There are a few on here, using them in different sorts. One guy is running a 450 gallon system with them but hasn't been on in a while to give us updates, lol.
There are a few on here, using them in different sorts. One guy is running a 450 gallon system with them but hasn't been on in a while to give us updates, lol.
Reefwise uses it on their systems and mlreef is the guy with the 450 system. I've recently put it on my display. K1 is huge in freshwater, but other than a few very large reefs I have not been able to find it run by many.
I'm about 3-4 weeks into my experiment and have noticed zero change. I'm very happy with that as I expected no change. My system was already pretty clean and didn't have testable amounts of ammonia or nitrite. K1 should have zero effect on nitrate as K1 requires air to tumble in most cases, preventing the necessary low oxygen environment to remove.
I know it's just like BIO-Pellets in some fashion... I'm a heavy feeder and feed my Frag Tank all sorts of foods so I need something to help with keeping the bad nutrients down...
I know it's just like BIO-Pellets in some fashion... I'm a heavy feeder and feed my Frag Tank all sorts of foods so I need something to help with keeping the bad nutrients down...
I'm still trying to manage the amount in my tank. I originally had so much in there that it was processing more waste then my bioload could produce and the corals were dieing. I now have 1/10th of what I orginally had in my K1 chamber. I also overskim. It's a struggle.
Most definitely. Koi ponds use it this way and it's very popular. The issue will be getting enough tumble and verifying it. This is why I went with a clear reactor.
I know it's just like BIO-Pellets in some fashion... I'm a heavy feeder and feed my Frag Tank all sorts of foods so I need something to help with keeping the bad nutrients down...
From a lot of reading, I don't think Bio-pellets and K1 are comparable. Bio-pellets are fuel and increase the bacteria load above the natural balance the tank would form. K1 is simply a home for bacteria to grow. While K1 is an optimized home, theoretically the media itself cannot increase the nitrification capability beyond the nutrient load the tank has before K1 implementation, assuming your Live rock is already sufficient. Assuming your live rock can handle the nutrient load you could remove K1 with zero effect, but again I have yet to test this. Long term testing is needed to verify.
I'm still trying to manage the amount in my tank. I originally had so much in there that it was processing more waste then my bioload could produce and the corals were dieing. I now have 1/10th of what I orginally had in my K1 chamber. I also overskim. It's a struggle.
I say give it a try and see how it works for your tank. We all could use the extra data and findings on different setups to help with our own. It amazing that it hasn't gained more popularity. I would never run bio-pellets but I'm excited about using K1. Like Josh said, it doesn't add anything to the tank like bio-pellets do. It's just a home for more bacteria that we already have in our tank.
Bio balls are stagnant, K1 is constantly moving and scrubbing old bacteria off into the water column where it can be skimmed. Only young healthy bacteria can grow on properly tumbling media preventing the bio-ball aging problems.
As far as amount of media to use. Here is the math that I’ve worked up for my setups. To calculate for your system, you’ll need to know the amount you feed and how much of that load you want K1 to handle.
Kaldnes K1
Handles 250g(@40% protein) food per 50L of media
**5g per 1L**