biopellet flow
 

so ive been running biopellets for a few months now and im happy with them, however im wondering if my pump is too weak. I have the smaller TLF reactor with around 200ml of pellets. Im using the maxijet 1200 wide open. The pellets at the surface and slightly underneath are tumbling but a good inch and a half from the bottom up are frozen still. Is it recommended that ALL the pellets should be tumbling or should this be "good enough"? i plan on adding 100ml more in the near future as well. what do you guys think?

You need more flow.

The top should tumble aggressively, as you go towards the bottom, the tumbling should get slower, and at the bottom they should slightly move. Basically you should see the pressure build up in the bottom and see the pellets slowly flow from the bottom to the top. so it should be a slow cycle, with only the top being aggressive.

No pellets should just sit there NOT moving.

I hope this makes sense.

I concur, the pellets should be tumbling aggressively at the surface with a good amount of flow through the rest. I use rio 1400 pump(I have used many different rio pumps, they have been amazingly reliable and affordable.) the pump is rated for around 320 gallons per hour with 1 foot head pressure through a nextreef smr1 reactor. IMO that is a very good set up. I have used two little fish, nextreef mr1 with moded screens for top and bottom but I still believe a proper bio pellet reactor should be employed to get the best result. :biggrin:

makes perfect sense, Thanks guys :mrgreen:

Sorry to interrupt.
I set mine up about 3 weeks ago and I still don't see any change. I heard cyano should comes up for short term. I also use TLF reactor 150 and maxi jet 1200. I see pellets are tumbling but more likely bottom part and upper part is still tumbling but I don't think it's aggressive. Am I doing something wrong? Would be appreciate if anyone can fix my problems.
Thanks

When I was running the TLF150 I started with a MJ1200 with about 250 ml of pellets but found the flow was not enough so I jumped up to a MJ1800. Now I am using a NextReef MR1 and a Ocean Runner 2500. I did not have any cyano show up after running them.

OK so maxi-jet 1200 is not enough flow. I guess I searched wrong place then. Do you think flow rate should be more than 350g/hr?

I honestly don't think you need anymore than that. The problem I had with TLF is the inlet and outlet, TLF comes with 1/2 inch barb hose but for pellets you need 5/8 or even 3/4 barbs so you can get the flow that you need without grenade the reactor. If I were you I would really look into a smr1 or a vertex reactor. If thats not an option, try to find some thing used. All else fails, throw a bigger pump on it and make sure you remove the foam in the TLF, re-tap the barb fitting so you can put a larger diameter hose an try again. Be patient and let I run for awhile. I have had very good results with running the pellets. The smr1 with the pump costed me around less than 200 with tax.

Yes I already remve foam and install mod both bottom and upper plate, but I did not know I have a reactor problem. What you pay, what you get, right? I will serch the other reactor or try to put a larger hose.
Thanks

I use the large Vertex reactor and it works fine, no clumping.