Biopellet Reactor - Who Would Have Known

[redfishbluefish]

I am constantly amazed at the new things I learn about my tank.....equipment, maintenance, live stock, etc.

I started running biopellets in June of 2013....a JNS Alpha 2 Biopellet Reactor. Here it is right after I set it up:

Being a man, I never read the manual....just set it up, filled it with about a cup of pellets, and off it ran. The only thing I ever did to it over the years was add pellets, clean the pump a couple times, and clean the top screen......until about a month ago. I had a number of fish die from a cucumber that went nuclear. Since then, I've been struggling with hair algae.

A couple times over the past month I've noticed the biopellets not moving much. Figured it was the pump clogged up with hair algae, so I'd pull the pump and clean it. After doing this maybe four times over the past month, cleaning the pump wasn't doing it, with the biopellet reactor, more or less, just bubbling on one side, but no real agitation.....and that's now with the pump set wide open. My first thought was that the pump was shot. As I hemmed and hawed about buying a new pump, I figured I do one more thing....empty the reactor and do a thorough cleaning.

Bingo!

Who knew that the center tower inside the reactor had small slits coming out it's sides to agitate the pellets......and they were totally clogged. They even had two plastic screw-bolts holding this tower, made of a pile of these disc pieces...that made cleaning a breeze. So I cleaned all these parts, put it back together, and now I have a cyclone of pellets spinning around....and that is now with the pump set at the lowest setting.

So now I have to put the biopellet reactor cleaning on the maintenance schedule.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Being a man, I never read the manual....

You brought a tear to my eye....

I hope you didn't read the manual,. That would mean I have to stop and ask for directions.

 

[Salty1962]

I clean mine every 6 mths or.. until it clogs up

 

[Vincent100]

Mine would clog alot aswell
Iv just stopped using mine in the last few weeks , was getting snot from the pellets in my sump and on my filter pads , was also told that I shouldn't be running a np reactor with a UV in the same system ...so I chose the UV over the reactor .....time will tell if iv made the right choice
Got loads of cheato now instead

 

[redfishbluefish]

As I mentioned above, I cleaned my biopellet reactor for the first time, and boy, was it clogged up. I thought I had a bad pump, but it was just schmutz stuck in the small ports within the reactor. This thing is swirling better than when I first set it up. I have the pump totally closed, and it still swirling nicely. This is a static picture (because videos, I don't know how to upload), but you can see the pellets 2/3's of the way up. When I shut it down, pellets drop to half that height.



So now I'm thinking the increase in hair algae I've seen over the past couple months, that I blamed on a number of fish that died from a cucumber going nuclear, is in part actually from my reactor under performing.

I'm so excited that I've actually caught myself staring at the reactor, watching the swirling biopellets, like it was a lava lamp from the 60's!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm so excited that I've actually caught myself staring at the reactor, watching the swirling biopellets, like it was a lava lamp from the 60's!

Needs color changing leds.

some for the skimmer too.

 

[redfishbluefish]

As I explained above, I cleaned my biopellet reactor for the first time after 3 1/2 + years and now it's spinning pellets like a top. This was about two weeks ago. At first my skimmer was spewing out the skimmate, but that recently slowed. At first I thought it was that it had now gotten most of the schmutz out...but I was wrong. I pulled my skimmer out and both the inside and outside (below the water line) was covered in a mucusy snot. Upon opening it up, this included the bubble plate as well.




I can only assume this was the bacteria kicking out of the biopellet reactor and now coating the skimmer. A quick cleaning of the skimmer and pump and it went back into the tank. Here it is cleaned up.

 

[nerses818]

I literally had the same issue recently. I thought my main return was having difficulty feeding the manifold. I was about to go through a whole lot of unecessary expense