NP Biopellets started over weekend, I feel like a newbie overnight need some advice

[jdemarco]

Ok so i am sort of "running scared" like I havent been since the early days of starting a reef tank a couple years ago. I started running NP Biopellets in a Nextreef reactor (just shy of 1000ml / 1 liter / the big bag) over the weekend. I have done some reading on this forum to get up to speed but I need some comfort from the BRS members who have been through this "pellet experience". My water clouded up big time and my corals arent happy at all although fish dont seem to mind. My skimmer is going bonkers (as i expected) but I have more questions than answers at this point. How long does the water stay cloudy for? Am i stressing my corals out to the point of doing damage to them while this is happening? anyone lose any corals as result of the stress caused by this initial and hoefully temporary adverse affect?

So for those of you who have gotten beyond this please tell me this will pass and tell me i will make it to the other side as my mind is questioning why i did this to begin with (basically chasing low nitrates) as i really havent had any algae problems to speak of and corals have been doing well heading into this.......will it be worth it......will the adverse effects pass soon?

 

[Andy V]

Yes, the cloudiness will pass. Should be just a few days at most and possibly by tomorrow. My experience with the pellets is that they don't do much for phosphates, but help tremendously for nitrates.

 

[jdemarco]

What is the mentality around continuing to run Carbon as usual while starting the pellets??..... is that counter intuitive and what about UV streilizer is that counter intuitive as well???? as it relates to getting the bacteria to colonize the Biopeelet reactor??

 

[Andy V]

Well the biopellets are meant to be the carbon source. If you already run another carbon source I am not sure what benefit you would get from running biopellets that you wouldn't get from simply increasing the dose of what you are currently dosing (assuming it's safe to do so).

I may be wrong, but I think running a UV sterilizer completely negates the point of dosing carbon, since the point of carbon dosing is to create a bacterial driven filter, while a UV sterilizer kills it.

 

[jdemarco]

My reference to carbon was the activated fluval carbon used to polish the water for clarity which lots of peope run on a regular basis to get their water nice and clear......i run in a separate canister filter and I wasnt planning on removing the bag of activated carbon as I am actually hoping that will help to speed up the clearing up of the DT water.

As far as the UV sterilizer which i have always run, i am wondering if i should shut it down for a week or so (similar to cycling a tank) to aid in the colonization of the bacteria in the biopellet reactor although i run the UV sterilizer separately from the flow in or out of the pellet reactor. I am hoping it will help to keep the DT free from getting overwhelmed by bacteria thats outside where i want them to be (which is in the next reef reactor where they should be feeding/munching on the pellets in due time) make sense?

 

[Andy V]

Oh I see. Activated carbon is fine to use. And yes, you should shut down the UV sterilizer fro awhile:

http://npbiopellets.dvh-import.com/index.php/Important.html

 

[SteveDola]

the manufacturer doesnt suggest UV. I would cut it off.

the cloudiness is from a bacterial bloom in the tank. the bacteria can drive your oxygen down depending on how bad the bloom is. Is the tank covered>? then uncover it. might want to add a fan or airstone or both just to try and increase your oxygen. just my thoughts from someone who went down this road. It will last a few days but eventually clear.

 

[jdemarco]

my corals are getting stressed now passed 48 hours with cloudy water....started keeping lights on in DT less than normal to help possibly keep the corals sort of "dormant" but i am worried into day 3 that damage will be done and they wont bounce back as i am seeing them in conditions/ positions/ stages that i have not yet seen them under normal operating conditions. I am skimming extra aggressively and have my koralias blowing at the surface to keep it real turbulent at the surafce to help with oxygenation. Ph is remaining around 8 (even with lights mostly off) which is down a bit....running my refugium light longer to help possibly support the lower ph...i uncovered my sump for oxygen reasons as well and my tank is NOT covered......i did shut down the uv and removed sponge on the mag 5 pump intake powering the pellet reactor since i believe i want the bacteria to flow freely into the reactor to munch pellets.......still questioning if this was worth it....my skimmer still going bonkers and continue tom fight to keep water levels correct as i am pulling lot out through the skimmer which is of course running much more wet (on purpose)....foregt about my corals being stressed...i am stressed.....lol

 

[SteveDola]

what size tank did you install these on? 1000ml is a lot all at once. If the tank had a severe NO3 problem and youre stripping the water quickly, it may shock the corals until they become accustom to the new cleaner water.

this is all speculation but maybe reducing the amount of pellets being used would allow for a better transition.

