Best BioPellet
- Thread starter billybloo
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Av8bluewater
New member
Update on the EcoBack plus.
They are doing their job. Nitrate dropped. Water is crystal clear. PO4 is still around .02 and I do also use HC GFO. Not really any change at all with PO4. Maybe in the future.
I am probably using about 500ML in a 225. Light/medium fish load. That's lower than recommended I think but I want to have a hint of NO3.
I don't really have a lot to compare it to except my former carbon dose routine.
I was using Prodibo. . and I still do put an occasional vial of Biodigest but the more time goes on it appears I don't really need it.
With the biopellet reactor things just seem more stable. I did have a bit of greenish brown bacteria bloom that I think was already in progress before I started pellets. Pellets just seemed to make it grow faster so I used chemiclean that wiped it out.
I have no idea if these are better than any other but they do work. That's about all I can really say.
They are doing their job. Nitrate dropped. Water is crystal clear. PO4 is still around .02 and I do also use HC GFO. Not really any change at all with PO4. Maybe in the future.
I am probably using about 500ML in a 225. Light/medium fish load. That's lower than recommended I think but I want to have a hint of NO3.
I don't really have a lot to compare it to except my former carbon dose routine.
I was using Prodibo. . and I still do put an occasional vial of Biodigest but the more time goes on it appears I don't really need it.
With the biopellet reactor things just seem more stable. I did have a bit of greenish brown bacteria bloom that I think was already in progress before I started pellets. Pellets just seemed to make it grow faster so I used chemiclean that wiped it out.
I have no idea if these are better than any other but they do work. That's about all I can really say.
Aquarist007
New member
I've found that you have to do some form of liquid carbon dosing along with the pellets.
Vodka and or vinegar
Vodka and or vinegar
Av8bluewater
New member
That's interesting. What happens without the VV? I've heard people add bacteria.
Aquarist007
New member
Bacteria need carbon phosphates and nitrates. The vodka supplies the carbon.
Not only the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria need carbon . Increases in other bacteria are eaten by corals thus they really thrive with carbon dosing
Av8bluewater
New member
Maybe my understanding is off. I thought biopellets are a solid source of carbon dosing. I.E. same thing as dosing V/V.
Aquarist007
New member
The pellets are polymorphs(solids)that break down and release carbon
Vinegar and vodka break down into acetate. The bacteria get their carbon from the acetate
I've found that having two sources of carbon helps bring down nitrates faster.
There is a greater lag time till the pellets kick in(12days) then vodka(3 days) so when I set up a system for carbon dosing I start with both
Vinegar and vodka break down into acetate. The bacteria get their carbon from the acetate
I've found that having two sources of carbon helps bring down nitrates faster.
There is a greater lag time till the pellets kick in(12days) then vodka(3 days) so when I set up a system for carbon dosing I start with both
Av8bluewater
New member
I see.
I think that's one of the selling points of the Ecobak plus. Multiple sources of carbon in one pellet.
In that regard what you're saying makes sense.
I think that's one of the selling points of the Ecobak plus. Multiple sources of carbon in one pellet.
In that regard what you're saying makes sense.
Aquarist007
New member
Your welcome. Have you come across this thread yet?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2134105
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2134105
Ya ecobak plus pellets are pretty decent.(I will say it seemed to be a month or two until they activated without the original little mini dose of vinegar) With them I've seen much less nuisance anything. I don't dose anything else either. Though I do run GFO just for good measure and to alleviate all the duties from the biopellets.
I will say it is necessary to slow flow of the effluent as they will easily strip the water very fast after a heavy feeding.
Someone mentioned biopellets 'breaking down'. I'm not entirely sure this happens. Perhaps if you run the reactor VERY fast, otherwise I can't say I've seen them break apart. (tho it's possible right, like stones in a river)
I have found through my own experiences, it works better to run your bp reactor input from the skimmer output, and the bp reactor output to the skimmer input. Less bacteria will escape and/or carbon if it does break down at the molecular level.
I will say it is necessary to slow flow of the effluent as they will easily strip the water very fast after a heavy feeding.
