Having a large varied biomass of bacteria maximizes the types and amounts of nutrients exported out of your system. A single type of bacteria is suited for what it requires while many different species cover the whole spectrum.

That being said, very little is known on the relationship between Bacteria and their surroundings, this is something that is currently being studied. Most of the bacteria supplements we add to our tank are nitrobacter or Nitrosomonas but here is a statement from Ency. Britannica to give you a little info.

N/P pellets are part of the evolution of carbon dosing and the first "solid" vodka method. Carbon dosing in some form is key to Zeovit and other UNLS systems. Vodka was a cheaper alternative. Early criticisms of dosing vodka alone was that it would produce a monoculture of bacteria in your aquarium and limit the diversity of good bacteria. Vodka is not the only carbon source. A variation that incorporate vodka-sugar-vinegar and incoorporated biodigest became quite popular as theory of the VSV method was to avoid a monoculture. Here is a good read.

http://glassbox-design.com/2008/achi...perimentation/

As far as I know the make-up of N/P pellets is still unknown so some critics fear it will create a monoculture of bacteria, especially after longterm use.

So in a nutshell, a little bit of a lot of different types of bacteria is what we want. A lot of a single strain is not (probably runs amok !).

I hope to have pellets online tonight so we'll see how it goes.

If it was me I'd start dosing a bacteria source first for 2-4 weeks before starting the pellets in a fluidized reactor. I use Brightwells Microbacter 7 (its cheapest) but Prodibio biodigest or whatever Zeo calls their bacteria culture. Build a diverse bacteria population first and then begin exporting it via carbon dosing/protein skimming.

Interesting thought. I was planning on running about 1/10 of a bag (so ~100ml) of pellets to start. After a few weeks, I was going to double it and run with a total of 200-250 ml.

The thought was to not shock the system too much. On top of that, I've just torn the tank apart to add the sump and re-aquascape so it's almost 100% new water and freshly cleaned sand so I'm a little low on bacteria right now.

Maybe I need to rethink this.

Well I have egg on my face. I took a water sample into a LFS yesterday and guess what. Thats right no Nitrates and no Phos either. Looks like that new test kit I bought was faulty as well as my old one. Now off to buy a new test kit. Hopefully its my tests that are bad and not the LFS'.

Cam

Which test kit were you useing, and kind was the LFS useing? the reason I am asking, is that I am having about the same reading as you were for nitrate. I am running 1L np pellets with a tlf 550 for over 11 weeks, I am useing a Salifert test kit.

I was originally using Salifert as well which was an old test kit. then I bought a Red Sea test kit. Both showed fairly close to the same readings. I think that the lfs was using a hagen? not entirely too sure.

If you don't have a very high powered skimmer (Tunze Nano) will the pellets have any negative effects? Doesn't this mulm need to be skimmed out quickly?

I have noticed my PH being lower as of late and assume its either low oxygen levels or my probe needs calibration. I think what they say is its best to get the majority of the "mulm" out to raise the level of dissolved oxygen as the bacteria on in the mulm is using it up which is why u are supposed to put the out put of your reactor in front of the skimmer. Also a better skimmer will oxygenate the water more effectively.