O.C.'s Pellet questions and answers!

[no_bs]

Ok, i have an issue with these pellets, please correct me if i'm wrong.

ALL species in the ocean live on NO3 & PO4, so if you have 0 readings, is this not detrimental to the health of these species?

My system is very nutrient rich, corals are VERY happy, as anyone that has seen our tank can attest to.

When i do WC's our corals shrink and do not look there best till NO3's are back to high levels.

I figure these pellets work best for those SPS tanks, where NO3 & PO4 are crutial to keep at 0.

[loveless]

OK for all of you that have been running the pellets for a while, can anyone give a general time line for them to start working???

My vertex reactor and 1L of pellets have been up and running for 3 and a half weeks now, thursday is 4 weeks. From what it seems on here the time for them to start doing their thing is fairly short. But so far nothing on my end seems to be happening.

I have tried testing the water from the tank and from the reactor both are around the 10ppm range, hard to get an accurate reading with the color test kits. I have also purchased a new test kit which is giving me the same readings.

So can anyone give a general timeline for them to start working????

Thanks
Cam

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Originally Posted by loveless

OK for all of you that have been running the pellets for a while, can anyone give a general time line for them to start working???

My vertex reactor and 1L of pellets have been up and running for 3 and a half weeks now, thursday is 4 weeks. From what it seems on here the time for them to start doing their thing is fairly short. But so far nothing on my end seems to be happening.

I have tried testing the water from the tank and from the reactor both are around the 10ppm range, hard to get an accurate reading with the color test kits. I have also purchased a new test kit which is giving me the same readings.

So can anyone give a general timeline for them to start working????

Thanks
Cam

You should be seeing results by now, what is the flow through the Reactor? How much are you using? Are you running UV or GFO?

Give us some stats....

[loveless]

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals-Ian-

You should be seeing results by now, what is the flow through the Reactor? How much are you using? Are you running UV or GFO?

Give us some stats....

Ok

I an running a MJ1200, the pellets are tumbling just like all the Utube vids. No UV, no GFO. Im using 1L of pellets.

Also, I saw one post mention the reactor output had Zero nitrate. Is this a generally true statement? Or should I be expecting something in the 5-10 range?

Thanks for the reply

Cam

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Originally Posted by loveless

Ok

I an running a MJ1200, the pellets are tumbling just like all the Utube vids. No UV, no GFO. Im using 1L of pellets.

Also, I saw one post mention the reactor output had Zero nitrate. Is this a generally true statement? Or should I be expecting something in the 5-10 range?

Thanks for the reply

Cam

The output is not always zero as it really depends on what the Nitrate levels are going in. Maybe slow your flow down just a little to allow more reaction time. Also you may want to try dosing some Zeo Bak or Brightwell Microbacter 7, both of these will inoculate your system and help prevent a monoculture situation.

[loveless]

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals-Ian-

The output is not always zero as it really depends on what the Nitrate levels are going in. Maybe slow your flow down just a little to allow more reaction time. Also you may want to try dosing some Zeo Bak or Brightwell Microbacter 7, both of these will inoculate your system and help prevent a monoculture situation.

As far as the Nitrate at zero, I just more or less compare colors of the tests. And so far every test the colors are the same for both tank and reactor (around the 10 mark) keep in mind this is a fairly new setup so there shouldnt be a whole lot of build up. Does the fact of the tank being new, about three months, have any bearing on things????

I will try slowing down the flow and maybe look into some additives.

[Marlin65]

I hooked up mine but am having a hard time to get them tumbling. I have them in a custom made canister with an 800 rio hooked up to it. I have good flow but they are not tumbling is this okay with good flow?

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Originally Posted by no_bs

Ok, i have an issue with these pellets, please correct me if i'm wrong.

ALL species in the ocean live on NO3 & PO4, so if you have 0 readings, is this not detrimental to the health of these species?

My system is very nutrient rich, corals are VERY happy, as anyone that has seen our tank can attest to.

When i do WC's our corals shrink and do not look there best till NO3's are back to high levels.

I figure these pellets work best for those SPS tanks, where NO3 & PO4 are crutial to keep at 0.

In a sense you are correct that Corals do need a certain amount of these nutrients, this is especially true for some LPS and various other Corals.

I highly doubt your Corals are reacting negatively to the lower Nitrate and Phosphate levels from doing doing a water change, they are likely reacting to small changes in Salinity, temperature, ALK, and other variances.

Keeping Nitrates and especially Phosphates under control is especially important in tanks dominated by SPS. The Beads are also proving to be very helpful in fish only systems with heavy feeding regimens.

Hope this helps!