Bio pellet information

[Carabelli]

Does anyone know a site with a thorough write up on the ins and outs of bio pellets. ... Thanks

 

[Eckolancer]

If you want to text me I will explain all the ups and downs I had using them. I love them now that I fixed all issues.

 

[Dude]

I would love to listen in on this too.

 

[Incaico]

Ecko, can you please share. I'm on the fence about using them.

 

[Carabelli]

Do u mind sharing with the group as it sounds like we have several interested

 

[melev]

Here's my write up: http://www.melevsreef.com/articles/biopellets

 

[Eckolancer]

For the most part that link is pretty spot on. If you don't plumb exit to the skimmer you will start seeing excess nitrates building up as well as a film on the glass. While pellets are first brought online watch you cal alk and mag levels. Mine went from using a lot of alk to using more cal than alk, and back to more alk than cal. Now I'm having to dose mag weekly were before it was monthly. I am also not doing water changes (not recommended). I did do some water changes at first when tank was setup as my nitrates, alk, and cal were all over the place. I am currently running my alk a little higher then Marc but slowing dropping it. At first I was trying to maintain 10 dkh but started noticing sps bleaching from bottom up. Now that I've dropped corals are growing over dead parts and fast.
I also dose MB7 twice a month about a capful for about 120 gallons of total water. I'm wet skimming with a neck cleaner just help keep my nitrates near 0. Currently feeding pellets 2 times a day as well as algae all day in the tank. Frozen cubes every other day. The days I don't feed frozen I feed with reef chili to the corals.

 

[Dude]

I have noticed a lot of people with larger tanks are using this. I've also noticed that it's more mature tanks. Does the size of the tank or the maturity of the tank matter?

What are your reason/s to choose bio pellets ?

From what I gather bio pellets are a little better if it's dialed and plumed correctly. But if something slips there could be some detrimental effects. GFO Is more forgiving but not quite as good. Is that a safe assumption?

 

[Eckolancer]

My tank has been up since march but was a direct swap from another tank that was about 1 year up and swapped from a tank that was about 2 years old. So water is about 3-4 years old. My reason was to get to a point of no water changes. I have seen a couple of the nicest tanks that used them. One hasent done a water change in almost 4 years with full SPS. No as far as going south and going south fast. I think that is kinda hard to say. I think that any sps tank can go south fast if you neglect it as well.

 

[melev]

When I set up the 400g the first time, I ran 2000ml of biopellets and filled up the tank with remaining livestock that survived in the two 100g troughs. That tank wasn't mature at all, nor was the sandbed. 13 months later the tank leaked and the livestock moved to a 215g with the same sump and biopellets running. 18 months later I finally set up a new 400g system, cycled it for a month and adding the livestock onto a tank with new clean sand, more than 50% liverock that had been in a barrel for 5 years - so the system wasn't mature although the sump and refugium were going since February 2011. It's still working well with my setup. /shrug

 

[Eckolancer]

As for sand I have none since it is another spot for nitrates to build up. I change my filter sock ever few days.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

Thanks Marc. When i ran bio pellets, i didn't know about the high AK values will cause sps to burn. So i had quite a bit of sps getting bleached.
I knew the effluent from the bio pellets needed to be skimmed, but i only ran it into the skimmer section of the sump and not into the skimmer itself.
When my bio pellets have all been consumed by bacteria, i just simply shut it down. I am thinking about turning it back on.

did you ever have high nitrates and low phosphate or low nitrates and high phosphates when using biopellets? Read many articles where they had to dose nitrates or phosphates to balance out the system so it can be lowered together.

i am also at a point where I am thinking about getting rid of the skimmer, biopellets and just using an ATS.

 

[melev]

When I set up the 400g, nitrates measured zero for 12 months in a row and I ran biopellets the entire time. They rose slightly during the past two years, but usually the hover around 5ppm, maybe 10ppm (tough to tell with the API kit for Nitrate). Phosphate rises gradually and when it hits .25ppm I'll dose Phosphate Rx to bring them back down to 0 again.

 

[Eckolancer]

On my system I cant get my phosphates above .02-.03 with hanna checker. Nitrates are near 0 all the time and use api checker as well.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

@Eckolancer wrote:

have you ever tried to run your biopellets without trying to dose mb7? Do you have the bio pellet reactor exit plumbed directly to the skimmer?

 

[Eckolancer]

Yeah it is plumbed right into my skimmer intake.

 

[Blue Water]

@Dude wrote:

That's why I went with a recirculation reactor.
With a recirc model you can adjust the effluent. Nutrients too low just turn a knob to dial it down. WIth a standard biopellet reactor you have to add or subract the pellets because you have to keep the flow going to keep the tumble going. WIth a recirc model the tumble always keeps going and you control how much effluent come out of the reactor with a separate control.
I still run GFO also. Although I am slowly using less and less. So time will tell how that goes.

 

[Blue Water]

@Carabelli wrote:

Here's a good video:
https://www.reefdynamics.com/Articles.asp?ID=266

I went with a Aqualund recirculation reactor. If you are a DIY person almost any biopellet reactor could be converted to a recirculating type.

Also I had mine plumbed into the skimmer just like most people. I read somewhere a guy put his outlet in his refugium and the pod population exploded. So I am experimenting with that. I guess it depends on where you stand as far as NO3 and PO4. Too little and you may need to back off a little. My nitrate was zero so I want a hint of nitrate. I'm targeting the .25-1ppm nitrate. It's hard for me to tell how much the pellets help for PO4 since I also use GFO but I do find my self using less GFO. I also Use some prodibio bacteria here and there.
Also I am only using about 200ml of biopellets and I don't see myself increasing that any time soon. I feed 3 times a day with about 10 fish in a 225gallon, small refuge, big skimmer. I would start with a small amount and build up. Even if you have high nitrates just give it time.

 

[mtraylor]

My Nitrates have always been 0, but my first attempt at using biopellets was to reduce the amount of algae on the glass. On my first attempt, I did not run the biopellets to the protein skimmer, and the only thing they did for me was produce green cyano on the back glass and everywhere else. On my second attempt I'm running recirculating biopellet reactor and I'm running the effluent directly to the protein skimmer and I have to say my glass has never been cleaner. When I first fired it up, I saw some of the green cyano algae, but I scrubbed it away. It has not came back. My SPS love it and the tank is really clear. Couldn't be happier.