Bio-pellet Reactors: whats good whats bad

[claymax]

whos happy with their biopellet reactors, and whos not? lookin to buy one soon but i need you guys to steer me in the right direction.

im counting on you canreefers

[The Grizz]

Your size of tank I would suggest a TLF 150 or if you have the room a Vertex Media reactor. I have the NextReef MR1's but I think it would be to big for your system.

[claymax]

i have a tlf 150, but how are they for clumping? i might use it for phosban or whatever and pick up something else more suited for biopellets

[Reef Pilot]

I am using a Vertex UF-20. Very happy with it. Tall, so takes a small footprint. You need to use a screen mesh instead of the sponges inside, so you don't get clogging. I have it T'ed off a return pump right now. It has a ball valve on the input side so easy to control exactly the amount of flow you want, to get the best tumble. Totally maintenance free, no cleaning, only have to add bio pellets every 3 months or so.

[Mrfish55]

I made my own from an old Precision Marine calcium reactor, made it recirculating with adjustable output that is plumbed direct into my skimmer, works great. I think a lot of the horror stories re: pellets are a result of too many pellets or too much flow, I am only using 2 cups on the 300, initially took about 6 weeks before I started to notice a difference ( slow and steady wins this race anyway) but it has been online for just over a year and I am happy with the results.

[The Grizz]

If your going to use pellets you will not need any phosban. I stopped running it when I put pellets in. The TLF run good with the mess mod, no foam and good flow.


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[claymax]

no phosphate remover with bio-pellets huh? thatll save a headache or two trying to cram more equipment into that little sump. so how about direct feed to the skimmer? it needs to be fed anyways as it is a recirc, good idea? great idea??

[Mrfish55]

no phosphate remover with bio-pellets huh? thatll save a headache or two trying to cram more equipment into that little sump. so how about direct feed to the skimmer? it needs to be fed anyways as it is a recirc, good idea? great idea??

I don't run GFO, phosphate level as measured with my colorimeter reads 0.00 as for direct feed they say you should direct the discharge from the pellet reactor towards the intake of the skimmer so I direct inject thru the ozone port ( Beckett skimmer) I like the way mine is plumbed as I can controll flow rates real easy, also noticed a dramatic improvement in the amount of skimmate produced and it is very consistent, went from emptying the collector once a week to once a day (and boy does it stink!)if I can find the battery for my camera I will snap some pics.

[claymax]

i meant actually plumbing the two together.

smash them pics up!

[Mrfish55]

You mean as in run it thru the pellet reactor and the output direct into the skimmer? The only problem I believe that creates is the flow to keep the pellets tumbling may be too much flow, as I mentioned previous, I think some of the problems people are having with the pellets is a result of too much flow ( only my opinion, not based on any actual scientific study) but I must have been on to something as I have been running my recirc reactor for quite some time and now there is companies comming out with recirc models for exactly that reason, I can controll the amount of pellet tumble independent of the dose rate, if I can get some pics up hopefully it will make sense, kinda hard to explain it.

[Mrfish55]

How big is your tank? Personally I started with far fewer pellets than is recommended anticipating I would have to add more but I think it is working perfect as is so will leave it alone.

[claymax]

tank is 28 plus around 7 gallons for the sump, juuust a bit smaller than yours. i would have all the proper valves in place to control flow into the reactor and skimmer, (skimmer input is going to be low) and yes ill be adding biopellets very slowly and in very small quantities. some might say that biopellets would be overkill for a tank this size but id like to get some hands on learning done before i try it on a big tank.

[Bblinks]

I am currently running a nextreef reactor, for what its worth I like that this reactor is built for bio-pellets(no foam, larger inlet and out, and machine drilled bottom plate specially designed for pellets.) One thing I don't like about these reactor is the use of thumb screws to remove the lid. I know some can argue it will only be unscrewed every 3-6 month and for the most part it is true but I fricken hate it. So move onto the 2 screw top reactors which I also use. TLF is a cheaper alternative, easy to use but the built quality lacks a bit of refinement. Vertex has so far been an excellent product, very user friendly, comes with ball valve for ease of controll. However I don't like how the inlet and outlet are 180 degrees oppsite of each other but some 90 degrees elbow will fix that.

