the official ECOBAK thread...

Jon, what would happen if you ran EcoBak in a oxygenated, purely aerobic environment? Would anaerobic bacteria still form on the media? I am thinking it should not correct?

 

My guess is that there may be some anaerobic bacteria in the pores of the pellets... but nowhere near what you'd see normally.

 

Thanks jon,
do you think there is any benefit to running it this way?

 

No, not really. I mean when you run it "normally" NO3 and PO4 go down to undetectable numbers... why do anything different?

 

I was thinking about reactor designs and thinking if there was a way to control the amount of media in a anaerobic area and a aerobic area, then maybe we could "dial" in what the media is consuming. As i understand that the anaerobic bacteria is removing more N03 and the aerobic is P04. Or am i thinking to hard .

 

HI Jon,

i made the change to ecobak...

i just tested and i show .10 on phosphates...

nitrates on red sea pro high range are about 8... on lamotte it is around 35...

not sure what is correct or not....

whats your thoughts??

 

Hello,

that's a good start... by 4-6 weeks we see them really start to pull the numbers down and I think you're about 3 weeks.

 

i just ran some numbers again since my corals arent looking too well...

phosphates are up to .17 they were around .10 a few days back

do you recommned i leave it or put gfo online? i am concerned if i put the gfo online it may bring the phosphates down and i think they are needed in order for the pellets to work with the nitrates to bring down???

i also see in the pellet reactor some accumulation on the pipes almost like a build up of a powder looking stuff.... i assume its bacteria....

i never had this before with my old pellets...

do i just hold still and leave everything and let it progress??

Larry

 

Hi Larry,

You're still early in the process. Let it run. Add some GFO to keep a handle on your PO4. What's your water flow look like? Can you show a picture of your setup?

 

here are 2 videos.... it is a recirculating reactor... so the turnover to the tank is slow though the internal flow is moving....

i do seem to have stuff growing in the reactor..