Running TLF Phosban 550 reactor with 400ml NPX Bioplastics

DRC Archive Member Tanks
101

WOW! You have amazing looking colonies A. in spite of the seemingly high NO3 and PO4 readings. Its hare to figure why you dont have more HA. but it’s working for you. I just checked my frag tank with the nice acros in it, and my nitrates seem to be near zero. its been 4 or 5 weeks since ive done a water change. just going to do one tonight. i picked some hair off the sand and a few corals, but other than that, it seems to continue to clean up. the plenum sand bed seems to be working fine. 4 or 5 weeks ago i took the GFO and carbon and Purigen filter media out to do a little chemclean red slime remover treatment. that cleared a corner patch i had, but i never put the media back in or did a water change. i do add Microbe lift bacteria, Gravel cleaner and their Nite Out II which seems to clean things up.

I guess the plenum and fuge are taking up the nutrients. and skimmer. I guess theres more than one way to get good results. so i needto get the scum out of the fuge first, then clean the floss, and then the water change. and all should be good for a while. I have off and on been dosing vodka and vinegar. i cant say i have been consistant. a little here, a little there. its my hap hazard way. i cant seem to maintain a routine.

Rosti has run his tank without media, just a fuge, and it has done very good. its all a matter of balance. to get the bio system up to speed to handle the load. thanks for the update. keep up the good work.

102

Jon, from looking at some of the other pics, I would guess that orange piece in the pic is a orange digi.

A, how about a FTS. You know everyone likes those shots. :BEER

103

A have you tried denitrate? I use it and it works really good. I can’t read any trates in my tank but I ran out of denitrate one time and took a bit to get it my trates went to 10-15. I then put more denitrate and it went to nothing in a few weeks. That’s proof for me. I read that if something removes both po4 and trates it needs both to remove one. Maybe some denitrate will get you there. But again it looks good and if you said your trates were 30 I wouldn’t worry too much lol. Because its working.

104

Thanks Guys for your kind words. Doing my best to keep up with things I love to do and the love of these majestic animals.

[quote=“JustSumGuy, post:97, topic:4187”]
Looking good. Glad to see the pellets have worked out for you for the most part.

I just started getting some hair algae in the tank and my bio pellets are starting to clump up I am in need of upgrading pumps Maybe a mag 9 to run my skimmer and pellets and whatever I use on the second reactor I bought. I pretty much swear by the pellets now though. I have noticed a difference in my tank since I added them to my system.[/quote]

Good to hear your tank is doing well also. I think I told you about the same problem you have with low powered pump and clumping. That’s why I went with the RIO 2100. It stop the TLF pellets from clumping and now the Ecobak are flowing fine as well.

[quote=“houndsbayman, post:98, topic:4187”]
Glad everything is going good for you,A. YahoO

Pictures look great, you have some really nice colonies in your tank.

Awesome ::thumbsup::[/quote]

abcd John.

[quote=“Gordonious, post:99, topic:4187”]
Looking pretty good from what I can see. Are you planning to hook up a frag tank fairly soon? Or are the nutrient levels keeping the growth rates down a bit and it hasn’t become a necessity.

What is the orange-ish colored coral in the bottom left of this image?
[/quote]

Jon, those are the orange/peach monti digi. Very easy to grow and fast grower. As for the frag tank, not any time soon. I’m in the process of setting up a 220g right now. The frag tank will be my next project. I believe you are right about the growth rate due to high nutrient levels. It is growing, but not as fast as it should, I think.

[quote=“saltcreep, post:100, topic:4187”]
Looking really nice A ::thumbsup::

just keep everything happy until the big move :BEER[/quote]

Yes, John. I can’t wait!! YahoO GolfC

[quote=“kaptken, post:101, topic:4187”]
WOW! You have amazing looking colonies A. in spite of the seemingly high NO3 and PO4 readings. Its hare to figure why you dont have more HA. but it’s working for you. I just checked my frag tank with the nice acros in it, and my nitrates seem to be near zero. its been 4 or 5 weeks since ive done a water change. just going to do one tonight. i picked some hair off the sand and a few corals, but other than that, it seems to continue to clean up. the plenum sand bed seems to be working fine. 4 or 5 weeks ago i took the GFO and carbon and Purigen filter media out to do a little chemclean red slime remover treatment. that cleared a corner patch i had, but i never put the media back in or did a water change. i do add Microbe lift bacteria, Gravel cleaner and their Nite Out II which seems to clean things up.

I guess the plenum and fuge are taking up the nutrients. and skimmer. I guess theres more than one way to get good results. so i needto get the scum out of the fuge first, then clean the floss, and then the water change. and all should be good for a while. I have off and on been dosing vodka and vinegar. i cant say i have been consistant. a little here, a little there. its my hap hazard way. i cant seem to maintain a routine.

Rosti has run his tank without media, just a fuge, and it has done very good. its all a matter of balance. to get the bio system up to speed to handle the load. thanks for the update. keep up the good work. [/quote]

abcd Ken. My 220g that I’m getting ready to set up will try to mirror Rosti. I have never done DSB so, I’m gonna give it a try. I been reading up and doing research on it and hopefully Rosti will get on the site so I can pick his brains.

[quote=“dunk, post:103, topic:4187”]
A have you tried denitrate? I use it and it works really good. I can’t read any trates in my tank but I ran out of denitrate one time and took a bit to get it my trates went to 10-15. I then put more denitrate and it went to nothing in a few weeks. That’s proof for me. I read that if something removes both po4 and trates it needs both to remove one. Maybe some denitrate will get you there. But again it looks good and if you said your trates were 30 I wouldn’t worry too much lol. Because its working.[/quote]

abcd Tim. I might give that a try and see how it will work for me. Things are growing, but not as fast as I want it to or should.

