My Warner Marine EcoBAK journey.

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by Powerman, May 13, 2010.

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  1. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    I'm kind of being a bone head. I recently redid some stuff in my tank. The Idaho Grape Monti was out of control. So Igot rid of it. I put some epoxy over the stuff left on the rock to kill it.

    I also put a few old pieces of live rock back in the tank to place some frags. I scrubbed it as best I could, but it was live when it came out of mt tank.

    So between the two, I'm pretty sure that is what is fueling the cyano. I just didn't really think about it till tonight.
     
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  3. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    So... it's been a little more than 2 weeks.

    My nitrates are always low. Just registers a color on the Seachem test. Very faint pink at least below .5. Well today I test my NO3...does not even register a color. Stone cold zero.

    My PO4 is measured on a high sensitivity Merck kit. I can't tell a absolute number, but when my GFO is new it registers a faint blue and when it is ready to change it is a bit more blue... I always consider that .008 and .015 respectively. I know it is very low, just a hint of blue. Well I test today expecting a .015 since I have not been running GFO..... plain solid yellow.... zero. No blue.

    I was not expecting this since it did not seem like I have less film algae on the glass like when I use GFO, but I have not been paying that much attention. But no color in either test was quite cool.

    The pellets are tumbling. They are getting sticky and clumping together a bit. Easy to break up, but it does cause some channeling in the pellets if flow is not kept up.

    I also started dosing MB7 just for the heck of it. Got a small bottle at the LFS and it was not much so I figured I would do it just as a boost. Don't plan on using it long term. But I have only dosed for low nutrients and added 4 drops on two occasions so I have not been doing this the whole time or very much.

    Cyano is still present but I am attributing this to the oldrock I put back in the tank. Colors on my coral are getting better, but I also ran my halides up from 6 hours to 9 hours and attribute much of the improvement to that. My Superman Monti is now Superman again and not all brown like it was.

    Those are my observations so far.
     
  4. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Powerman I am very interested
    I cant get the WM brand , but can find the BP version (Bio Pellets)

    I dont have a sump so
    I figured - external cannister filter - fine grade mesh around the baskets not the media

    basically add the media to the basket and then put the basket in a mesh bag before lowering it into the cannister so as to stop it being densely packed and giving an ample water to media ratio.

    do you think that method is a suitable way of running this media?

    Steve
     
  5. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    I think the main thing to remember is since it is meant to run all the time without changing... don't use anything that is going to catch detritus and clog up. So sponges are out. Not sure if a media bag will, but media bags are easy to rinse off. Just shake out ina bucket of water change water and it should be good.

    With pellets in media reactor...seems to be a learning curve as to how much flow and how much tumble is needed. WM does not think tumbling is necessary with theirs. With NP pellets it's a big deal. So it should work out.
     
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  6. xmetalfan99

    xmetalfan99 Giant Squid

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    I don't want to sound ungrateful for your review and test of this product, but how can you really tell what the product is doing when you are changing variables of you tank?
     
  7. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    I'm not really. My nitrates and PO4 have always been pretty low and steady. My cheato growth has been at a constant rate. I know what my nutrient levels are.

    I felt my colors were off due to not enough light and it seems I was right. So I expected that to improve. How much coloration will improve from lower nutrient levels I don't know. But my levels were already pretty low.

    Next is to get stable with the pellets then start feeding more. I expect color and growth to improve some more. But it will be a month and that will give time for everything to adjust and show growth from the added light time.
     
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  9. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    [​IMG]

    well Im going to be joining this experiment, got the N/P bio pellet - its not cheap by Chinese reef keeping standards US 50 bucks

    picked up a new 1000g pack of Rowa also - possibly an un needed purchase
    but if all else fails, old reliable gets bought back into the system

    Steve
     
  10. poolkeeper1

    poolkeeper1 Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    Tumbling

    Hey buddy, I just scored some Eco-Bak 500ml from Zach (Losing interest)
    Anyway i have it in the first chamber of a BRS dual reactor (Second chamber empty) It is for the most part tumbling nicely just a small area on the bottom that is not moving all the time. My question is is this OK or do i need to get it all moving, I'm running a Maxi-jet 1200 wide open to get this much movement.
    My question is do i need more flow or is this good enough?
    I am going to the hobby store to get some of those disc's to put in the reactor today to replace the foam blocks, But i did cut them way down to just a thin layer to hold the media in the canister.
    Any help will be appreciated so i am sure i'm doing this correctly, Don't want to harm anything as the tank is doing great as is just want to try and make it better and cheaper to run and this product seems to fit the bill.
    Thanks in advance
    Bill;D
     
  11. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    They don't "have" to tumble. It's just that you will see channeling in the media. They will start to get sticky and clumpt together to form channels. Most times all you have to do is stop and start flow to break it up. Not a real big deal. I just got mine tumbling enough to keep it broke up. WM only suggests 100gph so anything more is fine. If you decide you want to run media in the other reactor you probably won't have enough flow from the 1200. Plus... the pellets "might" cause plugging in carbon and running carbon before the pellets will strip too much food. So WM suggests not running reactors in series. I split my dual to run parrallel.
     
  12. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Powerman

    do you think running these in the media section of a HOB Deltec MCE 600 would be an ideal way to create the bio pellet / skimmer/ bacteria clear off that seems important?

    Steve