USING BIO PELLETS - Page 5

Reefpins10 · #41 03-05-2011, 03:48 AM

WOW... I don't know how long it will take me to get all those acknowledgements

I am just an amateur compared to all of you, you guys really are serious engineers talking here. It will take me awhile to understand them though

asylumdown · #42 03-05-2011, 06:23 AM

I just started using reactors, one for biopellets, and one for carbon. Haven't noticed much of a difference in the algae growth, but within a matter of days my acroporas started burning at the tips, in some cases badly.

Now, I also switched to sodium bicarbonate (un-cooked baking soda) for my alkalinity dosing solution at the same time, so the pH dropped a little. Now that I'm using sodium carbonate again (cooked baking soda), I saw a slight improvement, but definitely not a full recovery.

Not saying it's one thing exactly causing the problem (never change three things at once!), but for now I'm sticking with both the carbon and the biopellets to see if things adjust/algae problem gets better. If they don't I'm going to start taking one offline at a time to see if anything suddenly improves.

Reefpins10 · #43 03-10-2011, 05:13 AM

I decided to go with the bio pellets to control my algae problem, so I got the reactor but I am still too chicken to set it up after reading many people have had a problem with these pellets. I have read that it is said you have to feed your pellets with Zeobak or Seachem Stability on the first day to get started, or your tank will get hazy cloudy. Do you need to feed your pellets or you don't have to ? How did your tank look like when you didn't feed them ?

asylumdown · #44 03-10-2011, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asylumdown

I just started using reactors, one for biopellets, and one for carbon. Haven't noticed much of a difference in the algae growth, but within a matter of days my acroporas started burning at the tips, in some cases badly.

Now, I also switched to sodium bicarbonate (un-cooked baking soda) for my alkalinity dosing solution at the same time, so the pH dropped a little. Now that I'm using sodium carbonate again (cooked baking soda), I saw a slight improvement, but definitely not a full recovery.

Not saying it's one thing exactly causing the problem (never change three things at once!), but for now I'm sticking with both the carbon and the biopellets to see if things adjust/algae problem gets better. If they don't I'm going to start taking one offline at a time to see if anything suddenly improves.

I should probably be fair and update this. I figured out what the problem was, and it had nothing to do with the biopellets. Since I posted that comment the amount of algae in my tank has cut down significantly and I'm scraping the glass way less. I'm also seeing new colours pop out in corals, a solid aqua coloured acro frag is starting to get nearly translucent purple highlights, another frag that's always had a dark brown body and neon green polyps is starting to lighten from brown to a deep violet, etc. etc.

I would say that overall the biopellets have been a success.

Lampshade · #45 03-10-2011, 07:33 AM

I've been running bio-Pellets since november in my new tank. I used existing live rock, so "new" isn't 100% correct. I had very little to no cycle during the move, so the bio-pellets seemed to keep everything well under control. They've been working great. recently i added 50lbs of new rock to the tank, this i assumed would be causing a mini cycle, which it did, and ever since then i've had a BAD case of Hair Algee. It's been 2 months now, and algee's getting worse, biopellets seem to be doing their thing, my tests are the same as they have been since the start, near 0 nitate/phosphate.

So generally i'd suggest the bio-pellets, but i am defintily someone who is having a HA outbreak while running biopellets, so it is possible :P, and probably related to my overfeeding. SPS are happy though, still growing GREAT, with amazing color. I've noticed my LPS isn't doing as well in the new tank, that could be many factors though, i wouldn't say bio-pellets alone is the cause.

globaldesigns · #46 03-10-2011, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reefpins10

I decided to go with the bio pellets to control my algae problem, so I got the reactor but I am still too chicken to set it up after reading many people have had a problem with these pellets. I have read that it is said you have to feed your pellets with Zeobak or Seachem Stability on the first day to get started, or your tank will get hazy cloudy. Do you need to feed your pellets or you don't have to ? How did your tank look like when you didn't feed them ?

Nopers, you don't need to use Zeobak or the other... Zeobak is only for the zeo system if you are going to use a zeo reactor with zeolites. Again a different system for generating a bacteria within your tank.

You just need to put the required amount in your reactor and turn it on. It will take time for the bacteria to form within the reactor. Just follow others advice for setup.

globaldesigns · #47 03-10-2011, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asylumdown

I should probably be fair and update this. I figured out what the problem was, and it had nothing to do with the biopellets. Since I posted that comment the amount of algae in my tank has cut down significantly and I'm scraping the glass way less. I'm also seeing new colours pop out in corals, a solid aqua coloured acro frag is starting to get nearly translucent purple highlights, another frag that's always had a dark brown body and neon green polyps is starting to lighten from brown to a deep violet, etc. etc.

I would say that overall the biopellets have been a success.

Yipppeeeee... See everyone they do work.

Reefpins10 · #48 03-10-2011, 04:44 PM

After soaking the pellets last night, I started to set up the reactor this morning. For my 67 gallons plus 40 gallons sump, if minus the rocks leaves the sump 3/4 full of water, so I guess its about 75 gallons of water. I put 50ml of pellets in the Vertex UF-15 reactor to start, hope it is not too much. My husband bought me a very nice 802 Hagen pump (thanks to the person who sold it) it runs 400GPH and the flow can be adjusted. Will 50ml of pellets be too much for starting in my tank ? I hope its not going to burn my "precious" sps frags.
Thanks globaldesigns, I won't buy any extra additive to feed the pellets.

imcosmokramer · #49 03-10-2011, 05:14 PM

argh...I keep going back on forth...good stories, bad stories

ottoman · #50 03-10-2011, 08:09 PM

Reefpins10, I can't remember the recommanded amount per gallon, but I will start half of what recommanded and slowly add more. In addition, watch you ALK, some people said high ALK will burn the tip. I keep mine at 8-9 dkh.