Bio pellets

[melev]

What are your phosphates at with that Rx product? And how long does the bottle last?

A bottle contains 600 drops or treats 1000g. I use it about every 10 weeks, so 5x a year. I believe I use about two bottles a year. When PO4 measures .25ppm, then I'll dose the tank and bring it back down to 0 overnight. It's super easy to use, just drip it into the skimmer section after lights out while the fish are sleeping. By morning the water will be crystal clear and you can test PO4 to see if it got it all or not. Recently this year, BlueLife USA started offering 10micron filter socks to use with it, so that will work even quicker trapping the flocculant in two hours flat. This is practical if you have a show tank that can't be cloudy due to public viewings.

I have a 400g system with a 60 anemone cube. It's a mixed reef with about 50 fish or so.

 

[bif24701]

A bottle contains 600 drops or treats 1000g. I use it about every 10 weeks, so 5x a year. I believe I use about two bottles a year. When PO4 measures .25ppm, then I'll dose the tank and bring it back down to 0 overnight. It's super easy to use, just drip it into the skimmer section after lights out while the fish are sleeping. By morning the water will be crystal clear and you can test PO4 to see if it got it all or not. Recently this year, BlueLife USA started offering 10micron filter socks to use with it, so that will work even quicker trapping the flocculant in two hours flat. This is practical if you have a show tank that can't be cloudy due to public viewings.

I have a 400g system with a 60 anemone cube. It's a mixed reef with about 50 fish or so.

I might have to consider this, seems much cheaper that GFO. However my phosphate never gets above .03 currently.

 

[melev]

I might have to consider this, seems much cheaper that GFO. However my phosphate never gets above .03 currently.

If your method works, why change it?

 

[bif24701]

If your method works, why change it?

Certainly not. However I'll run out of GFO on a 300 gallon system at some point.

 

[melev]

 

[Dashiki]

Melev - what's the diff from that product and Lanthum Chloride?

 

[melev]

Melev - what's the diff from that product and Lanthum Chloride?

This product is easier for me, as it is always the right ratio, I just use it without incident. Every time I read people warning others about Lanthanum, it's because they are making their own solution. I've never even had the slightest concern when I dose Phosphate Rx.

 

[Dashiki]

Just ordered a bottle of Phisphate Rx thanks Melev. I've always enjoyed your tanks.

You dose this directly in the skimmer compartment of the sump or down the skimmer neck?

Do you run filter socks when you treat with this?

 

[Justin D]

I use phos guard and no3 po4x by red sea it works wonders for me people say you shouldn't do it but everyone that started has no issues

 

[melev]

Just ordered a bottle of Phisphate Rx thanks Melev. I've always enjoyed your tanks.

You dose this directly in the skimmer compartment of the sump or down the skimmer neck?

Do you run filter socks when you treat with this?

I wait until my tank is dark, late night. I drip it into the skimmer section of my sump. I have tried using the 10 micron sock (which clogs up and overflows in 2 hours flat), but for the last decade I just let the skimmer pull it out.

Remember, it's 6 drops per 10g of liquid volume to lower it .5ppm. SO if your tank is 100g with a sump, figure it is 100g of water. Displacement by sand and water is replaced with what water is in the sump, so it's still 100g unless you have a massive unique sump for some reason. And if you have .25ppm PO4, you'd use 3 drops per 10g of water. 100gal/10=10gal
10 units x 3 = 30 drops when dosing.

 

[20 gallon nano]

Seams like a great alternative to gfo. Also why get po4 and po3 solution by red sea if po4 are the only issue I have? Few weeks ago I started getting red slim everywhere, I'm wonder if .10 of phosphate could be the cause of that? I'm ready to do a chemiclean dose to get rid of it if po4 isn't what's causing it.

 

[chaoticreefer]

BioPellets do remove phosphates, but you have to understand what's going on. In order to remove phosphates you need nitrates. I recommend to do some reading on the theory behind using BioPellets. In order to remove phosphates you need some level of nitrates, it is recommended nitrates to be around 5ppm anyways based on reef health (5ppm is not based on the BioPellets). The simplest solution is to add nitrate into system, by stump remover (google reef stump remover to get the right brand and mixing ratio, start very slow or it will backfire on you). Simply just feeding more food you are just increasing both phosphates and nitrates, so it will more then likely phosphates will remain unbalanced.

 

[melev]

Seams like a great alternative to gfo. Also why get po4 and po3 solution by red sea if po4 are the only issue I have? Few weeks ago I started getting red slim everywhere, I'm wonder if .10 of phosphate could be the cause of that? I'm ready to do a chemiclean dose to get rid of it if po4 isn't what's causing it.