105

You did recommend the bigger pump after I already put my purchase in. It worked great til recently. I am going to try and find a deal on a mag 9 or something along those lines. I need around 300gph for the skimmer I believe and 300+gph for the pellets and the second reactor if i use it for phosban does not need much.

106

I have Two little fishies biopellets sitting on my shelf as well because they clumped together. I have been thinking recently about giving them another go just because I have them and because I am using a different type of reactor at this point that may work better in, but I don’t know.

Rosti and I see eye to eye on most things, but he and Dr. Shimek can keep their deep sand beds. :stuck_out_tongue:

107

Jon, I know how you feel about DSB. I know that you are very much against it. If others see Rosti’s tank and see how he maintains it, most people would change their minds. It might not be for them, but I’m considering it.

I’ve been successful in keeping various style and methods all through out my reef keeping career. I may not be that professional or the top biologist that this hobby call for, but I am learning. DSB keeping may not be for beginners, however, I don’t think I consider my self as a beginner, as I state, I am learning. With that said, this is something new to me and I’m willing to give it a try. Learn from your mistake…try and try again.

I will keep you posted!

108

A, to get you more excited about DSB you have to read Dr. Shimek’s AHABS… Aquarium Husbandry Articles By Subscription, $50 for 12 issues, you will never look at reef keeping the same. It’s worth to spend $50 before you spend much more and reach point of no return. Jon is also correct, i think both roads will lead to success, its your choice!

109

It’s been a while since I updated this thread. Tank is still doing well and also still no hair algae. At this time the tank hasn’t been up to par since I’ve been busy with the new set up, but it is well.

Water parameter are as follows:

NO3- around 10-20 ppm with API and Nutrifin
PO4- .37 ppm
CA- 400 ppm, it is little low than what I usually maintain it
MG-1350 ppm
Alk- 9 dkh

As usual did not test for nitrite nor ammonia.

Did a little test video with my new water proof IPhone cover. I thought it might be neat to see.

110

Nice video A. tank looks real good

111

Pretty sweet A. Lifeproof?

112

[quote=“houndsbayman, post:110, topic:4187”]
Nice video A. tank looks real good[/quote]

Thanks John. It’s not really up to par, but just temporarily till I get the new tank set up.

[quote=“BigCase, post:111, topic:4187”]
Pretty sweet A. Lifeproof?[/quote]

Yup, it is. I was very scare to put it in the water, but it came out very well. Next time I’m gonna try to get better video from it.

113

Nice hanging frag racks A. All full of big frags too.

114

Thanks Ken. Frags are waiting to be mounted in the new set up.

115

That is pretty neat. I was surprised how loud the pumps sound in the tank. Sound travels better in water, but the mic really picks it up too. Can’t wait to see more.

116

So hows the nitrate and phosphate levels? any drop since last posting of the parameters?

117

[quote=“saltcreep, post:116, topic:4187”]
So hows the nitrate and phosphate levels? any drop since last posting of the parameters?[/quote]

Thanks for asking John. I was just talking to Ken at the meeting about it. I was telling him that I saw on RC about a month ago about the modification on this TLF 550 reactor. Once mod, it keeps the plastics tumbling all the time without clumping and you can use just the recommended MJ1200 pump without having to use a higher power pump like I was doing. Even though I still use the Rio2100 pump that was hooked up, now I just adjust the valve that it came with to turn down the flow and now it works perfectly.

Also, I was telling him that I was using little bit more of the recommended plastics just to see what it will do. Low and behold my nitrate is at 0 ppm and phosphate is at .05 ppm. My nitrate has never gone down pass 20 ppm since its been set up almost 9 years ago.

I’m not sure if its because of the continuous tumbling or additional plastics. I now have to change my floss filter once a week due to mum clog. I think it also suppose to feed corals as well. Either way, the tank is now 0 ppm NO3, .05 PO4 and still HA FREE!

Of course, with continued success with this setup, I will transfer it to the new setup as well.

Back in July the measurement was:
NO3- around 10-20 ppm with API and Nutrifin
PO4- .37 ppm

Oct 14:
NO3- 0 ppm
PO4- .05 ppm

118

It sounds good A ::thumbsup::

I’ve been reading about it lately, it all sounds positive if done correct.
I read through this thread again earlier, you can’t dispute results like this YahoO

and it seems like some zeovit users are making the switch to pellets with good results, and less fuss and expense. that says a lot imho :TWOCENTS

119

I just got my mag 3 saturday. i need to hook it up to my 150 pellet reactor to replace the rio 1100 running now. the RIO 110 does a bit less than 390 gph at lower head than the mag 3 at 450 gph higher head. even so the rio works pretty good. i found that by keeping the knitting mesh screen about a half inch up the tube from the red bottom plate with all the holes, creates better flow through the pellets. when the screen rests on the plate, flow goes more through some of the holes while others are partially blocked . so dont push the screen all the way down.

120

[quote=“kaptken, post:119, topic:4187”]
I just got my mag 3 saturday. i need to hook it up to my 150 pellet reactor to replace the rio 1100 running now. the RIO 110 does a bit less than 390 gph at lower head than the mag 3 at 450 gph higher head. even so the rio works pretty good. i found that by keeping the knitting mesh screen about a half inch up the tube from the red bottom plate with all the holes, creates better flow through the pellets. when the screen rests on the plate, flow goes more through some of the holes while others are partially blocked . so dont push the screen all the way down. [/quote]

I have noticed the restriction since I have the screen on the bottom also. I also noticed that the valve that comes with TLF 150 restricts a lot of flow. If you take that valve out the smaller pump should work as long as its around 300gph at 2’