 

[SteveDola]

either that or the oxygen level is being dropped from the bloom like I mentioned before. try to get more oxygen in the tank.

 

[Bobbofin]

I never experienced any cloudiness at all when starting. I run about 500ml in a NextReef reactor with a MJ1200 pump to keep it moving/jumbling. I run activated carbon in another reactor. All my algae has gone away and the tank looks pristine.

 

[Andy V]

The manufacturers directions specifically state to start with 25% of the recommended amount if nitrates were higher than 20ppm at the onset. Perhaps this is some of the problem?

 

[jdemarco]

In hind sight yes i should have added in stages. I added about 80% of the big bag. I have 110 gal DT so ultimately the big bag is recommended for up to 80 gal and again I did NOT even use whole bag but should have maybe added only 50% to start as I am now aware the company recommends 25-50% to start.
***** For the people who have gone through this.. how long from first sign of cloudiness to the end of this annoying cloudiness? Thanks in advance for ur response.

 

[frank180reef]

how is your ph?

I would be surprised if they worked that fast

 

[jdemarco]

Been keeping close eye on ph..2 days after adding pellets it was down to 7.8 on Monday morning which was first sign of cloudiness... so I have used some normal additives today for first time in a while as it has been hovering around 8 or so which is a tad lower than usual range of 8.1 to 8.2....trying to guage how long it should be cloudy...:... so far for me it is Monday morning till at least wed night(tonite) for me....anyone can speak from experience on the issue please free....

 

[Andy V]

It is perfectly normal for this to last a few days. For some people it's zero days, for some it's four days.

 

[jdemarco]

thanks "andyvalk" for your respnses thus far.

anyone else out there have similar experiences to add to this on the topic of cloudy water from NP Pellets?

again in hind sight or should I say (next time) I will be adding pellets in stages for sure so to all who are about to start this process i would add slowly for sure..25-50% at most initially.......I am still suffering some serious "reefer regret" as I must say that IMO my tank and corals had been looking great recently as i had changed my bulbs to some ATI bulbs recently about a week ago so I was liking hop things were looking until i dropped this seemingly nuclear bomb on my tank....all in an effort to chase low nitrates because it not like I was battling any algae or anything.....just always wanted low nitrates like others have successfully accomplished out there.... still cloudy this morning when i left for work......

 

[SteveDola]

IMO if you werent having nitrate problems then I wouldnt have installed them. Next time ask because I would have told you, I made the mistake on my 60 cube when I added Nps to a near 0 trate to begin with and no algea problem. I never had a cloudiness issue but I used for about 4-5 mths with no results, if anything nps damaged my sps. My fathers 90g had high trates and an algea problem (mainly from over feeding) and it had a huge bloom and clouded the tank for 6-7 days. 1 month later...his tank had no algea and water was crystal clear. His results made me believe it would help my tank...do what? Im not even sure.

 

[nicks387]

The cloudiness is a normal result of too much at one time. You are experiencing a bacterial bloom and it will pass. I had this happen in my tank and it lasted a week. However, I would take out about half of the pellets from the reactor and rinse them off in fresh water and put them in a zip loc bag to be added again in about a month or so. Make sure that the pellets are tumbling and make sure the reactors output is feeding into the skimmers intake. Adjust the protien skimmer to wide open if its going nuts and keep making adjustments to it as things calm down and it can skim again. Dont shut off the skimmer or the oxygen will be depleted in the tank. This will pass and water will be crystal clear any day now. Do not use GFO or the UV with the biopellets. Carbon is fine.

 

[SteveDola]

many people dose MB7 with the pellets and have a positive results.