Someone mentioned biopellets 'breaking down'. I'm not entirely sure this happens. Perhaps if you run the reactor VERY fast, otherwise I can't say I've seen them break apart. (tho it's possible right, like stones in a river)
I have found through my own experiences, it works better to run your bp reactor input from the skimmer output, and the bp reactor output to the skimmer input. Less bacteria will escape and/or carbon if it does break down at the molecular level.
Av8bluewater
New member
That's a great idea. I didn't really think about the skimmer output side.
Yeah the Ecoback Plus. Like I said I don't have a lot to compare them to except a couple months of regular ecoback. Maybe 4 months in and my tank is the best it's ever been.. but correlation is not always causation. I've made other changes.
Aquarist007
New member
Break down might be an erroneous word . There has to be a series of chemical reactions occur to end up with carbon and or acetate.. The useable form for bacteria
The longer these reactions take the longer it takes the bacteria to start to do their job
Definitely. Acetate was one question I had about these pellets because they say something about 'from multiple carbon sources as to help against nuisance types of algae'. Something like that..
Is there a solid formation of acetate?(now i'll have to google a bit hehe)
That was my first thought since acetate seems to be more popular to have better, "algae fighting" reviews than vodka etc, and not create cyano problems on such a massive scale, though I have seen my fair share of negative 'similar' reviews to vodka "problems". But without a full ecosystem breakdown of someone's tank, it's hard to pinpoint things sometimes.
edit*I see sodium acetate, looking for more and affects
*hmm, and potassium acetate perhaps? (would that allow free potassium in the system?)
*I'm not chemist and it's been a long time since school, so apologies in advance if I say something super dumb...
Last edited:
Aquarist007
New member
Definitely. Acetate was one question I had about these pellets because they say something about 'from multiple carbon sources as to help against nuisance types of algae'. Something like that..
Is there a solid formation of acetate?(now i'll have to google a bit hehe)
That was my first thought since acetate seems to be more popular to have better, "algae fighting" reviews than vodka etc, and not create cyano problems on such a massive scale, though I have seen my fair share of negative 'similar' reviews to vodka "problems". But without a full ecosystem breakdown of someone's tank, it's hard to pinpoint things sometimes.
edit*I see sodium acetate, looking for more and affects
*hmm, and potassium acetate perhaps? (would that allow free potassium in the system?)
*I'm not chemist and it's been a long time since school, so apologies in advance if I say something super dumb...
Vodka(alcohol) reduces directly to acetate. So does vinegar but there is an extra chemical reaction
I've read of more problems with cyano etc with vinegar then with vodka. Tom and a lot of other reefers use a combination of both
Lol, figures... There's so many conflicting reports in this hobby it sure makes it hard to pinpoint things.
Perhaps that's why I've seen more VSV posts.. Have yet to read too much on them.. I recently learned about the barley straw and monks in the olden days. I guess there may be a way to incorporate even something like that into a pellet form.
What pellets have you tried Capn? (just ecobak and ecobak+ myself so far, the + experience is night and day better than the first gen; though I also made the switch to a recirculating reactor at the time of the 2nd gen introduction)
Aquarist007
New member
Lol, figures... There's so many conflicting reports in this hobby it sure makes it hard to pinpoint things.
Perhaps that's why I've seen more VSV posts.. Have yet to read too much on them.. I recently learned about the barley straw and monks in the olden days. I guess there may be a way to incorporate even something like that into a pellet form.
What pellets have you tried Capn? (just ecobak and ecobak+ myself so far, the + experience is night and day better than the first gen; though I also made the switch to a recirculating reactor at the time of the 2nd gen introduction)
Nitraguard yeast pellets. Put them in the sump in a bag and aerate them with an air stone and small air pump.then forget about them..no maintenance
The last batch has just depleted after six months. I also dose vodka.. 10ml in a 225 gal system.
I run Rowaphos in a reactor.
I kept the n and p at untraceable for three months but the corals were not thriving. N is .5 and P is.02 and everything is doing much better
In experimenting right now to see if I only need vodka to keep the current N reading
I'll have to check those out..
And ya, I agree, keeping phosphates at 0 and nitrates near 0 seem to not work for me either. The corals don't do much at all.
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