Reef Discussion

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
Biopellet Question
Hi all,

I’m considering trying Biopellets.

Any advice that you can give?

Sam?

Cheers
 

ezza

Member
Sep 17, 2017
63
17
Wellington, NZ
Hi all,

I’m considering trying Biopellets.

Any advice that you can give?

Sam?

Cheers
You need a powerful Skimmer to remove the bacteria being pumped into the system by the pellets. I recently switched from the white pearl looking pellets to a red coloured one from Fish Street. The white ones seemed to create a lot of “snot” that clogged everything up. My corals kept dying and I could see excess bacteria forming in the sand and on rocks etc. since switching pellets and buying a bigger and more powerful Skimmer and stronger pump for the pellet reactor to enable really good continuous tumbling, generally my corals are healthier. I still have SPS browning, but my Mag is a little high so I think it’s more the cause than pellets.

I wish I could stop using pellets, but I think it’s just about impossible now because the system has been running this way for ages. You need to find other ways to process your phos and nitrates otherwise.
 

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
Hi Sam,

The driving factor is high nitrates.

Tank is 3 and 1/2 years old. It looks good. But nitrates are a concern to me.

Skimmer is a Deltec1455. So well rated for my Red Sea 500.

Tank is very heavily stocked with corals.

I guess you could say, always striving for perfection.

Cheers
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
What would you classify high nitrates? What have you done to tackle them to date?

I'd go a bunch of options before bio pellets, but thats just me
 

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
What would you classify high nitrates? What have you done to tackle them to date?

I'd go a bunch of options before bio pellets, but thats just me
Hi Sam,

Currently Nitrates sitting around 16. Phosphates 1.1.

Currently dosing Red Sea NoPox, which has slowly reduced the Nitrates. So moving in a positive direction.

Just wondering if Biopellets is a good option? Or stick with what’s working.

Cheers
 

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
Do you know anyone who's tried bio pellets, by any chance? If so, how did it work out for them?

-Kamran
No, I’m not aware of anyone who has gone down the Biopellet path personally.

Apart from forums, which I take with a little grain of salt.

And yes, I’ve considered purchasing one of your products. But not really sure if that’s the way to go either. Although I am aware of the benefits of your products, in regards to nutrient export.

Cheers.
 

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
Hi Sam,

Currently Nitrates sitting around 16. Phosphates 1.1.

Currently dosing Red Sea NoPox, which has slowly reduced the Nitrates. So moving in a positive direction.

Just wondering if Biopellets is a good option? Or stick with what’s working.

Cheers
That should be Phosphates of 0.11
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
ok phew, .11 is much better than 1.1!

I wouldn't be stressed with either of those figures. Personally, I'd tackle it just by upping your water changes a bit and a little bit of extra husbandry for a few weeks. How much water and what frequency are you changing at the moment? I'd look at getting a turkey baster and giving behind/under rocks bit of a dust off with that (do a small-ish section at a time if there is heaps of detritus) and give your sump a good clean with a wet-dry vac. That combined with some extra water changes will have your nitrates and phosphate down into what most seem to consider the "sweet spot" in no time.
 

ajkdark

Member
Aug 17, 2014
154
81
ok phew, .11 is much better than 1.1!

I wouldn't be stressed with either of those figures. Personally, I'd tackle it just by upping your water changes a bit and a little bit of extra husbandry for a few weeks. How much water and what frequency are you changing at the moment? I'd look at getting a turkey baster and giving behind/under rocks bit of a dust off with that (do a small-ish section at a time if there is heaps of detritus) and give your sump a good clean with a wet-dry vac. That combined with some extra water changes will have your nitrates and phosphate down into what most seem to consider the "sweet spot" in no time.
Thanks Sam.

I change 25 litres per week. I'll increase the frequency.

Sump has had the spring clean. I'll keep on top of it.

Your advice has been appreciated,

Cheers
 

Susan Bates

Member
Jan 18, 2015
880
117
I am trying Bio-pellets at the moment, 1 tank with and 1 tank without, I have been fighting nitrates for ages, so far both tanks read the same, they are the same size, stocked about the same and i do water changes all the same.
 

ezza

Member
Sep 17, 2017
63
17
Wellington, NZ
For what it’s worth, in the last few months I actually started to remove pellets from my reactor over time. In the last week or so I turned my reactor off completely.

My water is always phos-0, nitrates 0 (with the exception of a recent snail massacre by hermit crab which led to a fluctuation. I have always battled the snot-like algae the reactor created and assumed it might have led to some algae outbreaks around the system at times... simply for pumping excess nutrients into the tank.

Some months ago I put quite a lot of matrix in the sump along with a few litres of those marine-pure balls. One day I decided that I would just take out most of the bioepellets. They were always added in the way manufacturers instruct, not too many and gradual increases... by I wanted to see what would happen if I went backwards. I’ve always wondered if they really caused more problems than they were worth (aside from the initial massive reductions to Ultra Low levels). There were probably only 50-100ml in there over the last month. The pump became insanely noisy and probably needs replacing, so I had been turning it off when I needed some peace, before I swapped it with another pump. Turning that on gave me some clear evidence that the reactor was indeed instigating bacterial blooms. So I turned it off a week ago and it hasn’t gone back on. Everything is coping, my recent Cyanobacteria and hair algae issues have settled right down and the tank is mostly content. I do have a couple of phos-zorb pouches in the sump. I believe our council adds silicates to the water supply and it comes through the RODI system in small amounts. They actually just flushed the water mains here last week. The water had become very smelly and tasted unpleasant. We’re in a slightly elevated region so there is a large water tank near our house that all our water is apparently coming from... God knows what state it is in. The pouches help keep that in check anyhoo.
 

Susan Bates

Member
Jan 18, 2015
880
117
For what it’s worth, in the last few months I actually started to remove pellets from my reactor over time. In the last week or so I turned my reactor off completely.

My water is always phos-0, nitrates 0 (with the exception of a recent snail massacre by hermit crab which led to a fluctuation. I have always battled the snot-like algae the reactor created and assumed it might have led to some algae outbreaks around the system at times... simply for pumping excess nutrients into the tank.

Some months ago I put quite a lot of matrix in the sump along with a few litres of those marine-pure balls. One day I decided that I would just take out most of the bioepellets. They were always added in the way manufacturers instruct, not too many and gradual increases... by I wanted to see what would happen if I went backwards. I’ve always wondered if they really caused more problems than they were worth (aside from the initial massive reductions to Ultra Low levels). There were probably only 50-100ml in there over the last month. The pump became insanely noisy and probably needs replacing, so I had been turning it off when I needed some peace, before I swapped it with another pump. Turning that on gave me some clear evidence that the reactor was indeed instigating bacterial blooms. So I turned it off a week ago and it hasn’t gone back on. Everything is coping, my recent Cyanobacteria and hair algae issues have settled right down and the tank is mostly content. I do have a couple of phos-zorb pouches in the sump. I believe our council adds silicates to the water supply and it comes through the RODI system in small amounts. They actually just flushed the water mains here last week. The water had become very smelly and tasted unpleasant. We’re in a slightly elevated region so there is a large water tank near our house that all our water is apparently coming from... God knows what state it is in. The pouches help keep that in check anyhoo.
I have cyanobacteria in my tank at the moment, never had a problem before with it, i am wondering if it is the bio pellets, i have just purchased Blue Vet Redcyano RX, I haven't used it yet