the official ECOBAK thread...

I run ecobak only. I have never run anything else for phosphates. It's hard for me to say when they started "working", because I put them online the day after my tank cycled. There were no high levels in the tank to bring down, so I assume they started working as soon as my bio load increased to the point that my levels began to try to rise.

Typically though, they take about 6 weeks to begin doing their job.

 

truly stunning Chris... looks great!

 

Thanks Jon! I appreciate the comment, but if it werent for your product and your willingness to educate me, I wouldnt have had such an easy go at it.

So, thank you!

 

I want to start running bio pellets in my my new (9 months old) small (28 gallon /w 5 gallon sump) mix reef aquarium. Would this reactor Innovative Marine MiniMax All-In-One Media Reactor be appropriate for ECOBAK in my sump?

 

I've seen them in action before and they look good...

Let us know how it goes...

 

OK .... thanks Jon

 

I really need some help!

Jon, all, I am really hoping you can help me. I have been battling a hair algae problem for over 6 months. Numbers below:
120gal DT
25gal sump
25gal refugium (1 mangrove and large ball Cheato, lit 20 hours a day)
Temp 78
SG 1.025
DkH 8-9
Ca 440
Mg 1300 - 1400
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 16 – 20ppm
Phosphate undetectable (I believe that the hair algae is phosphate limited, taking up as much as it can find)

I have good water movement and a good, properly sized protein skimmer. I use LED lighting, now only running 4 hours daily having a major negative effect on the health of my corals. I feed once daily with Instant Ocean Marine Chips. I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals and top off is from a RO/DI with 0ppm output.

I was running a small reactor with bio-pellets for months. Recently I came across this thread and followed some of the advice. About 2 months ago I purchased a larger reactor and 1000 ML of Eco Bak. I used about 500ml of the Eco Bak and the active 500-600ml of the other bio-pellets from the small reactor. I also began using Prodibio’s BioDigest, 1 ampule every 10 days.

I have seen little change, in fact the numbers above are current but pretty much the same as they were before shifting to Eco Bak. I read somewhere that EcoBak takes up P & N in a ratio, is it possible that the algae is limiting P so low that the bio-pellets aren’t producing the high concentration of bacteria that we would want? Should I add the remaining 500ml of Eco Bak to the reactor? Any other suggestions.

I sincerely appreciate any advice you can give me!!!!

 

that's correct. If you have zero or near zero PO4, the bacteria can't grow. If you're currently using GFO, stop. Then the PO4 can start to rise which allows ecoBAK to remove NO3 + PO4.

Until then, manually remove as much algae as possible.

 

Should I consider increasing the amount of food I am feeding? Will that increase P more than N? I have almost stopped feeding the corals. Can I add a little Marine Snow or Phyto on a every other day basis or will this only serve to increase the N?

KEn

 

Are you currently running a PO4 remover like GFO?

At this point you could feed more, you could remove the macroalgae too.