Vertex np bio pellets

[mal1099]

Well started my bio pellets today. Did half the recommended dosage for my tank size roughly 500ml. Starting parameters where Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 phosphates 0.1 ... going to see how these work for the next few days and see if it drops my nitrates and phosphates to 0 which im hoping it does. If anyone else is doing these please chime in with your experiences.

 

[Red C Aquarium]

Im chiming w/750 ghp barely valved down.

They are all jumping!!!!! no dead spots .

I went with the sponges to stop the strays.The source said 'no sponge'?

I had these soaking like 12-14hrs in DI (TDS start 4ppm, with pellets 24. after soaking still @24ppm?)

I feel they needed soaked longer.

Tryed the carbon phos reactor , not close to handling 650gph, more like 150 max. I think its could be use but in very small amounts.

ARSA

 

[Red C Aquarium]

used about 333mls of product

 

[apollothesun]

after a full 24hrs of soaking in ro water, i got mine going in a 2 little fishes reactor. i used about 250ml and a maxijet 1200 to tumble like crazy. i used plastic mesh screens instead of the sponges. i placed the reactor in the top middle of my display brace.
there's really no information on where to put the reactor, so i decided might as well have it filter the display tank and the excess bacteria overflow into the sump where my skimmer can filter out.

 

[FreakinReefin]

Okay so I'm still a little confused on the purpose/difference of what this product is. Can someone explain?

Is it just a consistent carobon source like dosing vodka 24/7?

 

[apollothesun]

Okay so I'm still a little confused on the purpose/difference of what this product is. Can someone explain?

Is it just a consistent carobon source like dosing vodka 24/7?

thats what my take is. whats great is you cant overdose and it feeds your corals and sponges. here's a thread on rc
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1694529

im thinking its a mini scrubber that takes your nitrates and phosphates to near zero. but to begin, your tanks current nitrates and phosphates should be somewhat close to those readings already.
lets say your nitrates are 5, it should take it to zero in a month, but if your nitrates are like 80, only large water changes will bring the natrate down.

 

[mal1099]

24 hours after pellets started. Nitrates 5 phosphates 0.1 same as when i started. No side effects in the tank i can see. Will post daily with test results so peole can see the amount of tiem it takes to reduce to zero.

 

[mal1099]

well first 48 hour and have had some positive changes nitrates are still at 5 but phosphates are at 0 now.....Will post again when nitrates start to drop. So far im very pleased with this product.

 

[mal1099]

Freakin not only does it do what carbon dosing and adding bacteris does. It also replaces your gfo for phosphates.

 

[mal1099]

day 3 and nitrates are down to 2.5 phosphates at 0. very happy with this product so far.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

Freakin not only does it do what carbon dosing and adding bacteris does. It also replaces your gfo for phosphates.

thats my main reason for getting a simular product. to get rid of rowphos that stuff is spendy and on a 240 good gaed the prices would kill me lol

please keep us updated

 

[mal1099]

OK day 5 with vertex bio pellets reading are great...
Ammonia=0
nitrite=0
nitrate=0
phosphate=0

Test kits are red sea

thats right n and p are zero after only 5 days of use. Only problem i had was some pellets were not tumbling in the reactor and a few got into my tank which caused a bacterial bloom saturday. Its almost cleared up now ran some carbon and the skimmer is going nuts having to empty it about ever 10 hours or so. Found out that with these pellets you will want to have the out from the reactor really close t the skimmers intake pump to skim out as much of the bacteria as possible. Read that on another forum. Overall i am very happy with this product and plan to use them tell something better comes along. The cost saving just on the gfo makes this well worth the change.

 

[apollothesun]

well, since i have been using this i like to give an update.

ive noticed red slime algae appearing in low flow areas and have corrected by adding more powerheads. maybe if i moved my reactor in my sump it probably will help for the skimmer to skim the bacteria. i figured id leave it be since its just a minor case of slime.
ive notice more poylp extention in sps. some algae like the red turf and green turf are almost non existant. doesnt faze the bryopsis though, the main reason i wanted to try.
my cheato is still growing strong and fast. interesting since this is suppose to reduce phosphate and nitrate. i guess the only improvement for me is the disappearing of red turf and some other green nusaince algae.

 

[roscoe]

I should have a simular product in my reactor tonight! How ever I don't have no3 and po4 test kits as I found the elos that I have had for ever has expired. I'll probally go grab some cheap API test kits. It should at least tell me where my starting numbers are and where they will be a week or 2 from start. I don't have any cheato growing in the refugium and don't want them anywhere in my system and I have very little to no algea growth on my LR however my stand pipe in my OFB is covered with some sort of fragile stringy algea and no it isn't HA. I wounder if I should scrub the stand pipe clean or leave the algea growing there and see what will happen to the algea once I start the ecobak pellets. I will post my results in a seperate thread as it is a different product.

 

[apollothesun]

sounds good roscoe but visit here too since we can compare pellets with one another. what reactor are you gonna use? you have to make sure the pellets are tumbling inside because once the get coated they form a cluster and becomes channelized. i had a cluster going one time and had to break it apart with a stick. it released im guessing gooey food for the corals?

 

[roscoe]

sounds good roscoe but visit here too since we can compare pellets with one another. what reactor are you gonna use? you have to make sure the pellets are tumbling inside because once the get coated they form a cluster and becomes channelized. i had a cluster going one time and had to break it apart with a stick. it released im guessing gooey food for the corals?

For sure I will check back here. The pellets I'm using is made from different polymers and does not require them to be aggressively tumbled and can be placed in a media bag in a high flow area such as near the drain or have a pump circulating in the sump chamber where you will place them. However I will have mines at a slight tumble and I will use my BRS reactor for now but I will either build one or get one custom made through AVAST/Greyseas to hold 2L. The BRS reactor only hold 1L.

 

[mal1099]

Well heres an update. I have been using the vertex bio pellets for just over a month and im very happy with them. both nitrates and phosphates are undetectable in my system. My corals are looking really good also. They did get shocked at first due to coming from my cube which was poorly designed and had issues with flow and the skimmer water level. Other then the bacterial bloom in the first 3-5 days id say this is a great product. Im using the full dosage recommended for my tank now which is 1000ml.
At first i had an issue with the pellets exiting the reactor but used an old fish net and glue the netting to the top plate and fixed the pellet problem.

So please guys using the other brands let me know how those are doing for you.
thank you

Wes

 

[capdippe]

Hi guys I bought the pellets the other day. I'm on day 3, and am using 250ml of product in a two little fishes reactor (50% dosage). I have some questions though. When you soak the pellets overnight like it says did you you guys just leave them in a 5 gal bucket with no flow? or did you have them in a reactor with RO water? I only soaked mine for about 6 hours, and then soaked them inside the reactor with fresh saltwater for about 3 more hours. I also dosed a bacter in the clean saltwater before moving it to the tank. I've had 0 N, 0 P, no blooms, but I have noticed hair alage on the sand. Am I using these right?

 

[capdippe]

I also have them hooked up to a maxijet 1200.

 

[mal1099]

well i did soak mine for 24 hours in a tub of ro/di water no flow then added to reactor. Mine are doing a great job and im not having any algea problems.