New Life Spectrum

[RD.]

And just to add some additional details, on the newer buckets it shows a size comparison of the pellets inside the bucket. As an example, on the Large pellet size, it states 3-3.5 mm, under that Buoyancy (with a diagram next to it) and in print next to that states: High-Density - Most Pellets Will Sink.

IME, all pellets will sink, some may just take a bit longer than others.

 

[RD.]

Short of owning a crystal ball, it's impossible to ever know what's going on in another persons tank. A thin layer of surface scum, even so thin that it's near impossible to see with the naked eye, could prevent a small 1mm pellet from immediately sinking. I have I think 6 different buckets of NLS currently in my fishroom, and none of the various sizes and formulas, float.

 

[aldiaz33]

Anyways, Caveat Emptor.

NLS Sinking Pellets (new and improved formula- that floats).

 

[Bertie07]

I got the slow sinking ones a couple weeks ago and some sunk straight away and some would float for a while, I wanted them to sink as soon as I put them in so before I fed I put them in a cup of tank water and mixed it around a bit. They all sink and then go straight to the bottom in the tank. It also softens them a bit which is better for my smaller fish

 

[RD.]

NLS Sinking Pellets (new and improved formula- that floats)

Again, for a details guy I think you just missed the most important detail. Nowhere on the newer containers do I see the words "sinking pellets".

It states: High-Density - Most Pellets Will Sink. All 6 of my buckets have the same wording on the side. And IME, with 6 different formulas and sizes of the new formulas currently on hand, that's exactly what they do. They all sink. If they did what you describe;

Less than half of the pellets actually sink

……….. I would personally switch brands. I don't see any floating, none, but again I have a lot of surface agitation in my tanks so perhaps that's why? I don't know, I just know they all sink.

If someone can set up a vid, showing less than half of the pellets sinking, I would love to see it. Until then, I'm calling BS.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Didn't they make floating pellets specifically in the past? I have a container of pellets from them I got a few years ago that all float which is good for me.
If you wish I could post a video of that but I believe it does not apply to the situation at hand.

 

[RD.]

LOL, yes they have floating pellets, and always have. They all have FLOAT in the name, and no a video of floating FLOAT pellets wouldn't help.

 

[RD.]

NLS Large Pellet formula

 

[RD.]

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

My story may or may not be relevant but I have gone through the same non-sinking problems with my cheap and crappy pellets by Ziegler Bros.

I used to always buy only slow-sink and for 8 years never had a buoyancy-related problem. Then over one year span they sent me two times my five 44 lb bags of slow-sink of which 50%-90% never sinks, fouling all my filters and leaving the fish hungry.

I actually had to tear off the labels off of the bags and send them the pellet samples from all 10 bags. Both times it was a formulation issue, they reported back. There is a parameter in the fabrication that controls buoyancy and it got out of control because they were modifying the manufacturing process.

So I got 10 bags as a free replacement and much trouble on my end as the end result.

Funny enough, when it happened the third time, I did all the same procedure with sending the 5 samples back but I was SO SURE it was the same problem that I didn't even read the labels, all five of which I sent back with pellet samples. Turns out, they all said FLOAT, not slow sink.

Again, I got burnt and got 5 free bags.

The silver lining is that, in the process of all this trouble, I learned that some of my fish prefer float and I figured out ways to utilize the floating pellets and not have them go into the overflows. So now I order 4 slow-sinking and 1 floating.