Biopellets out, gfo in

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by Doug

May I ask, what exactly do these "bio pellets", do? I have a chance to have the reactor built into my sump while its getting done but figured no need for it.

Does it even help with phosphate or is a nitrate reducer, which I dont need?
Thanks

It eliminates a whole lot less phosphate from the system than nitrate. "biopellets" are tiny little beads of a biodegradable carbon polymer. The principle behind it being that bacteriologically, aquariums are organic carbon limited. Some guy named Redfield figured out that ocean plankton, atomically, are composed of C:N:P atoms at a ratio of 106:16:1. Since then people have extrapolated a dozen ways from Sunday to assume that all microscopic/very small ocean life consumes C, N, and P in similar ratios. While the exact ratios likely vary significantly, the relationship generally holds true.

The idea behind biopellets, or any organic carbon dosing, is that if you provide organic carbon in gross excess, it will no longer limit the growth of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, which will then consume vast quantities of nitrate, and a much smaller amount of phosphate, roughly in a ratio of 16 to 1, which then gets packaged up in a cellular vehicle that can either be eaten by a coral, or exported by a skimmer. Most people recommend directing the output of the reactor to the intake of a skimmer for this reason.

So while yes, they do consume phosphate, they consume so much nitrate relative to phosphate that nitrate usually ends up becoming a limiting nutrient. People usually find that they still need to run GFO to mop up the excess. There are people who actually dose nitrate directly to try and reduce phosphate (there's a huge thread about this on reef central), but I personally would never in a million years intentionally pour pure algae food in my tank on purpose.

vodka, vinegar, or sugar dosing works on the exact same principle, only in those cases the bacteria have the entire surface area of the tank to grow on. With biopellets the majority of the carbon supposedly stays in the reactor. More like "supposedly" stays in the reactor.

There's as many people who think biopellets are the devil for various and sundry reasons as there are people who use them.

[Doug]

Thanks guys for the explanation. I need some nitrate for my clams and use more rock than normal anyways. Plus I use Prodibio, so guess this system not for me.

Thanks to the OP for letting me ask this. Sorry for the intrusion.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Doug

Thanks guys for the explanation. I need some nitrate for my clams and use more rock than normal anyways. Plus I use Prodibio, so guess this system not for me.

Thanks to the OP for letting me ask this. Sorry for the intrusion.

Yeah, if you could direct the output of your bio pellet reactor to your clams, they would probably like that... Hmmm, maybe T off one of those small lines (used for plant irrigation) directly to the clam. Probably grow at 10 fold rate... haha. And all that bio pellet waste wouldn't go up your skimmer, and down the drain as waste....

[tang daddy]

Maybe I got lucky with high alk and bp.
I have a fully dominated sps tank and for over a week and a half my alk was hovering at 14 then slowly dropped to 10.

No tip burned, I would be careful taking bp offline then restarting... You may get cyano by doing this. But it's probally too late as you've already done it.

I don't use zeo, already have pastel sps from feeding my fish 3 times a week.
I only run bp and rowa. Rowa is a very little amount about 2 tbsp for 95g of water volume and changed out every 2 weeks.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Yeah, if you could direct the output of your bio pellet reactor to your clams, they would probably like that... Hmmm, maybe T off one of those small lines (used for plant irrigation) directly to the clam. Probably grow at 10 fold rate... haha. And all that bio pellet waste wouldn't go up your skimmer, and down the drain as waste....

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by xenon

FYI: There has been lots of complaints on the zeovit forums of the KZ salt being high in alk.

It makes no sense because their system promotes low alk.

I use kz salt and yes alk has been high in the last 2 boxes