Anyone loosing or lost tissue with biopellets?

[tntneon]

Those of you that have been running the pellets with no problems for 6 or more months---
What are you keeping your alK at?

Hi sfexplicit ,

-I'm running pellets for over one year (almost 2) , i've noticed that when alk is kept at the low end of the scale say 7° to 7.7 ° DKH , that i have the best results.
Never lost a SPS during this time
Calcium at 430 or higher doesn't seem to be a problem rather beneficial i think.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[Buganddoug]

I have been using Warner Marine Pellets for just about one year. They have been working great in my tank. I have them tumbling very slow.

 

[chadfarmer]

can i ask how many bio pellets is everyone using

i put in 40 pellets in my 250 plus system and havent noticed a difference in anything i wonder how many people are actually adding to much at a time

 

[JasonD]

Alk 7 to 8 range anything in the 9 dkh and corals don't look great.

Jason

 

[jcolletteiii]

I lost some tissue a few months after starting pellets. Problem was GFO - I never stopped running it. Stripped out too much, had a bit of STN. Took out the GFO, problem solved.

 

[mellotang]

I had a whole tank crash while using bio pellets. Tanks had been running for 5+ years, full of SPS and LPS. After I started the pelletsat half the recommended dosage and things seemed good. Then after my nitrates and phos started to come down I increased the amount of pellets to recommended dosage and thats when the STN began, after that RTN, finally everything went.

I feel in my tank there was a byproduct, or bacteria, that was released back into tank as the pellets were consumed. I say this because I couldn't get my Ph above 7.9, usually it ran at and now runs again at 8.3+, the water had a greenish tint no matter how much carbon i used or how aggressively I skimmed, corals got lighter in color and showed minimal polyp extension until eventually they expelled their zooxanthellae.

I woud like to experiment with pellets again to really figure out what happened but honestly I think carbon,GFO, refuge, and good old water changes are the way to go.

Liquid carbon dosing seems to be much more stable in my experience although you can have problems with that if you dose to much. I guess its like anything in this hobby, only bad things happen fast!

 

[110galreef]

Ok, well if your params are in check w/o biopellets....

say nitrates of like < 5 and Phos of .06 or less....... w/ simple WC's, proper feeding, & good skimming....
would SPS colors be better with nitrates at 0 and PO4 at or closer to 0.00?


If not then why run the biopellets.....if only to feed more or have to add extra stuff to water column for colals....just starts to seem like more money to buy biopellets & then more mopney to add more food & supps because we are stripping them??

 

[MammothReefer]

Ok, well if your params are in check w/o biopellets....

say nitrates of like < 5 and Phos of .06 or less....... w/ simple WC's, proper feeding, & good skimming....
would SPS colors be better with nitrates at 0 and PO4 at or closer to 0.00?


If not then why run the biopellets.....if only to feed more or have to add extra stuff to water column for colals....just starts to seem like more money to buy biopellets & then more mopney to add more food & supps because we are stripping them??

I'm weighing that same choice right now. Some people feel that the addition of the bacteria will act as food source for your sps, and others feel that the ability to have very clean water while feeding heavy will be beneficial to your corals.

I ran pellets from the start w/my tank I had great parameters and if I kept things stable my colours would approve. For the past month now I've gone off biopellets and I've found my parameters are staying the same. Now I just need to wait and see if I get the colours I know my corals are capable of. If not I will go back to the pellets and feed a bit heavier again.

It's a nitrous vs charger debate in my opinion, both can get you where you want to be but it depends on a few other factors mainly your husbandry and bioload as to which is going to be the best way to get there.

Right now for me, w/a 65 gallon tank. I can easily stay ontop of 10gallon weekly water changes, and a way over-sized skimmer which seems to keep my at less then 1ppm nitrates, and less then .05 phosphates hopefully soon with a change of ROWA I'll be able to get that back under .03.


Although I kinda have this idea that i might try down the road when i feel like over complicating things again by adding Ozone into the mix. In the past I had really good results with water quality/clarity w/ozone and then for a while I was dosing vodka w/ozone. I think setting up a second skimmer and hard plumbing your bio-pellet reactor + an ozone reactor into it might really give you the best of both worlds. You'd get the benefits of the pellets, without worrying about cyano, and water clarity issues due being out put into an ozone reactor, and in the event you ever od'd you would less likely have issues due to the higher orp and extra o2 injected into your water via ozone.

 

[leicaguy]

No to pellets

No to pellets

:rolleye1:Started using them just awful. Corals started to loose tissue browning just nasty
Took the pellets out out use gfo carbon and a deltec skimmer
Keep the pellets just my 2c

 

[Buganddoug]

All pellets are not the same. I think some are not as good as others. I am more than happy with the Warner Marine on my 180. I know of many people that use WM pellets and they are happy.

