plumbing in my bio pellet reactor

[davesolo29]

I know i have read it many times, but never really understood why or if its required,  but, why does the output of the biopellet reactor go to the skimmer section?
Who does it this way, and why?
who doesnt do it this way and why?

thanks

 

[spyd]

The thinking behind it is the bacteria that is living on the pellets die off and then get collected by the skimmer. So, with the output right by the skimmer, the majority of the bacteria is collected by the skimmer and doesn't enter your display tank.

Even if the output does not go right by the skimmer, the skimmer will collect it from the water table. It just wont be a direct route and could collect on the live rock, etc. That is why best practice is to have the output near the input of the skimmer, though not completely necessary.

 

[Pistol]

Removing the bacteria through the skimmer is how the po4 and no3 are exported.

 

[davesolo29]

hmmm..  so, im basically adding this bacteria to tank, just to remove it right away?  whats the point then?

 

[Pistol]

The bacteria uptake po4 and no3  in the production of their cell walls, die and get skimmed out effectively removing those nutrients from your system, if you don't remove it, it breaks down into po4 and no3 again.

 

[unibob]

I recently just started the nitra cubes, around 3 weeks ago. My skimmer is pulling the darkest it ever has, but I don't think it is keeping up with all the extra bacteria as I'm getting cyano.

 

[Pistol]

I recently just started the nitra cubes, around 3 weeks ago. My skimmer is pulling the darkest it ever has, but I don't think it is keeping up with all the extra bacteria as I'm getting cyano.

Yes, if your not removing all the bacteria, you will have a nutrient problem, can you limit the amount of nitra cubes?

 

[unibob]

Yea I'm not really running a lot. About 1/4 of recommended. But my bio load is very large, around 20 fish in a 100 gallon system. It is mostly just in my fish only tank so it doesn't bother me too much, all tanks are bare bottom, so it's easy to siphon out.

 

[Skim]

This is one of the reasons I have be considering to go with a ATS (Algae Turf Scrubber) system, at least when you scrape  the screens all the phosphate and nitrate and all the other yummy stuff is disposed of.

Skim

 

[AdInfinitum]

I recently just started the nitra cubes, around 3 weeks ago. My skimmer is pulling the darkest it ever has, but I don't think it is keeping up with all the extra bacteria as I'm getting cyano.

I got a minor bloom of cyano when I started the cubes as well but it died off.  On the other hand a couple of weeks after I brought my bio-pellet reactor online the cyano came back and has been thriving since.  I ramped up the GFO to the point that it was 0 ppb system wide but all that did was hurt my LPS.

One bonus for the cubes I moved them into a bomb in one overflow box and that box is now absolutely teeming with Mysid's the media bag is full of babies...They obviously feed on the bacteria.

BTW Dave yes I direct the effluent from the pellet reactor towards my skimmer intake for the reasons listed above.

 

[theyangman]

Hmmm... I didn't even think of this.... Right now, my pellet reactor is actually aimed more towards my return pump than my skimmer.... Perhaps it is time for a relocation of the output hose on my reactor.

 

[Pistol]

Hmmm... I didn't even think of this.... Right now, my pellet reactor is actually aimed more towards my return pump than my skimmer.... Perhaps it is time for a relocation of the output hose on my reactor.

definitely relocate it, you want to process as much of the effluent as you can.

 

[davesolo29]

Thanks. I have it plumbed in now.  Will rinse some pellets and try it out. 
Let's see if the vertex rx-u is any good.


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[Duke]

I don't have my pellets near my skimmer.. It's not a requirement..  I think it was brought up before and a lot of guys aren't directing anything towards their skimmer.

 

[Duke]

I would think you want to give the tank a chance to use the dead bacteria before it all gets skimmed out, free food for filter feeding stuff and who knows what else.

 

[Pistol]

The idea behind the pellets is nutrient export, by directing the effluent to the skimmer intake you ensure more of the po4 and no3 are removed before the dead bacteria decay and release the nutrients back into the water.

 

[davesolo29]

how often are you supposed to change your pellets?

 

[Pistol]

Theoretically you just keep replacing what has been consumed.