O.C.'s Pellet questions and answers!

[DiverDude]

This is a very interesting detail. When I started running pellets the instructions for the pellets vaguely mentioned this point (directing reactor effluent towards skimmer intake) but a) they really didn't put any emphasis on this and b) They did not explain why.

In the setup I had, it wasn't practical to do this and using pellets got me bad algae problems and I stopped using them and have not restarted. On the new tank I'm planning, I will have a proper sump and will bring pellets back online but I can't see how I could make a direct connection between the pellet reactor output and the skimmer intake since this would mean that the skimmer's flow rate would have to be no more than that of the flow needed in the reactor to make the pellets tumble properly.

I have to assume then that simply "directing the effluent to towards the skimmer intake" is sufficient. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has a direct connection between their pellet reactor and their skimmer intake !

Originally Posted by abcha0s

To answer a question posted earlier - you really need to direct the effluent from the biopellet reactor directly into your skimmer. Ideally it would be a direct link between the two systems. If you simply direct the effluent in the general direction of the skimmer intake, the system will be less efficient and you will have more bacteria in your water colomn. This bacteria will die leaving the carbon in the water colomn (where it was previously only in the reactor) and the whole system will not be as efficient. Even with a good skimmer some bacteria will end up in the water colomn (which may be a good thing) but you really want to minimize this.

- Brad