Bio-pellets I quit you!

[christyf5]

I had problems as well. Everything turned around as soon as I took the reactor offline. They just weren't the be-all-end-all for me

[Milad]

so interesting, some people have problems with them, some don't. Maybe its a brand issue? which brand did you guys purchase?

[GMGQ]

I'm using Two Little Fishes NPX Biopelllets.

[therealshark]

i had the same problems, algae and die off of corals. i had far better results with vodka dosing. i have since taken the pellets off line and things are turning around and colors are coming back.
i did some reading on reefcentral and found that alk plays a factor when using pellets. most are saying to keep your alk on the low side (around 7.0 to 7.5). to me its not worth the risk to try them again.
the same was said on RC, worked great for some people and poorly for others.

[ScubaSteve]

I am not a fan of biopellets. In principle they should work fantastic. Practice is a different story. Knowing the compounds used in the biopellets I am not surprised that people have issues with them, plus it is possible you create monocultures, and, ultimately, the effect you are trying to achieve with biopellets isn't good for your corals. What you are creating is a nutrient starved system with limited bacterial biodiversity and foreign chemicals... not exactly the most stable environment.

Normally I can explain this much better but it's the end of the day and I'm fried. In short, biopellets will never touch my tank. Try VSV+MB7 dosing. Works like a charm.

[therealshark]

What is the VSV?

[Dyspnea]

I used vertex pellets, I never heard about keeping alk low, but I usually keep it around 7-8.

Like I said before a fuge is so simple and low maintaince. I never had any problems and have had good results.

Oh bad part was the investment in the reactors and pellets, but I'll still make use of them, with carbon or gfo.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by therealshark

What is the VSV?

Vodka, sugar, vinegar. Helps prevent bacterial monocultures that arise out of carbon dosing. The theory goes that certain bacterial strains utilize different carbon sources. If You dose only one carbon source (like biopellets) then the bacterial strain that specializes or is more dominant in utilizing that source dominates and a monoculture arises. By adding fresh bacteria regularly and dosing multiple carbon sources you avoid this issue. By preventing monocultures you, in theory, won't need to dose bacteria (such as zeobak or MB7) as regularly to keep bacterial biodiversity.

[therealshark]

Interesting, I have alays had good luck with just vodka.
What ratio do you mix the VSV? Or do you dose them individually?
I think I may try this in my new system once it is going for awhile.

[nlreefguy]

Me neither. Although I have heard of a great many of positive results, running biopellets in my system caused more problems than it cured. I tried several different brands. Seems like they only work on certain systems. I wonder what the common thread is?