 

[Dave1NC]

I am experiencing the same thing in my 240g. RTN on my 2+ year Idaho grape cap and on 3 on my large acro colonies are all dead. I fragged the acros and moved them to the frag tank, but most of them still died. Once it starts it's almost as though the coral can't recover.

I originally used the Vertrex brand. My ALK was 9 and CAL was 420. PHOS 5 and NITRA 10. The loss started to occur when I started using 2 part to increase ALK/CAL because my levels went down. I also used Kalk with vinegar. I also reduced the amount of pellets. I probably have about 1 cup in the reactor. I tested my ALK and CAL last week and they were ALK 10 and CAL 420. Based on everyone's previous responses it appears the higher ALK may be causing the problem.

Would taking the reactor offline and topping off just using just RO/DI water and discontinuing the 2 part until my ALK drops down to 8 or 9 stop the RTN?

 

[Bricky]

I really don't think the alk is causing your problem. I was running my tank at 8dKh and still experienced the mass STN. I do agree that once a coral starts that they have a really hard time recovering though. I really think it's the quick drop in nutrient levels, but I'm not sure if it the NO3, PO4 or both in combination that causes the stress.

 

[gary faulkner]

I am experiencing the same thing in my 240g. RTN on my 2+ year Idaho grape cap and on 3 on my large acro colonies are all dead. I fragged the acros and moved them to the frag tank, but most of them still died. Once it starts it's almost as though the coral can't recover.

I originally used the Vertrex brand. My ALK was 9 and CAL was 420. PHOS 5 and NITRA 10. The loss started to occur when I started using 2 part to increase ALK/CAL because my levels went down. I also used Kalk with vinegar. I also reduced the amount of pellets. I probably have about 1 cup in the reactor. I tested my ALK and CAL last week and they were ALK 10 and CAL 420. Based on everyone's previous responses it appears the higher ALK may be causing the problem.

Would taking the reactor offline and topping off just using just RO/DI water and discontinuing the 2 part until my ALK drops down to 8 or 9 stop the RTN?

I agree. Alk should be 7-8 in a ulns.

HTH

 

[sfexplicit]

I pulled the plug on the reactor and all STN stopped.

 

[Dave1NC]

Hey sfexplicit. Was there any additional STN loss after shutting it down or was it pretty much immediately?

 

[JasonD]

Alk 7 to 8 no problems

 

[chasekwe]

For those of you who were experiencing issues with tissue necrosis that was corrected by additional feeding...

How much did you feed before and how much do you feed now?

I'm considering going to biopellets primarily for phosphate control but also nitrate to a lesser degree. I already feed my system rather heavily with a medium-large feeding 2x a day. I'm curious if this is enough of a feeding schedule or if I'd have to feed even more?

 

[MammothReefer]

Just wanted to give an update. 5 weeks now w/out pellets no tissue loose reappearance. Corals still showing great PE, and seeing improvement in colour from some species (more due to time and stablity then removing the pellets imop). On top of that it appears my nitrates/phosphates are staying within except able ranges. (although phosphates is hanging out at .04 so I'm going to replace my rowa to get that to drop down to sub .03)

At this point in time I don't see a reason to re-apply the pellets. For my current load/tank size it appears water changes and my over sized skimmer are doing the trick.

 

[shred5]

This stuff starts to happen when to many people jump on the banwagon to fast. This same thing happened with gfo not to long after the product hit the market and not many knew enough about it. People were using to much or not slowly ramping up to the stuff.

I think that is the same thing we are seeing now. People are using to much or not ramping up and just starting out with to much. Problem is rules of thumbs rarely work for reefs as in (so much per gallon) because everyones tank is different. I have seen small tank with more bioload than some larger tanks..

 

[jnc914]

All pellets are not the same. I think some are not as good as others. I am more than happy with the Warner Marine on my 180. I know of many people that use WM pellets and they are happy.

+1 I have been running pellets for almost 4 months. I started with Vertex, and despite noticeable coral growth and color, they were a nightmare. I had explosions of nuisance algae. The pellets were constantly clumping and channeling. I took them offline after 2 months. I started the WM PEllets and saw a noticeable difference. I am using 1000ml on 240 gallon water volume. I do run them with GFO and Kent Reef Carbon, and all nuisance algae is gone. I have very minimal cyano pop up from time to time. I have had zero tissue loss with either pellet and I keep my Alk at 9, Ca- 440, PH 8-8.15. I have no nitrate or PO4. I do however feed my tank generously and have a decent fish load in the tank.

I don't know what WM's secret is with their pellet, but IME, they are an excellent addition to my tank.