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Marine Aquariums
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Marine Fish
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np bio pellets
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Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
np bio pellets
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27 Jul 2010 23:56 #1
by steadyjohn (john)
hi all ive put some biopellets in my eheim pro 2036 cannister as my nitrates are high .they are in my cannister 2 weeks now and have not noticed any difference in nitrates can anyone tell is this normal or does it take longer
rgds
john
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27 Jul 2010 23:59 #2
by Ma (mm mm)
How large is your tank, and how much pellet have you put in?
Mark
Location D.11
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27 Jul 2010 23:59 #3
by dar (darren curry)
are you doing extra water changes to get them down?
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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28 Jul 2010 00:01 #4
by steadyjohn (john)
my tank is 200 litres and put in quater of the bag and do water changes every 2 weeks cant understand why bio pellets not workin
john
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28 Jul 2010 00:04 #5
by dar (darren curry)
try smaller daily water changes of 10% and wen you get sorted do weekly 25% this is the norm
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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28 Jul 2010 00:04 - 28 Jul 2010 00:05 #6
by Ma (mm mm)
It might take three or four weeks for enough to filter for your needs soon enough of the bacteria gets chomping on the pellets and grows.
I'd watch the levels and wait a bit longer
mark
Location D.11
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28 Jul 2010 00:06 #7
by dar (darren curry)
may i ask wat reading your getting
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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28 Jul 2010 00:06 #8
by steadyjohn (john)
do u think i should put in more pellets and i do regular water changes hope they work in the cannister
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 00:07 #9
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
I was talking to Dayo in Petstop about this the other day... He said that he was having issues with them until he reduced the amount he had in the reactor (I think even to below recommended levels) by a considerable amount and now they are working fine. I am not an expert on this product so it might be worth giving him a shout to ask him.
Welcome to the forum by the way! I hope you get around to telling us about what you keep, with pictures of course!
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28 Jul 2010 00:16 #10
by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
They are more efficient if used in a reactor. Doing water changes on a salty tank and not tackling the cause will get yot lower readings in the short term but they will ultimately creep back up. These bio pellets have been hailed as the next best thing since protein skimmers and if used correctly are brilliant.
Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 00:31 - 28 Jul 2010 00:32 #11
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
Good post Jay. What do you think about flushing out the media on a weekly or fortnightly basis with tap water to kill off bacteria altogether to kerb biological filtration and combat nitrates?... Leaving the external for waterflow, mechanical and possibly (if required) chemical filtration?
I think this might be the best and cheapest first approach.
Last edit: 28 Jul 2010 00:32 by wolfsburg (wolfsburg).
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28 Jul 2010 00:32 #12
by dar (darren curry)
dar wrote:
try smaller daily water changes of 10% and wen you get sorted do weekly 25% this is the norm
Dar, wat would you know about marines?
nothing, why?
well then zip it
ok ok sorry i'm just a bit tired
well go to bed
ok good night all
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 00:35 #13
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
Darren fair play! I have to say for the first time ever you have made me laugh! That was actually quite possibly the funniest post I have ever read on here.
Night night!
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28 Jul 2010 00:44 #14
by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
dar wrote:
dar wrote:
try smaller daily water changes of 10% and wen you get sorted do weekly 25% this is the norm
Dar, wat would you know about marines?
nothing, why?
well then zip it
ok ok sorry i'm just a bit tired
well go to bed
ok good night all
Brilliant.
@ Rory, If there is enough live rock in the main tank then I dont see a problem with flushing out the media in the filter. Weekly, biweekly depending on bioload. However, I wouldnt use tap water to do it if his is a reef system. Using Ro or tankwater to remove heavily clogged up bits should definately help reduce the nitrates. I see where you are coming from with the idea of using the tap water to reduce colony size but theres too many unkowns with the supply these days and if it is indeed a reef setup that could be harmfull if not disasterous.
Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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28 Jul 2010 00:47 #15
by steadyjohn (john)
lads 1 last question do u need a sump for a reactor
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 00:48 #16
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
Interesting. Possibly use tap first and follow up with a thorough flush in removed tank or RO water? HMMM
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 00:51 #17
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
steadyjohn wrote:
lads 1 last question do u need a sump for a reactor
In theory I'd say no, you could run the right pump from the main tank into hose and down to reactor in the cabinet or beside the tank, with a return hose to the tank.
... would it be ugly and awkward? Almost definately.
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28 Jul 2010 00:52 #18
by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
steadyjohn wrote:
lads 1 last question do u need a sump for a reactor
Ive only ever seen them used in a sump as they are generally large and bulky looking devices, not unlike skimmers.
@ Rory,
That might just work, but I would need to be seriously concerned about nitrate levels before I would attempt it. Clever idea though.
Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 00:58 #19
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
I don't keep marines at the minute but I used to clean out my external media with tap water about once a month with no visible effects on fish or corals really. I would try to ensure that all the media was as dry as possible before restarting.
...That said what works for one person may cause a disaster for someone else!
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28 Jul 2010 07:02 #20
by brians947 (brians947)
on my understanding of the pellets is they need nitrates to work. The nitrate are eaten by the pellets which in return release a sort of food for corals. Washing them in water would probably put you back to start and you would have to wait again for them to cycle. I have them and have found them to be lowering my nitrate. Although when i first had them i only ran a small pump on them. They weren't turning over. This is a must for them. If they get stagnant then the bacteria will stick to them and cause higher nitrates. I now have them in a deltec reactor with an ocean runner 2500 pump supplying the reactor. i think in an external filter you may have a problem if there is sponges in the filter as the bacteria will clog these.
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wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
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28 Jul 2010 07:11 #21
by wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
brians947 wrote:
on my understanding of the pellets is they need nitrates to work. The nitrate are eaten by the pellets which in return release a sort of food for corals. Washing them in water would probably put you back to start and you would have to wait again for them to cycle. I have them and have found them to be lowering my nitrate. Although when i first had them i only ran a small pump on them. They weren't turning over. This is a must for them. If they get stagnant then the bacteria will stick to them and cause higher nitrates. I now have them in a deltec reactor with an ocean runner 2500 pump supplying the reactor. i think in an external filter you may have a problem if there is sponges in the filter as the bacteria will clog these.
Very good Brian, that's probably why Dayo had to reduce the amount in his reactor to free up their movement?!
Nobody sugggested washing the pellets though, it was suggested that the external filter media be washed out in order to reduce nitrates.
Cheers, good to have the advice of a first-hand user!
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28 Jul 2010 07:55 - 28 Jul 2010 07:57 #22
by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
As Brian already mentioned i would be concerned about running the pellets in a canister filter rather than a reactor. The movement of the pellets is probably one of the most important key factors for the correct operation of the pellets. If you have to little it can cause other problems to like the build up of dangerous gases.
In my opnion the canister filter is just not capable of turning the pellets over correctly and you cannot see how they are moving with the canister turned on, unless the eheim has a capacity to view the pellets once its up and running, i never owned a eheim.
I would recommend removing any sponges you have in the filter as this is standard practice if using a reactor as the sponges clog up pretty fast reducing the turnover rate of the pellets.
I also use well under the recommeded rate of the pellets and i have zero nitrates and PO4 constant for the last few months so for a novice like me to marines this product takes care of so much of the hassle that it is in my opnion a must on a marine tank
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28 Jul 2010 11:42 #23
by Ma (mm mm)
Would few pellets in a large tray, say a tetratec 1200 or eheim, allow movement with the tray being mostly empty and sponge in the other trays? Or do they just get pinned to the top as the water passes up through the filter? or a filter say like an fx5 that turns off and on again or a wet dry?
Mark
Location D.11
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