the official ECOBAK thread...

Jon,

I've been using Ecobak with great success for about 6 months now. My nitrates are nonexistent and my phosphates are minimal. Until recently, I have had very little in the way of bothersome algae. Recently however, I've seen an increasing amount of dinoflagellates. One recommendation for coping with them is to reduce phosphates. Mine are reading at .01 on a hanna checker, which under normal circumstances I'd be fairly content with, but with the dino's, I may need to lower. I am considering a GFO reactor as a semi-temporary measure, but I worry that phosphate limiting the bacteria in the Ecobak may adversely affect its ability to cope with excess nitrogen compounds. What do you recommend?

Regards,

 

It's ok to run a round of GFO if you want to scavenge any PO4 in the system. The ecoBAK won't be very active when the nutrients are so low but they won't stop functioning altogether.

 

Tip of the day... when your nutrients are low, less than 1ppm NO3 and less than .03ppm PO4 you can increase the flow through ecoBAK to a moderate tumble and increase the activity level.

 

yep i am finally picking up the warner bio pellets for my tank since everyone is seeing great results.

 

i put the bio pellets in on march 28th. im waiting to see results. i know it says 3-4 weeks so it should be happing soon i hope

 

I have a 75G mixed reef composed of 45% SPS, 50% LPS, and 5% softies (zoas and palys). I feed my LPS every few days. I would like to lower my PO4 and Nitrates to make my SPS happier, but still want my LPS looking healthy and vibrant. due to this feeding, my PO4 and nitrates are a little higher than what I would like. Would you recommend EcoBak for my situation? If so, should I run the media differently?

 

It'll work well... run low flow for a gentle tumble. And keep feeding the tank. In fact you could probably start feeding daily. If you still find the effect too dramatic reduce volume of media by 50%

 

soon... very soon.

 

I am still seeing unbelievably low N03 and P04, and I am feeding heavy. I would still consider my bioload to be light in my tank, but either way, I'm totally happy with the results. And I'm not even using the suggested equipment.

Jon, you are the man! Thanks again for putting out such an incredible product.

 

Switching to Warner

Hi all...I've been running NP biopellets for the past ten weeks, so far good results but I'd like to switch to Warner for my next round...I did experience the cloudy water bacterial bloom for several days when I first ran the bp, if i switch to Warner will I risk this again?