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

[don.ald]

i understand you want the NP to tumble, but just a thought: could you put the NP loosly in a media sack and agitate them with the daily cleaning of the zeolites? since you are using both zeo and NP would this maybe be enough?

[Tom R]

With Zeovit you have to change out the rocks every 8 to 12 weeks. Are you going to also change out the N/P Pellets at that time?

Tom R

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Hey Tony, how are you explaining the reduction happening so fast when the manufacture says it will take two weeks for the bacteria to build up on the pellents and start giving you a noticable reduction?

Steve

It's just a guess on my part but I was sort of hoping that with the combination of zeo and these, that the addition of the bacteria to the reactor would explain this.

It does mean that I don't know if it's the zeo or the pellets responsible or if it's both. I don't have a way to quantify how much reduction is attributable to either.

Originally Posted by don.ald

i understand you want the NP to tumble, but just a thought: could you put the NP loosly in a media sack and agitate them with the daily cleaning of the zeolites? since you are using both zeo and NP would this maybe be enough?

Maybe. One thing the pellets are good for is sloughing off a bacterial film which the manufacturer claims is good coral food. A sponge on the output or a filter sock would impede this, or possibly get clogged.

Zeovit also makes this claim.

I have noticed that when I agitated the reactor that more of this film is released than when I was running zeovit before on its own. So there seems to be some truth to this aspect. Whether it's as good as they say it is for corals though, ... too early for me to speculate on.

Having mixed the two together though ... I do have a problem down the road when it comes time to replace zeolites. The pellets don't stay put as a layer on top, the agitation fully homogenizes the mix so I'll be picking out zeolites one pebble at a time when the time comes. We'll see how much I hate that. Putting a sponge in the chamber to separate the two substrates seems defeating. So I still wonder if in the long run these are better off in their own reactor, or passive in a high flow area in the sump in a loose filter bag. But we'll see how it goes.

Originally Posted by Tom R

With Zeovit you have to change out the rocks every 8 to 12 weeks. Are you going to also change out the N/P Pellets at that time?

Tom R

The manufacturer claims no need to replace the pellets but just let them slowly dissolve, theoretically dissolve into nothingness over 6 months. So the plan is to keep the pellets but just pick out the zeolites.

[wayner]

So are these pellets suppose to replace the need for zeo rocks in a zeo reactor?, or are we taking different types of bacteria here., if this is the case, then I suppose one would have the option to just dose a color enhancing product or anything else for that matter without the need to pump the reactor daily and change out rocks periodically as these pellets disolve over time..

Sounds easier, but maybe I don't have this down right just yet?