Bio pellets are peeling and clumpy

[reef93]

I thought sps corals don't need to get fed, I never feed them. What do you feed them, Kien ?

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by kien

It is possible that you are starving your corals to the point where they have stopped growing. Perhaps with the pellets your water is way too clean? Same thing can happen with any nutrient export method.

Kien is on to something here.... I recently removed all my pellets. Yes, believe it or not I did! But I am now seeing white tipes/growth on most of my corals, and corals that had no polyp extension, now are showing small polyps.

BUT... I also have some algae growing on my powerheads. Just noticed this last night, not much... but it is there. I have recently put a refuge back in with live rock and chaeto. Seeing great results, but will see where it takes me.

If algae comes back, maybe put pellets back in but at a much smaller amount, as I think maybe I was starving all my coral? Just don't know.

FYI, also my skimmer has changed. very green, so this is indicating a much higher nutrient level in my tank prior to the pellets.

Was running about 2-3 litres of pellets before... Maybe I should just use 150-250ml of them after the refuge? Any thoughts?

[tang daddy]

I have a 75g sps dominated tank running a vertex reactor with 1000ml of pellets, I don't notice a slow down of the growth on my sps since starting the pellets. I only feed the fishes once a week with pei mysis and as much as they can eat and feed the anemone at the same time aswell.

I believe the pellets don't slow down growth on sps, but calcium does!
As for feeding sps, it's not needed but it does help to feed them if you have the time. The best time to feed them is 2 hrs after the lights are off, the sps have crazy polyp extension at night. I use to feed zooplankton, phytoplankton, reef roids and cyclopeze but got lazy and haven't done it in a year.

[reef93]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

I have a 75g sps dominated tank running a vertex reactor with 1000ml of pellets, I don't notice a slow down of the growth on my sps since starting the pellets. I only feed the fishes once a week with pei mysis and as much as they can eat and feed the anemone at the same time aswell.

I believe the pellets don't slow down growth on sps, but calcium does!
As for feeding sps, it's not needed but it does help to feed them if you have the time. The best time to feed them is 2 hrs after the lights are off, the sps have crazy polyp extension at night. I use to feed zooplankton, phytoplankton, reef roids and cyclopeze but got lazy and haven't done it in a year.

You made me feel better now, my tank and yours is exactly the same, I also run 1000ml pellets in TLF reactor. But do pellets suck up calcium too ? Because I have never checked my calcium for years but my corals were growing like crazy before. I just do water change 20% twice a month but that is it, I don't feed my corals. I can try to start feeding them and let's see if there is any improvement.

[kien]

Originally Posted by reef93

I thought sps corals don't need to get fed, I never feed them. What do you feed them, Kien ?

Not everyone needs to feed their corals, but some do with various additives. Some people are lucky enough to have just the right balance of nutrients to feed their corals "naturally" while still maintaining a low nutrient system. Some people are not so lucky.

Biopellets don't consume calcium but the bacteria which you are growing on the biopellets can deplete essential nutrients that corals would use to grow. For example, some corals need trace amounts of phosphate to grow. It's quite a delicate (and difficult) balancing act.

I do not feed my corals anything but did notice a slow down in growth when I cranked up the amount of biopellets earlier this year. I have since dialled them back.

Also, keep in mind that even if your tank on paper is identical to someone else's tank, chances are the make up of your actual tank water can be dramatically different. As a result it is very hard to compare two tanks this way. You both would likely have different organisms doing different things to your water chemistry, not to mention a crap load of other factors (equipment, age of system, husbandry, etc).

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by kien

Also, keep in mind that even if your tank on paper is identical to someone else's tank, chances are the make up of your actual tank water can be dramatically different. As a result it is very hard to compare two tanks this way. You both would likely have different organisms doing different things to your water chemistry, not to mention a crap load of other factors (equipment, age of system, husbandry, etc).

Roughly translated we reefers can never *really* know what's going on. Do your best and hope for some luck as well!

[Parker]

Originally Posted by kien

It is possible that you are starving your corals to the point where they have stopped growing. Perhaps with the pellets your water is way too clean? Same thing can happen with any nutrient export method.

This!

I dialed mine back because I have a pretty low bio load. I'm slowly increasing fish load and will bring the pellets back online a little at a time.

[reef93]

Originally Posted by kien

Not everyone needs to feed their corals, but some do with various additives. Some people are lucky enough to have just the right balance of nutrients to feed their corals "naturally" while still maintaining a low nutrient system. Some people are not so lucky.

Biopellets don't consume calcium but the bacteria which you are growing on the biopellets can deplete essential nutrients that corals would use to grow. For example, some corals need trace amounts of phosphate to grow. It's quite a delicate (and difficult) balancing act.

I do not feed my corals anything but did notice a slow down in growth when I cranked up the amount of biopellets earlier this year. I have since dialled them back.

Also, keep in mind that even if your tank on paper is identical to someone else's tank, chances are the make up of your actual tank water can be dramatically different. As a result it is very hard to compare two tanks this way. You both would likely have different organisms doing different things to your water chemistry, not to mention a crap load of other factors (equipment, age of system, husbandry, etc).

You mentioned about dialing the pellets back, do you think using 1000ml of pellets is overdoing it for my tank ? Tang daddy's tank must have different organisms than mine, that's why his is better than mine. I can cut it back in half if it helps my corals to grow and get their color back, especially for the red and blue corals.