Bio Pellets??

[Kyle918]

I bought them on sale at Dr.foster and smith. I was buying salt that was like $40 and you get free shipping if your order is over $49 so I added the pellets and MB7. I think the pellets were like $20 of something.

or maybe it was marine depot. . . I don't remember. and I think it is two little fishes brand?

Edit:
remember my bioload is fairly light 2 fish in a 29G. your results will vary

That is super cheap. That is completely doable for a reoccuring cost. Thank you for the information.

 

[Fay]

That is super cheap. That is completely doable for a reoccuring cost. Thank you for the information.

Thats what I think even for my 2000l tank much cheaper than what I have been using, and far less time consuming. But I'm yet to try it out but from what I have read if you do it properly it works well.
If you looking for info on how to set up have a look on youtube

 

[Fay]

It will be months before any livestock is introduced to the tank....I don't even have water yet!!!! So a GFO at this stage may not be neccessary. The reason I bring up bio pellets now is because I was orginally planning on a refuge but I don't have space for both a fuge and reactor so it's one or the other and it needs to be decided now before things get up and running.

I think just advising to make room when planning sump for GFO reactor you may or may not need one, but good to plan for I need one in my sump.

 

[trinity1012]

solitude127"tank of the month" runs biopellets,read his experiance with them. maybe that can help you

 

[trinidiver]

My 200gal+ reef tank is up and running 15mths now. About 12 of that is running RowaPhos and BioPellets in 2 separate reactors. Within 2-3wks of startup, my Nitrates and Phosphates has dropped dratically. Its undetectable ever since. I never had an algae outbreak ever since. Another thing, where it is recommended to place the outlet of the biopellets to the skimmer inlet, I actually placed my outlet after my skimmer (separate chamber) where it dumps directly into my return pump inlet. All of that feeds my many corals in my DT. I actually have 20 different types. I'm running a ASM-G3 skimmer 24/7 nd i feed my fish very heavy. On a daily basis i feed my fish 10-15 times daily........ no kidding. garlic pellets, freeze dried krill, mysis and plankton. I occasionally feed frozen mysis. I do regular water changes of 50gal every 3wks as a rule with RODI water and reef crystal salt. My corals get fantastic growth. I love the biopellets

 

[Fay]

hehe starting to get excited :fish2:

 

[Pittsburgh]

It will be months before any livestock is introduced to the tank....I don't even have water yet!!!! :headwallblue: So a GFO at this stage may not be neccessary. The reason I bring up bio pellets now is because I was orginally planning on a refuge but I don't have space for both a fuge and reactor so it's one or the other and it needs to be decided now before things get up and running.

Hey, you should plan on getting some salt water first. Fish doesn't do well without it.

You'll be surprised how quickly those phosphates rise once you start feeding. Then they start being absorbed by the LR and substrate. These will eventually leach it back into the water. Then the real question becomes about how much effort you want to put forth fighting cyano and hair algae on your LR...
Also, if you are into planning, consider getting a single pump to run both GFO reactor and biopellets reactor. This will save money, outlets and sump real estate.

 

[Pittsburgh]

Bio Pellets??

You don't need bioballs.

Can you explain why?

I so want to see this discussion continued!

 

[Kyle918]

My 200gal+ reef tank is up and running 15mths now. About 12 of that is running RowaPhos and BioPellets in 2 separate reactors. Within 2-3wks of startup, my Nitrates and Phosphates has dropped dratically. Its undetectable ever since. I never had an algae outbreak ever since. Another thing, where it is recommended to place the outlet of the biopellets to the skimmer inlet, I actually placed my outlet after my skimmer (separate chamber) where it dumps directly into my return pump inlet. All of that feeds my many corals in my DT. I actually have 20 different types. I'm running a ASM-G3 skimmer 24/7 nd i feed my fish very heavy. On a daily basis i feed my fish 10-15 times daily........ no kidding. garlic pellets, freeze dried krill, mysis and plankton. I occasionally feed frozen mysis. I do regular water changes of 50gal every 3wks as a rule with RODI water and reef crystal salt. My corals get fantastic growth. I love the biopellets

Hmm, sounds like it is well worth if done correctly. I think I'll plan for this in my sump then. And wow, that many times a day?? I wish I had that much free time haha

Hey, you should plan on getting some salt water first. Fish doesn't do well without it.

You'll be surprised how quickly those phosphates rise once you start feeding. Then they start being absorbed by the LR and substrate. These will eventually leach it back into the water. Then the real question becomes about how much effort you want to put forth fighting cyano and hair algae on your LR...
Also, if you are into planning, consider getting a single pump to run both GFO reactor and biopellets reactor. This will save money, outlets and sump real estate.

Haha, I know!! I should start with water! :lolspin: I'm actually going to purchase my heaters and powerheads in the next day or so and then order the LR around the 15th then progress from there to get the sump, plumbing and overflow done by the time the rock is done curring. Hopefully sometime in January I can begin my cylcing process.

And you are absolutly right, I really don't want to spend a lot of time battling cyano and hair algae.

What kind of pump do you have to run them both??

 

[trinidiver]

There are alot of posts where people has had both bad or good results from using biopellets. Some people has experienced blooms/cloudiness in their water for more than a week. Mine lasted less than 2 days. The only problem i had was putting too much in the reactor and the media constantly cloged up. Now, it runs fine

 

[Pittsburgh]

What kind of pump do you have to run them both??

I had an old spare Mag5 which I now use to run both reactors. You'd have to have valves on each feed to control the flow as the reactors require different flow rates. The pump is more than enough for the two reactors, I could probably run the carbon reactor off of it as well, but I mix GFO and carbon in one reactor for now. If you get a big enough return pump, you could feed reactors off of it as well.

 

[ryeguyy84]

There are alot of posts where people has had both bad or good results from using biopellets. Some people has experienced blooms/cloudiness in their water for more than a week. Mine lasted less than 2 days. The only problem i had was putting too much in the reactor and the media constantly cloged up. Now, it runs fine

Best advice is to start slow and keep testing. Use half and wait a few weeks before you add more.