DrTim's AquaticsNP-Active Pearls (150 gal) 450 ml

DrTims Active pearls is a great product in my opinion. I can definately see a difference in my nitrate levels since introducing these into my media reactor. I was sitting in the 30ppm range before I started using these and now they are un-detectable.I started off slowly at first just like the directions say and then gradually stepped up the amount of the pellets in the reactor. The onlyl thing I did differently is that for the first month I still ran my carbon in the second chamber of the reactor. Since that month has gone by I don't use the carbon anymore; just the pellets.I have been using them for about 2 1/2 months now and have seen great results. My only complaint about them is that sometimes they tend to stick together so you have to really have them moving inside the reactor so that doesn't happen to you too. I have also noticed that when they do stick together and you un-stick them that you will have little pieces of them floating in your sump and DT after you get them moving again. This to me is not that much of a problem because they will ultimately get caught in the filter eventually anyways.

This product is great, I know that this stuff says it takes a couple of weeks to see results, but I saw results in a few days. As a matter of fact it worked to good. Took my nitrates from 15.4ppm to 6.7ppm. The only bad thing is it bottomed out my phosphates to 0.00ppm. I may have added too much too quickly, so I’ll remove half. I also added MicroBacter7, which probably speeded it up. To remedy the drop in phosphates I’ll feed more often.

I reordered this item I have been using the last one for about a year.

I have installed into my reactor and have noticed a large increase in bacteria. I never had a problem with ammonia spikes but with the addition of the pearls the swings in other matter has decreased. The protein skimmer has been collecting more matter since the addition but no big deal.

I bought a media tumbler that came with a small trial of this product (enough to start with) and began using it about 6 weeks ago. I couldn't make the product tumble initially as it just clumped up at the top of the tumbler and clogged up the screen causing issue with flow. I took to turning the tumbler off daily allowing the pearls to fall to the bottom of the device and then restarting it after the screen cleared. I added more of the pearls that I ordered from Amazon, this took about 2 weeks before the pearls started to freely tumble without floating to the top. At 4 weeks I started to see the Phosphate and Nitrate go down in my testing. At 6 weeks I had 0 phosphates and Nitrates. I am a heavy feeder and have a large bioload in the tank (15 fish in a 60 gallon with 20 gallon sump). This stuff is amazing. My water and glass are now clear of all the green algae and my coral tank is now starting to grow all different shades of coralline. I rarely rave about a product but this is something I recommend to all marine aquarium hobbyists! You will need to use a skimmer with this product as aeration and foam fractioning is an absolute must but it is well worth it!