After the Pellets: Fun stuff to do with N&P :)

[Europhyllia]

With the pellets taken offline N&P is up in the reef tank. And it's positively skyrocketing in the seahorse tank.
So I decided to use it for a little product comparison.

I added only seachem products to the seahorse tank (Purigen and Phosguard) and only other brands to the reef tank (ChemiPure and BRS GFO).

So far the Seachem products definitely seem to be winning!

I am going to try and refrain from doing a water change this week to see where this is going but after two days of use the Seachem stuff is ahead:

after 48 hours:
Purigen reduced Nitrate from 75 ppm to 40ppm - 35 ppm change
ChemiPure reduced Nitrate from 25 ppm to 25 ppm - 0 ppm change
PhosGuard reduced Phosphate from 0.54 ppm to 0.44 ppm - 0.10 ppm change
GFO reduced Phosphate from 0.19 ppm to 0.17 ppm - 0.02 ppm change

[ErikH]

Could you average those out against your tank sizes for a more accurate result? :)

[Europhyllia]

oh and of course I realize that that's not truly a scientific experiment since conditions and starting points vary. Just an inquiring minds want to know sort of thing...

[Europhyllia]

Could you average those out against your tank sizes for a more accurate result? :)

Nope. All I can say is I used the recommended amounts for each tank.

If the ChemiPure isn't showing a little more effort next week I'll replace it with Purigen in the Reef Tank and then we can see how it does at lower N and higher volumes of water. :)

[Big_Pun]

so what made you remove the pellets

[ramsey]

so what made you remove the pellets

I'm really curious about this as well.

[Europhyllia]

I know I know, just when everybody is getting on the train I am getting off...
What can I say - I like to feed things :)
I'll update the pellet survey to include my own:
http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?63757-A-Pellet-Survey

[Squiers007]

I know I know, just when everybody is getting on the train I am getting off...
What can I say - I like to feed things :)
I'll update the pellet survey to include my own:
http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?63757-A-Pellet-Survey

What do you mean by you like to feed? I thought that with the addition of biopellets, and a quality skimmer of course that one should be able to feed fairly substantially and still maintain low N&P levels? Am I mistaken? Or did I mis-read?

[Europhyllia]

Squiers that's exactly what I thought and why I got into pellets.
It was okay with the frozen food I feed the fish and LPS but 4 times a day for a duration of 2 hours each I automatically feed some Fauna Marin foods for my filter feeders and gorgonians and the bacteria bloom has been permanent in my tank.
A short temporary bloom has no effect but this perma bloom was not doing my corals any good.

[Big_Pun]

Squiers that's exactly what I thought and why I got into pellets.
It was okay with the frozen food I feed the fish and LPS but 4 times a day for a duration of 2 hours each I automatically feed some Fauna Marin foods for my filter feeders and gorgonians and the bacteria bloom has been permanent in my tank.
A short temporary bloom has no effect but this perma bloom was not doing my corals any good.

if you added more pellets would that be able to keep up with the load or will it have no effect or the same. this is a really good discussion, pellets are still so new.

[Europhyllia]

I don't think it will have that much of an affect on the bacterial bloom. Once I turned on the sterilizer bacteria bloom in the water column disappeared and N&P rose despite pellets in the reactor.

[tebstan]

How long have you been using the purigen? Have you had to recharge it yet?

How do you know when to recharge it? Its supposed to change color, but how dramatically?

I don't have the original packaging so was just searching for instructions. Some recommended pure bleach and some said a dilution. I've been soaking it in heavy prime and it still smells funny... but not like bleach. I'm a little paranoid to stick it back in my tank.

[Europhyllia]

I only started using Purigen this week but am really impressed with how well it brought down N in the seahorse tank.
To be honest for less than $30 a year I can buy enough for my 215g tank. Even if I don't regenerate it and just buy new that's a really good deal compared to the $200 worth of pellets I burned through last year.
It's supposed to get really noticeably brown and on average lasts about 6 month I think:
http://www.seachem.net/Products/product_pages/Purigen.html

I bought a small bag already in a filter bag from you guys and didn't notice any smell but I also have a big container that came without a filterbag and when I bagged it for the big tank I noticed it smelled 'funny' straight out of the bottle so it may not have much to do with the bleach.

[Europhyllia]

GFO and ChemiPure are getting ahead! With a little help from a water change.

Purigen reduced Nitrate from 75 ppm to 40ppm - 35 ppm change; day: 5 45ppm (increase 5ppm) total decrease 30ppm
ChemiPure reduced Nitrate from 25 ppm to 25 ppm - 0 ppm change; day 5: 15ppm (decrease 10ppm/6ppm adjusted) total decrease 10ppm/6ppm adjusted
PhosGuard reduced Phosphate from 0.54 ppm to 0.44 ppm - 0.10 ppm change; day 5 0.42ppm (decrease 0.02 ppm) total decrease 0.12 ppm
GFO reduced Phosphate from 0.19 ppm to 0.17 ppm - 0.02 ppm change; day 5: 0.02 ppm (decrease 0.15 ppm/0.12ppm adjusted) total decrease 0.17ppm/0.14ppm adjusted

Like I said I did a 15% water change on the reef tank which would account for part of the decrease as follows:

Nitrate 4ppm
Phosphate 0.03 ppm

The caulerpa in the seahorse tank did not appreciate the rapid drop of the first day and has some die off probably contributing to some increase in nutrients.
PhosGuard also states that in tanks with high levels it needs to be replaced after 4 days.

So: I am now going to do a little water chance on the seahorse tank and replace the PhosGuard based on Seachem instructions.

[Triggerman]

not sure which chemipure your using but they make the original and then the elite...the elite works really well it's a combination of original chemipure and phosphate remover....the problem i've found with phosguard is it can release the absorbed phosphates back to the aquarium if left in too long...

[Europhyllia]

the problem i've found with phosguard is it can release the absorbed phosphates back to the aquarium if left in too long...
really that's seems unusual. Are you sure you eliminated the possibility of the product simply no longer being able to adsorb phosphate and a new source of phosphate adding phosphate to the water (food, etc.)?
see here:

Over treating is not recommended. PhosGuard™ is not an exchange resin, it does not release anything into the water. It does not leach phosphate or silicate back into the water and may be removed, dried, and returned to service until exhausted.
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/PhosGuard.html
I've done both the ChemiPure Elite and the regular ChemiPure. To be honest it still looks like the Seachem products outperform the other and because I tend to use up the media at different rates I feel it's a little more economical for me to use a separate phosphate remover. If it's combined and one of the two is used up I'd have to replace them both.
I have a huge tank and feed a lot so I have to look for stuff that is both effective and economical. can't beat the Purigen in that regard. :)