned out the hoses. Corals and fish all look ok.. just the water is v ery slightly cloudy. I will do a water change tonight and hope everything is settled by morning.

[Delphinus]

I have had several tank "whiteout blizzard" conditions as a result of pellets clogging. It is unsettling to see, but the tank inhabitants didn't seem to care (actually my fish seem to eat the "snowflakes"). My skimmer seems to pull it out and the water is clear within a couple hours. Also I have a filter sock - one thing since adding the pellets is I have to clean out my filter sock way more often, so I'm pretty sure it's pulling the stuff out too.

It seems to not take very long after the pellets have settled for the mulm to accumulate to "biblical plague of locusts" levels. Seems very important to make sure that lines, sponges and meshes aren't clogging up and finding the right combination of reactor, pump and/or reactor mods so that they are always churning.

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

my pellets didnt gunk together at all and tumbled very nicely as soon as I cleaned out the hoses. Corals and fish all look ok.. just the water is v ery slightly cloudy. I will do a water change tonight and hope everything is settled by morning.

No need for a water change, the skimmer will pull out the bacteria (mulm) which is harmless.

[Chin_Lee]

my friend didn't do a water change either and it cleared up within a day.

[Borderjumper]

jeeze the trama of waking up to a cloudy tank I will remain calm

[balistidae]

I have been battling hair algae in my 28g nano cube and have tried almost everything, now as a last resort I am interested in giving these new n/p pellets a go.
Seeing how there is no room for a reactor on the tank I am wondering if I could bag the pellets and just put them in the overflow chamber? I could maybe take the bag out every few days and give it a shake. Would there be enough movement for this to work? Any other ideas how to add them reactor-less?

Thanks all!

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals-Ian-

No need for a water change, the skimmer will pull out the bacteria (mulm) which is harmless.

Out of curiosity is it harmless to humans? Should I be wearing gloves when I'm cleaning my slimmy mesh screen?