Sneak Peak: Innovative Marine MiniMax Reactor

I got a sneak peak at the latest gadget from Innovative Marine, the Innovative Marine MiniMax All-In-One Media Reactor. They are quite... Innovative.

MiniMax Reactor w/ packaging.

ReefBuilders released news of the item early this week, and I was certainly impressed by what I saw. Well, today I got to see this new filter in person. In the images, the reactor was installed on a JBJ RL 14 Gallon aquarium for display purposes only. It was not installed into a live reef system.

The reactor was filled with biopellets (a.k.a. bio plastics). This is a great media to test the reactor with as it's heavy and needs to tumble. If the reactor can easily tumble bioplastics, it should have no problem with carbon or GFO (granular feric oxide).

(More details and images after the jump...)

Biopellet Progress

We're almost a month into Project Biopellet - Take II (name still tentative). For the first two weeks, I added 1/4 cups of Biopellets weekly. For the first two weeks, I also added Two Little Fishies Bioactiv8 on a daily basis. I would turn off the return pump for a few minutes and add the bacterial innoculant directly into the sump chamber where the biopellet reactor is located. I would then leave my protein skimmer off for an hour after adding this.

So far, no problems. I have seen a huge reduction in cyano bacteria growth that was present before I started the biopellet system again. There has also been a reduction in the growth of hair algae, though some still exists. I will continue to remove either cyano or algae as I see it during water changes. Coral look healthy. I'm seeing polyp extension and no loss of color. 

Bioplastics Reactor Giveaway!!!

I love giveaways, I'm a huge fan of MarineDepot.com, and I really like my Two Little Fishies PhosBan 150 reactors, so I wanted to share this:

MarineDepot.com is giving away a Two Little Fishes NPX Bioplastics Reactor 150 with 200ml of NPX media (as seen on ChromisReef.com (and all over the web)). Your chances to win are pretty good; so far, there have only been about 25 posts. I'm not much of a gambling man, but the odds are in your favor! All you have to do is visit the Marine Depot Forums and post a comment in the Official Giveaway Thread.

Marine Depot provided the following information about the giveaway:

"Our staff receives alot of questions about biopellets, zeovit, prodibio, etc. so we started a new section in our forum to cover these topics: Probiotics and Labile Organic Carbon Dosing. It is moderated by Murray Camp (About Murray).

We are doing a giveway to bring awareness to the new forum. The winner of the giveaway will receive a Two Little Fishes NPX Bioplastics Reactor 150 with 200ml of NPX media.

There is no purchase necessary to enter. U.S. residents 18 and over merely need to post something into the official giveaway thread to be eligible. On September 19, a potential winner will be chosen randomly and contacted with a private message (PM) on the forum. They potential winner will have 14 days to reply to claim your prize. Entires are limited to one per person."

Go sign up! Take a look around. The moderators on the Forums are great: they are extremely knowledgable, helpful, and much nicer than moderators on some other well known forums. You can enter to win a cool product and learn something along the way!

Until next time...

Aquarium update

I have some exciting updates! First, I just installed a BioPellet reactor. I used AquaMaxx BioMaxx Plus BioPellets available for cheap from MarineDepot.com. I also picked up another Two Little Fishies PhosBan 150 reactor (and the BioPlastics screen) and a Danner Supreme Mag-Drive 3 pump. The Mag-Drive 3, or what is often referred to as simply a "Mag 3" will provide 350 gallons per hour; enough to power both of my reactors: the PhosBan reactor and the new BioPellet reactor. To help seed the bacteria, I also bought a bottle of Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7. I had to delay the installation by one day because I forgot to get some plumbing parts. I would recommend drawing out your setup before the install, and verify that the pump you are using comes with the adapters you need. It's a bummer to wait a day because of a $3 part that adapts your pump to vinyl tubing.

When using Phosphate media (GFO) in a reactor, you typically need a low flow, however for BioPlastics, you will need more flow to provide a steady tumble. I used a Y fitting to split the outlet from my Mag 3, and used the ball valves included with the reactors to adjust the flow. Use your eyes to get the flow right. I have no perfect gallons per hour number. You will want a slow tumble for the bio pellets; they should move freely without clumping, but you don't want them overly fluidized. For GFO (such as TLF Phosban), you will want the media to just barely bubble, as if it were JUST ABOUT TO BOIL.

The install is rather straight forward. There are many great how-to articles explaining the process, so I won't go into much detail. I will say that you MUST have a good protein skimmer. A protein skimmer will remove the excess bacteria released from the BioPellets. You will notice a thicker, darker, and more quantity of skimmate once the BioPellets mature.

When starting with BioPlastics, it is recommended to divide the final amount of required media and added it slowly. It is GENERALLY recommended to use 100ml per 25 gallons of system volume. For my aquarium, I will need roughly 300ml. I have started with half that amount- 150ml, but I have heard of others using only 1/3 of the final amount. I'm a bit impatient. I will increase the amount of media in the reactor to the final amount by adding 50ml of new media every week until I reach 300ml. This practice is something that has been recommended by hobbyists to help wean your tank onto this system, and prevent possible bacterial blooms and other associated problems. This has not been recommended by the manufacturers, but I'm sure taking it slow would not hurt. As an important side note, it is necessary to wean your system off of biopellets when discontinuing the system.

Not sure what BioPellets do, how they work, or what they are? Check out this article: How Do Bio-Pellets Work (Melev - ReefAddicts.com, 2011) and this video: Q&A with Julian Sprung: NPX BioPlastics (MarineDepot.com's YouTube Channel, 2011).

The BioPlastics will help me control nitrates and phosphates. This in turn helps keep algae in check and allows me to feed my tank a little better as it is recommended to feed your aquarium well (or extra well) to help the system flourish. This is a great benefit to the system; lots of food, low nutrients.

Unfortunately it's rather dark in here, and my camera takes terrible pictures in darker situations. I will post images of the install later. I will update on the progress of the system as it matures, and I am confident I will see positive results after a month or so.

And finally, I'm happy to report that I got some new tank additions including a BTA Rose anemone, a Red Scooter Blenny, a Maxi-mini Anemone, some additional snails for the clean up crew, and last week I added a cleaner shrimp. I'll post more information in my next update. Thanks for checking in, and until next time...