melev

I say that tongue in cheek, but in a way it's true. One of the best pieces of advice I got from Joe's 20,000g reef (video) was how he stays ahead of trouble before it happens, steering the 'ship' to avoid catastrophe. Fixing stuff post-wreck is far more expensive and time consuming.

Earlier this year, I explained how nitrates rose to extreme levels for no good reason. It just happened and I couldn't explain it. I did a number of things to get them back under control, and last Sunday's test showed them measuring 10ppm. That's much better than where they were a few months ago. However, I also did an alkalinity test and that number was much too high all of a sudden. Testing twice with my new Elos kit, it was 22 dKH again, like that other time last year. I have got to #1) commit to doing weekly tests once more, to avert swings like this one. #2 is already done - I removed the controller that was regulating the pH level in the reactor and replaced it with the type I've used for a decade. I honestly trust it (Milwaukee pH controller) far more and never had these issues with it. Alkalinity is down to about 15 dKH, as of my last test two days ago.

While checking things an hour ago, I discovered the biopellets weren't tumbling at all. As I opened the valve further, I saw something strange within the reactor so I quickly closed the valve again. When you have an inkling you may have toxic water about to be released into your living ecosystem, always stop the flow to investigate first.

Regarding a biopellet reactor: Besides visually making sure flow is moving the pellets at all times, it's important to remove the top plate every couple of months to clean it of trapped obstructions. Once trapped, that clogged perforated plate will stop the flow of water passing through the reactor too. Fishing out that top plate, I saw some odd lumps in the media which I scooped out by hand. Some pellets were trapped in a gelatinous slime, which is not what you want to see. Here's one cluster I dropped onto the floor next to me while working in the sump, initially.

Biopellets are supposed to be a light beige, not this grey color. Here's a picture of brand new pellets.



Fortunately, I caught this early on before all the media was fouled. What occurs in zero flow is a plummeting of oxygen levels. It becomes anoxic which then breaks down further until it smells sulfuric as everything within rots. Only a couple of handfuls were ruined. I removed the entire reactor, poured all the media out into a large bowl, and rinsed it with more tank water until it was essentially clean again. Lots of sloughed material was rinsed away, leaving clean pellets I could use. Since the bulk of the media wasn't an obvious total loss, I rinsed with tank water to avoid killing the living bacteria within the pellets.

The reactor was rinsed clean, and refilled with used pellets as well as 500ml of new biopellets called BioSpheres, by Reef Octopus/Coralvue. Here it is, back in the sump running and tumbling again.

I know for a fact the biopellets were why the nitrates came back down to manageable levels again. That's why I like them so much more than dosing vodka, vinegar or sugar. But it is something you have to make sure is running correctly to reap those benefits.