NP-active Pearls not working

Dear members,

I have started using Dr. Tim's NP-active pearls 10 weeks ago and so far no results.
I am using the recommended amount (3ml per gallon) and I even seeded the pearls with Dr. Tim's bacteria "Waste away". My nitrates are in the same level as before I started with the biopellets (around 20).
Pellets are inside a Two little fishes phosban 150 reactor with a maxi-jet 1200. For the most part pellets are tumbling - I do have a dead spot on the reactor where pearls are not moving as fast as they should.
Any advices of how to make the pellets work?? Comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Best,
Lucas

 

hello Lucas

Few questions:

First -- what units are you using? Nitrate ion or nitrate-nitrogen?

Second -- what is your orthophosphate value? Have you measuring it regularly? What is its trend?

Third -- you have a skimmer, yes?

Fourth -- can you give a little more detail on tank setup, daily feeding amount, any additive you add?

Fifth - are you using GFO or any other phosphate removing methods?

It may be that your phosphate is very very low and so you are not able to grow bacteria to get rid of the nitrate. The goal to be grow bacteria using the carbon from the Pearls and phosphate and nitrate from your water. Once one of these three runs out the process stop (well, really slows down). Without knowing your water quality data I am only guessing here but is your phosphate really low?

Cheers

DrTim

 

Dr Tim,

I used Salifert and API nitrate test kits, and results were pretty consistent. Looks like both kits measure nitrate-ion.
I don't measure phosphates often (the test kits are very hard to read) - I am not very convinced about the test accuracy. Having said that, last time I measured phosphates, it seemed that I had none (undetectable levels).
I do have a skimmer and the reactor's output is close to my skimmer intake.
My tank is a 45 gallon, lightly stocked (2 clowns, 2 btas and several corals). I feed twice a day.
I don't use any phosphate removal methods, and I supplement calcium, magnesium and alkalinity using a 2-part dosing system.
Anyway, If that's truly the case (low phosphates), what would you recommend doing? How could I increase phosphates in order to make biopellets working at an optimum level?
I will check if I can measure phosphates in a more accurate manner.

Thanks,
Lucas

 

A quick update: I was able to measure my phosphates using a hanna checker and got 0.14ppm.
Is it enough to make biopellets work or is it too low?

Thanks,

Lucas

 

Units - it matters!

You don't really have that much nitrate. The test is giving results in the nitrate ion. So you have a value of 20 nitrate which equals only 4.52 nitrate-nitrogen (20/4.427). This is a pretty low level - what are you shooting for and is there a problem in your tank?

Below I have posted a chart that shows the relationship of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate measured in the nitrogen base (the most common way) and then by the ions (ammonia, ammonium, nitrite and nitrate).

As you can see it makes a big difference especially when talking about nitrite and nitrate.


As for your phosphate level. I downloaded the hanna instructions and they don't tell you what the units are. For phosphate the units can be as the ion (PO[SUB]4[/SUB]3- or they can be as the Phosphate (P). Again it makes a big difference. Does anyone have a source to know what the units are for the hanna checker?

At this point I don't think your nitrate is a problem.

 

Hi Dr. Tim,

Thanks for the explanation. I was not aware of the differences between nitrate-ion and nitrate.
I was aiming for nitrates to be as low as possible, and I was hoping to get a zero reading with biopellets. Many people report 0 readings, and I (mistakenly) thought that zero readings were equal biopellets working properly.
However, my tank is looking just fine - corals are doing good and no algae problem.
I guess I should not stress over numbers if everything is looks great.

Thanks,
Lucas

 

Hi Lucas

You should definitely not stress over the number - your corals and your tank's general condition (algae, cyanobacteria, lack thereof) will tell you more. Also realize that you don't want absolutely zero nitrate (nitrogen) and phosphate (phosphorus) which I don't think is actually possible. Why? Because the symbiotic algae in your corals need nitrogen and phosphorus and if they could not get it they would die and so would your corals. The key is keeping things in balance which your system seems to have.

As for people who report 0 reading - again I would first ask what kit and what units. Some kits do not measure low levels of nitrate very well so yes the nitrate my be low but 0 - probably not in the majority of cases.

Cheers

 

i just started using Dr Tims NP pellets. been running them for about a week now and a white fuzzy started growing around the output of the reactor screen. is that normal with the use of this product?