Reef Discussion

[JimmyDang]

Hey guys, I got a nano reactor the other day planning on using bio pellets. Want to know roughly how much for a 80L nano tank. Other questions are what brands you guys have used and tested in your own tanks or have a reefer buddy who's had success. Also want to know the possible advantages if used correctly and disadvantages if used incorrectly just to know the consequences of doing so.

 

[Bdear22]

From what I have gathered your meant to slowly build up and when your phosphates are at the level you want them at you stop adding until they gradually disintegrate and then you just top up. I have marine sources biopellets and they look decent, haven't started using them yet as you need the outgoing of your reactor near your skimmer inlet to get taken out of the system. I'm not too sure how the biproduct of biopellets is harmful to your tank but everywhere I've read is pretty much law to have it that way

 

[Joshwaaaa]

if used incorrectly, too much too fast could equate to a large bacterial bloom creating cloudy water which sucks all of the oxygen out of the water. Which in turn could equal dead fish right up to a crashed tank.

Tumbling the pellets too slow and having them clump together can cause them to become anaerobic and start producing Hydrogen Sulfide.

Running too many pellets could strip all nutrients from the tank slowly starving some corals, I am having this problem in my tank at the moment, I am trying to overcome it by feeding in excess while waiting for some of the pellets to wear away back to a good level

If used correctly you could have yourself a highly successful tank :p

 

[JimmyDang]

Thanks for the imformation josh. Man it sounds a lot more harder to maintain then it really does.. Maybe I should just run phosban.. And forget about bio pellets. Csnt stuff up using phosban.. But the issue isn't phosphates for me, it's more so nitrates I csnt seem to keep at 0..

Even with water changes.. It still reads. I can get 0 phosphates but never 0 nitrates

 

[Joshwaaaa]

It's simple mate, set and forget. When starting up all you have to do is add say a 1/4 of the recommended amount on start up. I think most brands recommend around 1 cup per 100L off the top of my head would do best to double check that, so for your tank maybe add just under a 1/4 of a cup. Make sure it's got a gentle tumble going and leave it for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks retest your levels and add another 1/4 again once again making sure the tumble is right, I found after the first few weeks thats when they really start to want to clump, if they are clumping just add more flow. Then leave it to do it's thing for another 2-3 weeks.

By this stage you would have noticed your levels starting to come down, pellets will take a month plus to really start working. If your levels are quickly coming down to where you want them just leave it for another couple weeks but if your levels still aren't budging, add more pellets. The hardest part is finding the sweet spot of how many pellets you need but once you have found it thats all you have to do apart from top up the pellets as they are eaten away, they actually last quite a while so could be a good 4-6 months down the track.

I haven't even looked at my pellets for a good 2 months now, I just let them do their thing.

 

[Joshwaaaa]

I started pellets for the exact same reasons. I had been running rowaphos which had been keeping my phos on point, but had nothing for my nitrates. At their highest I had nitrates up and above 20ppm which killed a number of montis and millis due to algae growth over them. Since running pellets I have started getting a number of them back from the dead.

 

[OSCAR85]

Thanks for the imformation josh. Man it sounds a lot more harder to maintain then it really does.. Maybe I should just run phosban.. And forget about bio pellets. Csnt stuff up using phosban.. But the issue isn't phosphates for me, it's more so nitrates I csnt seem to keep at 0..

Even with water changes.. It still reads. I can get 0 phosphates but never 0 nitrates

redsea nopo is what i use for nitrate. works a treat