Now new from reef dynamic is the biopellet reactor which will give you the ability to not only adjust the flow rate through the reactor and keep you pellets thumbling at a good rate. Little on the rich side but it is definitely a good design with ultimate controll.( I haven't personally used one yet but am planning to get one.)

[ScubaSteve]

You mean as in run it thru the pellet reactor and the output direct into the skimmer? The only problem I believe that creates is the flow to keep the pellets tumbling may be too much flow, as I mentioned previous, I think some of the problems people are having with the pellets is a result of too much flow ( only my opinion, not based on any actual scientific study) but I must have been on to something as I have been running my recirc reactor for quite some time and now there is companies comming out with recirc models for exactly that reason, I can controll the amount of pellet tumble independent of the dose rate, if I can get some pics up hopefully it will make sense, kinda hard to explain it.

I've actually switched to VSV dosing from pellets because with pellets it's hard to adjust the amount of flow through the reactor without disrupting the function of the fluidized reactor. I've seen too many instances of people using pellets and reducing their params to zero, and then continuing to run pellets ageessively. IMO, this is the cause of so many pellet related crashes.

So as stated above, recirc style is the route I'd go. You can easily convert any reactor to recirc with a few pieces of tubing and some valves.

[kien]

There are a bunch of people, myself included, who run GFO with bioPellets. For me the biopellets remove nitrates just fine, and do an OK job with phosphates but not stellar. I supplement the phosphate removal by running GFO as well. I use two Vertex UF-20 reactors for pellets and a TLF 150 for GFO. Two years running now.

[kobelka]

@ the Grizz,
I am going to put a tlf 150 with biopellets online and wondered if you could post a quick explanation of the mod you have done to make it work well?
Thanks

[The Grizz]

@ the Grizz,
I am going to put a tlf 150 with biopellets online and wondered if you could post a quick explanation of the mod you have done to make it work well?
Thanks

It a simple round plastic mesh that I found at Michleas, they are about 4" round with small square holes. Take out the foam and replace it with 2 of these mesh circles, bottom and top where the foam should be ( you have to cut them to fit ). And for flow for an example: in my NextReef MR1 recommended flow was 1200 gph but it was not enough for 1000 ml of pellets so I have a 2500 gph pump feeding it. I believe I used a MJ1200 on my TLF and had a great tumble and never had it clog on me.

[Bblinks]

@ the Grizz,
I am going to put a tlf 150 with biopellets online and wondered if you could post a quick explanation of the mod you have done to make it work well?
Thanks

Get rid of the foam and get the kit to modify your reactor here:
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/tf-reactory/Two+Little+Fishies+NPX+Screen+for+the+PhosBan+Reac tor.html
or mesh from Michaels will work too, I just hate the fake flower smell in that place.

[Lampshade]

+1 on the kit if you're using a TLF. My TLF 500 started clumping up after a year so i modded it by taking out the bottom plate, and putting the downspout against the side so that the pellets would "roll" inside the reactor. Works great. Here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9oOnUT5mHM

[sphelps]

Anyone have experience with the BRS reactor or similar type they can share?
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/reactors/bio-pellet-reactors/brs-bio-pellet-reactor.html

[chris121277]

Sorry don't mean to hi-jack here.....but I'm about to put pellets on line tonight.....and wondered what everyone recommended to start out with......ei, I was thinking of starting with 250ml on a 130 gal system

Is there an optimal ml per gal for starting out with?

[The Grizz]

Sorry don't mean to hi-jack here.....but I'm about to put pellets on line tonight.....and wondered what everyone recommended to start out with......ei, I was thinking of starting with 250ml on a 130 gal system

Is there an optimal ml per gal for starting out with?

Start with 1/3 recommended amount, wait a few months add some more and so on until you are up to what you want. I run 1000 ml of pellets in my MR1 until there are only a few inches left then dump in another 1000 ml.

[kobelka]

How long does it take till you need to refill?

[The Grizz]

How long does it take till you need to refill?

For me around 3 - 4 months or so