Saltgator's 240 Build
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schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
Nice collection of fish man! The "helmets" on the clowns are awesome!
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Saltgator
Tang Keeper
My buddy Mike called after testing my water....... NITRATES! N03 was at 20 plus! Great! Now for the removal, guess I got to decide which route to take (WC after WC after WC or denitrater or bio pellets or vodka or vinegar). Thoughts???
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
Bio-pellets. Slowly!!!! Start with a 1/4 of the recommended amount and not too much tumble.
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Saltgator
Tang Keeper
I tried them before but didn't feel that they were working ( never had to add more than half of the recommended amount after a year). Been looking for a reactor that would handle around 1000-1200 mL of pellets. 2 liter mountain dew bottle with a center tube? Lol, just kidding.
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
Look Into the Hydra Aquatics line. I just got the FR45 and love it
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
Also, pellets take time to come online and up to speed. Won't happen overnight. I bet they would take a good month or two in a system that big
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
You just have to be careful because they create so much flow with such little flow that you can really get the pellets whipping around which isn't a good thing. The pellets don't need to tumble like crazy like some make it seem
wowkingjames
Well-Known Member
Amazing tank, I love you black tang, wish I could buy one but to costly.
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Saltgator
Tang Keeper
Looks like I'd be able to get the FR45 possibly too. States it can handle up to 1200 mL of pellets. Do you have a video of yours running and what brand of pellets ate you running?
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
I have links on my thread and I run EcoBak.
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Saltgator
Tang Keeper
Thanks. I got a fantastic deal on him a few years back from Kevin @ pacific island aquatics. He's got a mean streak though, he let's everyone know he's in charge. His buddy is the regal angel. Between those 2, it's like I have 2 gladiators working side by side sometimes. Thanks for looking.
I figured you ran Ecobak (lol, most of yall in Tennessee I see running it). Don't worry, I'll be all over your thread today (again) looking at your system, lol.
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
It was recently updated so it shouldn't be hard to find. I honestly haven't heard of any other pellet they works as good as EcoBak. People have horror stories with bio pellets but I think that is because they started way too fast and stripped the water too quickly. This has a lot to do with tumble rate and amount of pellets used, especially if adding to an existing system.
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Saltgator
Tang Keeper
I had started with a octopus 140 and brs pellets. Started with 200 mL of them and that went on for a month. After about 6 months, I was up to about 700 mL. Never saw a reduction in HA even with manual removal and a nice (not heavy) turn over in the reactor.
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
Well you now know nitrates are an issue and the pellets should help bring those down. I believe you have your phosphates under control now. You practically threw your kitchen sink at this issue and it seems to be getting much better by the day. I think your last step is getting them nitrates down and I think the EcoBak will help with those and with keeping the phosphates in check
schooleyosis
2500 Club Member
There ya go. Remember how large of a system it is also. Nothing good will happen overnight.
