Corals Dying - Calcium

[spit.fire]

What size system
how many ml of biopellets
where is the return line going from the pellet reactor in relation to your skimmer
are ALL the pellets tumbling
what did you use to seed your pellets
how long have you been seeding
how often do you dose bacteria for the pellets
Are you using any other form of carbon dosing

[Reef Pilot]

I run bio pellets, and they have done wonders for my tank (used to be very high nitrates and phosphates), keeping my nitrates at zero, and phosphates near zero (also run GFO). Where people get into trouble with bio pellets is not dosing enough bacteria supplement. I use MB7, and keeps my tank very clean and free of cyano, and other algae. Also, you need the right reactor, so the pellets tumble properly, and the output has to go to your skimmer.

I just started SPS less than 6 months ago, and they are growing very nicely, with very good colour. Some have a couple inches growth already. LPS (which I had before) is OK, but growth seems to have slowed.

I don't feed any of my corals, other than my dendros and sun corals (directly with mysis).

[Seriak]

I really think it has something to do with my calcium as I mentioned in the first post. I haven't touched my bio pellets in months and things got better and worse. The only times something changed when things got better or worse was the dosing of the calcium.

But for those interested.

I started with 100 ml of pellets and added 100 ml every 2 weeks until I was at 500ml.
I did not seed them with anything.
I use a reef octopus reactor that tumbles them all just enough to keep them moving
The output of my reactor is right next to the input of my skimmer

But as I said before, I do not think it is related to the pellets based on my experiences so far.

[kien]

Odd. I can't honestly say that I've ever heard of calcium causing issues. Well, that is unless it is WAY out of balance with alk which in your case it isn't at all. That is a mystery!

P.S. if you decide to ditch your evil bioPellets drop me a PM. I'll dispose of them for you in a very environmentally friendly manor in my BP disposal reactor.

[Seriak]

Originally Posted by kien

Odd. I can't honestly say that I've ever heard of calcium causing issues. Well, that is unless it is WAY out of balance with alk which in your case it isn't at all. That is a mystery!

P.S. if you decide to ditch your evil bioPellets drop me a PM. I'll dispose of them for you in a very environmentally friendly manor in my BP disposal reactor.

Lol You got it sir.

I am almost positive that something foreign must have gotten into the bag somehow or the container. I am assuming that it doesn't matter what kind of tubing I use on my doser that nothing should leach from that.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Seriak

Lol You got it sir.

I am almost positive that something foreign must have gotten into the bag somehow or the container. I am assuming that it doesn't matter what kind of tubing I use on my doser that nothing should leach from that.

This is definitely a possibility. i suppose it is no different than getting a bad batch of carbon or a bad batch of salt. It is rare but does happen from time to time.

Perhaps set your current batch of calcium aside and try a different batch altogether ? I have truck loads of calcium (dow flake) if you want to try something different from what you have. Or maybe it's the same stuff you have but at least mine would be from a different batch. Or you could just get another batch from your supplier.