I am starting a review thread for the new pellet product people are referring to as "solid vodka dosing".
For more background info, check out this thread in the Oceanic Corals vendor forum here:
http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=58523
Some background: I'm trying these pellets on a mixed reef with a high fish load that I feed heavily (Further details at the bottom of this post). Between the addition of a pair of butterflies who get fed frozen mysis daily, and a pygmy eel this fall who has a voracious appetite, I have been noticing nitrates start to climb as high as 30. So I was very interested in this product when it became available.
So why a combination of these pellets with zeovit and not just one or the other? To be honest, I'm not sure. I just wanted to try it. For one, I had been meaning to consider going back on zeovit anyhow - one thing that always impresses me with zeovit tanks is just how clear the water is.
I am certain that these N/P Reducing Pellets would be more than adequate on their own for nitrate and phosphate reduction, I'm just hoping that the combination of zeolites and N/P pellets in the reactor will be an aggressive nutrient reduction system so to allow me to continue the feeding schedules I've established with the tank residents.
So, what's a thread without pictures. This maybe has nothing to do with the product being reviewed, but on the other hand, if an experiment isn't reproducible, then it's not science. So without further ado, here is the reactor I am using:
The exterior shell:
The inner chamber, with zeolites but before adding the N/P pellets:
I meant to buy 5.5" diameter acrylic but was sold 5" by mistake, so I had to add the top flange to keep the inner chamber from wiggling side-to-side excessively.
The original version of this reactor had the water flow over the top edge, I added a PVC elbow for the output and ground down the inside so the inside chamber could still "pump":
I also constructed an intake manifold for the feed powerhead so that dosing is introduced directly to the reactor (not shown is the standpipe that fits into the "T" piece, the standpipe is where the zeovit additives get dropped):
Detailed tank information follows:
- 115g cube tank (30x30x30)
- Approx 80 lbs live rock arranged in a bommie, or "rock island" style aquascape
- 1" sandbed (about a 4" wide strip surrounding the bommie)
- no refugium (previously was running chaeto in a small aquaclear lit by 2x9w PC; but this is now offline, the chaeto was the first algal casualty to the pellets)
- 2 part autodosing for Ca and Alk, Mg dosed manually
- Skimmer: Precision Marine "Bullet 1" beckett
- Light: single 250w DE on 12 hour photoperiod
Fish inhabitants (currently 15):
- Tangs: Zebrasoma desjardini (Red Sea sailfin), Acanthurus tennentii (lieutenant), A. nigrofuscus (lavender)
- Rabbit: Siganus doliatus (penciled)
- Angels: Centropyge potters (potters), M/F pair Genicanthus bellus (bellus)
- Butterflies: pair Chaetodon ulietensis (doublesaddle or false falcula)
- Wrasse: Halichoeres chrysus (canary)
- Dottyback: Psuedochromis fridmani (orchid)
- Eel: Gymnothorax melatremus (golden dwarf moray)
- Trigger: Xanthicthys mento (crosshatch)
- Chromis: Chromis viridis (green)
- Blenny: Cirripectes stigmaticus (ember or scarface)
Other inhabitants:
- Various tridacnids (T. derasa, T. crocea, T. squamosa)
- Various ps gorgonians
- Various zoanthids
- E. quadricolor (rose BTA)
Currently no SPS or LPS (would be butterfly food).
More info to come...