the official ECOBAK thread...

And FEED your tank!

Back in the mid 90's we were all in awe of the cool colored sticks in aquariums belonging to guys like Steve Tyree.

How did we keep the colored sticks back then? Well, we mostly starved the tanks. SPS guys were funny, you'd say "Why don't you have any fish?" and they'd say "No way, my sticks will go brown".

Then we saw the advent of powerful protein skimmers, beneficial water additives and filter media and SPS tank water got cleaner. So we'd start to see some SPS tanks start to "look" starved... the colors would fade and the coral would look "dry". So at that point the advice became "Add a fish" and that would help improve SPS color in systems with a nutrient deficiency.

So for optimum results... if you're running a successful low nutrient system with ecoBAK, feed your tank!

 

So running ecoBAK replaces the need for granular carbon pellets, but eliminates the need for running GFO, as well?

 

I agree Seano
its a very good thread
and Im here to learn

Im formulating an opinion and hopefully Jon or sostoudt can comment on it

my opinion is
if your on a new system or a system with nutrient issues (measurable N +P) then going the pellet route seems to be a much better option due to the inherent issues as advised above related to the VSV or variations of said method

Steve

 

The old ways were to starve SPS for nutrients, as it was thought to be bad for the corals, which it was. But having too little nutrients is bad too.

Corals need low nutrients in the tank order for zoox to produce the bright colored pigment we want. The nutrients put out in the forum of PO4 and NO3 by fish is good for corals, in small amounts and the corals will "eat" these up...

Have I read this correctly?

 

A new system with measurable nitrate levels? That's me.

 

Is there a difference in speed of the "kick in" period between biopellets and other carbon dosing forms?

 

that's right... too "clean" can be bad, too.

 

ecoBAK needs about 4-5 weeks to reach full activity... liquid soluble dosing works faster but is flawed.

Soluble C dosing uses an overload of dissolved C to encourage an over-growth of bacteria and a "spike" in nutrient consumption followed by a die-off because the bacteria population can't be sustained by the level of C unless it's dosed regularly.

 

I think you are confusing things. GAC, granulated activated carbon is used as a chemical filtration media and takes out poisons, chemical compounds and disolved organics. Bio-pellets do not replace that.

the need to run GFO will be determined by your system. If you already have low PO4 then pellets might well take out enough to eliminate the need to run GFO. The bacteria will take out N and P from the water. But you may still have P left over and may still need to use GFO. Depends on how much you are inporting and what is in your tank.

 

Is there a bacterial supplement you recommend to make it go faster.

I know you can't speak for all biopellets, but do most encourage the same type of bacteria? So you could seed a friends reactor with pellets from your own even with different brands of media.