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

[andestang]

This is great Tony. I can't really tell from the pic of your reactor, but do you have an inner chamber like how I made mine which actually holds the zoevit media so it doesn't bind during shaking ? Maybe you could make a separator plate for inside the inner chamber or it looks like these pellets won't bind during shaking you can modify so they are on the outside of the inner chamber by drilling appropriate size holes for water flow. Make sense ?

[andestang]

Ok not funny, the pic of the inner chamber didn't load when I first read the post back to this

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by 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?

Hi Wayne: Yes. And No.

Here's how I see it. It's probably the same bacteria that colonizes the zeolites as well as the pellets. The pellets are really more of a direct replacement for vokda dosing, which is a sort of "halfway to zeo" method. Vodka dosing is adding a carbon source so that bacteria can consume the carbon and the "side effect" is reduction of nitrate and phosphate, but it involves daily dosing. Supposedly the best vodka dosing is a mixture of vodka and then occasional vinegar and occasional sugar as well; the problem is none of those come with "reef tank dosing instructions."

These pellets are a passive carbon source so it eliminates the need for daily dosing of carbon (via vodka or whatever).

So if your only goal was nitrate (and/or phosphate) reduction, you should theoretically be able to run these pellets on their own.

So this begs the question, why am I doing both these and zeo? And the answer is something I don't really have firm grip on. Both methods intrigue me; so why not try both? But one reason I can enumerate is the water clarity you get with zeo. Zeo tanks never fail to amaze me for their water clarity, you can pick out a zeovit tank at a glance for their water clarity. The colours pop more too if you have SPS, but I don't, so I can't really say that it makes my corals colour up more, but I dig the water clarity.

So (I wonder how many paragraphs in a row I can type in that start off with "So"), I hope to see a "best of both worlds" in this approach.

Hope this makes sense.

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

Thank you for starting this thread Tony,
You are doing a favor to all of us by testing these pellets, because if they Do work it will be huge step forward in reef keeping.

I spend a lot of $ monthly to fight NO3 and PO4, so i hope this will work as advertised!

No worries and I agree. NO3 and PO4 are the biggest nuisances, when I saw these pellets come available I knew I had to try them. Not many new products get me very excited, I tend to think a lot of them are overhyped, but this one really does seem promising. And although it's pricey, it's really in the same ballpark as things like GFO for PO4 reduction, but it does nitrate too, so in the end it may actually be a slightly more economical option. I hope so anyhow.

Originally Posted by andestang

This is great Tony. I can't really tell from the pic of your reactor, but do you have an inner chamber like how I made mine which actually holds the zoevit media so it doesn't bind during shaking ? Maybe you could make a separator plate for inside the inner chamber or it looks like these pellets won't bind during shaking you can modify so they are on the outside of the inner chamber by drilling appropriate size holes for water flow. Make sense ?

Hey dude, save some of the good stuff for me there! Yeah, as you figured out, I put an inside chamber in the reactor. I'm a little miffed at the store I got the smaller tube from, I distinctly asked for 5.5", we talked about how it would have to form a tight fit inside a 6" tube and blah blah blah and he said he had a broken tube so could sell me 12" of it - otherwise he'd charge me for a full tube so after all was said and done, even though I wanted more like 14"-15" I settled on 12" (although that still yields close to 3 litres if my math is any good, so it's fine in the end) but I was just so annoyed when I saw a 1/4" gap all around when I put it all together. I don't have a router so making the top flange using a table saw and a dremel was an interesting and noisy exercise (and a little bit dangerous .. little bits of acrylic were flying all over the place being spat out by the table saw) and the end result is ugly to boot. But oh well, it's functional, and that's the more important aspect.

[wayner]

Tony Thanks! and keep up the Good Work

[globaldesigns]

I just picked up a 1 litre bag from Tony. I have placed 500ml in my zeolite reactor with 1 litre of zeolites. I have my reactor running on a 3 hour interval and I mix the reactor twice daily.

As I am running 100% Zeo, and Tony is running some Zeo also, I will post with him on what I see. Is this ok with you Tony, as we can keep this in one thread then?

For me I don't have any issues, but want to see what kind of results I will see with color colorization and growth.

I will keep you posted.

[Zoaelite]

Really excited to see how these work out, I will keep tuned but thanks for spending the time and writing this up Tony (Guess there's a reason they selected you to mod ).

So this begs the question, why am I doing both these and zeo? And the answer is something I don't really have firm grip on. Both methods intrigue me; so why not try both? But one reason I can enumerate is the water clarity you get with zeo. Zeo tanks never fail to amaze me for their water clarity, you can pick out a zeovit tank at a glance for their water clarity. The colours pop more too if you have SPS, but I don't, so I can't really say that it makes my corals colour up more, but I dig the water clarity.

As much science as there is in reef keeping I kind of enjoy looking at my tank like stew in a giant crock pot (As odd as this might seem). You have to have the meat and potato's but adding little things here and other stuff there is what makes your special blend. It's almost like a 6th sense just there, hard to explain.
Levi

[Delphinus]

Quick update. About a week ago I separated the pellets and put them into a phosban reactor, fed by a Maxijet 1200, throttled back on the reactor (not quite full bore on the pump).

I was optimistic that this would be a beneficial change, however, I am simply astonished at the results a week later.

Last week my nitrate reading was 10, as it had been for several weeks prior.

This week, my nitrate reading is bouncing between 3 and 4 (splitting the difference, let's call that 3.5). WOW.

But it gets better. I tested the effluent of the pellet reactor as well as the zeovit reactor:
- The zeolites are pulling nitrate down, the effluent has a reading of 2 for nitrate.
- The pellets have an effluent reading of zero (specifically, "under-range" on the meter, which means <1.0).

[nlreefguy]

but how are your corals doing? In your opinion is the mulm from the biopellets significant as a food source for the corals?

[banditpowdercoat]

How much tumbling do you have in the Phos reactor? And did you use the top foam? I have mine fed off my return pump, so am not sure about the flow. They tumble inside. Any more flow and 'm afraid the pellets would float out the reactors top plate holes and into the sump. Which probably wouldnt hurt, as have a screen on pump intake that is to fine for them to fit through LOL

[Chin_Lee]

Tony - any noticeable difference in PE on your SPS or LPS? I'm starting to ponder the use of this........