Offical Eco-Bak Thread

[poolkeeper1]

How much pump is needed to keep the biopellets suspended? Would a MaxiJet 1200 do it or would it need more? I haven't used biopellets yet so I'm not sure how heavy they are. I can always feed the reactor from my return pump if needed.

That is the way i currently do it from my return pump, The problem with that is to keep the pellets tumbling you may feed more water through the reactor than you need to keep your Po4 under control. Thus why I am buying this new type reactor.
Bill

 

[rcmike]

I'm talking about using a pump to circulate it and having a separate pump to feed it if needed. Pretty much any reactor could be modified to run that way I would think. Just hook a pump to the input and have the output going to the intake of the pump. Have a valve in there to regulate the tumbling rate. Then have a small line going to the reactor and another going from it. You could hook one of these up to a pump or if you have the input near the recirculation pump it might draw water into it without a separate pump like in the video.

 

[gmoney243]

i think the trick to getting his reactor to working that way is the very small tubing he uses for the actualy intake the water pulls from the closer bigger easier flowing source(the reactor) aka the path of least resistance , instead of the small long far away tubing that still sucks in a small ammount.

 

[rcmike]

He has the tube right next to the intake of the pump which has lower pressure where the water comes out. You could even make that work better if you could put a tube inside the pipe that goes closer to the intake of the pump. I probably won't worry too much about getting it to work that way since I already have a place to tie into my return plumbing and I would have to modify my reactor quite a bit more. I might even just use the BRS Carbon/GFO reactor and modify it instead if I can find appropriate fittings.

 

[rcmike]

I converted my kalk reactor today to a recirculating biopellet reactor and it is working pretty good. I bought some TLF media at AC to see how it's going to work. I forgot I had to run this reactor in my sump because it leaks a little where the acrylic is glued to the PVC fittings. I made the plumbing stick out a little too far and it won't fit. I have it sitting in a Rubbermaid container for now. I will get a few fittings tomorrow and make it fit.

One question. Is there a problem with mixing different brands of media? I will probably add some more to what I am already using if it will work.

 

[Dowtish]

I know ToXIc mixed some of his existing pellets with a different pellets, and didnt have any ill effects. I wouldnt think it matters, its kinda like mixing 2 different sands. Bio pellets are just a substrate for bacteria to grow and feed. I dont think it matters if you mix them.

 

[orthokardia]

I think the mixing is good in that it is possible (not for sure) that it may yield more diversity in the bacteria. The only bad side would be if the shapes of the media would hinder it's ability to churn in the reactor. I run ecoback and the BRS brand with no ill effects.

-bart

 

[reewik]

I have not had time to set mine up... LOL... maybe this weekend, pretty booked up though.

 

[rcmike]

I was thinking the same thing about bacterial diversity on mixing them. The only thing that concerned me was two different shapes/sizes not turning over well. I'll give it a go when I get some more.

 

[poolkeeper1]

I'm getting an adverse reaction to the pellets clumping up all the time and they seem to be flaking apart rather quickly as these are New Pellets only about 4 weeks old.
I tossed my 2 year old pellets after the same thing happened after topping the lost volume off with new, Now the same thing is starting all over again for no apparent reason and I'm getting the same White/clear slime on my glass as before and i manually broke them up yesterday and they are like a big rock again this morning.
I have read Jon's explanation for what he thinks is causing this but nothing else in the system has changed or died.
The new reactor is still 4 weeks out at best if they are telling the truth this time, And I'm thinking about going back to dosing Vodka as I never had these problems while using that carbon source!
Bill

 

[gmoney243]

watch that probiotics video from macna bart gave the club lot of good info on all forms of carbon dosing including biopellets. basically tho those pellets are all the same thing and same type of bacteria. in the ocean the bacteria levels and how many types are insane numbers. using those pellets no matter what brand u are producing the same type of bacteria if u want more types which is suppose to be better then add different forms like vinegar and vodka mixtures. the guy also talks about using bacterial inoculators which im not sure he explains why lol but it had more to do with using vinegar/vodka mixtures and Zeovit systems.

 

[rcmike]

I redid my reactor so it would fit in my sump today. It is working very well and it only needs one pump to recirculate the media and to feed the water to it as well. There are two key things to get it to work like this. Make sure your intake from the sump is between the valve to regulate the tumbling and the pump and make sure the output is under water so if the electricity goes out it won't suck air back into the reactor. I wish I had thought to take a picture before hooking it up but I forgot.

 

[poolkeeper1]

I redid my reactor so it would fit in my sump today. It is working very well and it only needs one pump to recirculate the media and to feed the water to it as well. There are two key things to get it to work like this. Make sure your intake from the sump is between the valve to regulate the tumbling and the pump and make sure the output is under water so if the electricity goes out it won't suck air back into the reactor. I wish I had thought to take a picture before hooking it up but I forgot.

Glad to see you got it going, How are you controlling the amount of flow through the reactor that goes back to the sump (Or what's being processed seperate from the tumbling of the pellets??)
Bill

 

[rcmike]

Glad to see you got it going, How are you controlling the amount of flow through the reactor that goes back to the sump (Or what's being processed seperate from the tumbling of the pellets??)
Bill

I just have a small ball valve on the output much like in that video. I basically just lift the end of the output tube out of the water and adjust it to what I want and then stick it back in. It will work just fine with the output not submerged but if the pump is turned off it will suck air back into it. I may try to pull it out of the sump to get a better picture later. Those other ones turned out really bad and you can't tell much of anything. It may not be the prettiest reactor but it seems to be working well. I am using one of those cheap Ecoplus pumps from Aquatic Critter. I think it is the 264gph model but I'll have to check. I told Ken what I was doing with it and he thought it would be too small but it is more than enough.

 

[rcmike]

Here is a little better picture. The water goes in at the bottom of the "T" and comes out at the top of the reactor.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Here is a little better picture. The water goes in at the bottom of the "T" and comes out at the top of the reactor.

I see now, I did not have the ability to do it that way with my current reactor without cutting a hole in it for plumbing and i was not destroying a 119.00 reactor to try something that may or may not work in my case.
Bill

 

[rcmike]

I don't blame you. I had this old thing sitting around for years so I figured if I messed it up it would give me a reason to finally throw it away.

 

[gmoney243]

glad u got it working .. at reef dynamics runs ecoplus pumps on some of there skimmers and probably the ractors too. ive used a few of them and they are good and quiet pumps cheap price but seem to be durable mine all still work after almost a year of service

 

[poolkeeper1]

glad u got it working .. at reef dynamics runs ecoplus pumps on some of there skimmers and probably the ractors too. ive used a few of them and they are good and quiet pumps cheap price but seem to be durable mine all still work after almost a year of service

The Reactor says it comes with an Eheim Pump and for the Price I hope it does as they are not cheap.
Bill