Cyanobacteria (bacteria, not algae) is present in freshwater, brackish water and saltwater. It's completely normal, but when it blooms in our tanks (red/green/blue blankets of the stuff covering the sand or rockwork), that's when we don't want to see it. Using Chemi-Clean or RedCyano Rx will remove it. Here's what I recommend:

"To treat your tank with best results, it would be best to siphon out as much of the cyanobacteria out of your tank first. Reducing the volume of red slime from the aquarium helps avoid issues. Be sure to point one powerhead at the surface to get strong rippling, which improves oxygenation of the water. Plugging in an air pump and airstone to add oxygen to the water is another good idea, especially in tanks with low flow.

Turn off the protein skimmer, and stop running carbon and GFO. The tank can be treated day or night, and all of your livestock is safe. While the tank is being treated, start mixing up new saltwater because a big water change is next. After 72 hours, check the tank and if the cyano is gone, do a 25% or larger water change. If cyano is still present, wait another 24 hours. If it is still present, treat the tank again. Once the cyano is gone, do the big water change. The bigger the better because the product will cause protein skimmers to overflow initially. Adjust the skimmer to the lowest water level in the body, and as the collection cup fills with watery skimmate, toss it out. Keep tossing out skimmate and replenish the system with more saltwater. After a few hours, the skimmer should settle down finally. If microbubbles are getting the best of you, put a filter sock on the output of the skimmer for the first day. "

 

[chaoticreefer]

To add on to Melev most recent reply, if you are going to siphon cyano out, do it just before lights out when cyano has all day of light to absorb phosphates from the water column. If you are going with water change route to remove phoshates, do the water changes just before lights on, over night cyano leeches phosphates back into the water column because it starts to die back little bit. So...you want to do a water change when phosphates are at it's peak in the water column in that life cycle. Siphoning and water changes are two totally different methods, even thou they are same thing (if that make sense).

 

[FishOfHex]

I have removed my rowaphos reactor and started running bio pellets, .my question is if My phosphates are at .10 and nitrates are zero would I still need to do the half recommended amount of bio pellets, and move up to full in few weeks?would I have negative effect removing rowaphos, even though bio pellets remove phosphates too?

 

[20 gallon nano]

Ive seen a video of someone siphoning the cyano out into a filter sock and letting the water drain back into there system, would that work in order to save the water?

 

[melev]

Ive seen a video of someone siphoning the cyano out into a filter sock and letting the water drain back into there system, would that work in order to save the water?

Sure, you could do that to help clean up the tank and get rid of the eyesore.

 

[20 gallon nano]

Sure, you could do that to help clean up the tank and get rid of the eyesore.

Just stopped by my local fish store to get some advice on this cyano, what he said was that the red slime is normal when introducing bio pellets to the system since we are adding more bacteria, which is messing with everything. He told me to not do anything and let it pass, and it will go away in 3 or more weeks. If I add chemicals, it could cause more harm them good. Is it normal to get a red slime outbreak when adding bio pellets?

 

[chaoticreefer]

Yes, it's normal (sometimes, but not always) to increase cyano in the early stages of adding a BioPellet reactor, because you are releasing sugars (bio-polymers) into the water that different bacterias feeds off of, so cyano gets a new food source of carbon, so it gets a boost. So...you have to wait until the good bacteria comes up and out competes the cyano. As for filter socks, that's fine, as long as you immediately replace the filter sock with a clean one, that way cyano can not sit there, die back and leech phosphates back into the system. Also, I am sure you already know this and I am stating the obvious, but filter socks need to be replaced every 2-3 days (depending on your system) with a clean one, no matter what.

 

[20 gallon nano]

Yes, it's normal (sometimes, but not always) to increase cyano in the early stages of adding a BioPellet reactor, because you are releasing sugars (bio-polymers) into the water that different bacterias feeds off of, so cyano gets a new food source of carbon, so it gets a boost. So...you have to wait until the good bacteria comes up and out competes the cyano. As for filter socks, that's fine, as long as you immediately replace the filter sock with a clean one, that way cyano can not sit there, die back and leech phosphates back into the system. Also, I am sure you already know this and I am stating the obvious, but filter socks need to be replaced every 2-3 days (depending on your system) with a clean one, no matter what.

Glad I actually found out that it's normal, I was about to start adding chemiclean to my system.how long would this cyano start going away? i don't run filter socks in my system,i just dont have the time to clean them often, I got rid of them probably a year ago.