Can someone explain the benefits of bio pellets...?

Salty150

New member
Can someone explain the benefits of bio pellets... and a bio pellet reactor...?

Does it "attract" a different kind of bacteria than just the regular bacteria that resides in the live rock, etc...?
 
They're a food source for bacteria, similar to vodka/vinegar. Depending on the polymers used in the specific brand of pellets, they can encourage multiple types of bacteria to grow. As the bacteria consumes the pellets (And nutrients) in the system, a film is shed from the pellets which is then pulled out by the skimmer. (Good skimmer is a must, and it's best for the reactor output to be near it.) Pellets need to slowly churn/tumble in a pellet reactor or one that has been tweaked to accommodate the flow for pellets. Without this, they clump and become a gooey mess (Inadequate flow) or if they are blown around too much, they become less effective.
 
They're a food source for bacteria, similar to vodka/vinegar. Depending on the polymers used in the specific brand of pellets, they can encourage multiple types of bacteria to grow. As the bacteria consumes the pellets (And nutrients) in the system, a film is shed from the pellets which is then pulled out by the skimmer. (Good skimmer is a must, and it's best for the reactor output to be near it.) Pellets need to slowly churn/tumble in a pellet reactor or one that has been tweaked to accommodate the flow for pellets. Without this, they clump and become a gooey mess (Inadequate flow) or if they are blown around too much, they become less effective.

OK, so then it is a different kind of bacteria than is found in live rock...

The purpose of the bio pellets is to reduce nitrates and phosphates, correct?
 
Not necessarily, it encourages growth of different types of good bacteria (Depending on the specific pellets too) including what's already in your system. The bacteria also colonize on the pellets so it sorta also acts like a substrate too. IME, they are great at keeping Nitrate down, but don't do as much for phosphate, especially when Nitrate levels get really low. I've run them on my tank for about 3 years now (Ecobak plus) and my nitrate stays consistently around 1-2. I use a little GFO to also keep phosphate down.
 
Yep.. It just provides more food than the system currently has for the existing bacteria and thus their population increases..
But it does not create nor introduce different bacteria...

Personally I'd just dose vodka/vinegar or a combo of both... Its just easier than biopellets and works just as well if not better..
Just need a dosing pump or manually syringe some into the tank as needed..

Its all just "carbon dosing".. be it in a pellet or liquid form or whatever..
 
Personally I'd just dose vodka/vinegar or a combo of both... Its just easier than biopellets and works just as well if not better..
Just need a dosing pump or manually syringe some into the tank as needed..

Yeah, but then after awhile that adds a yellowish tint to your water and you need to start adding ozone to get rid of it, etc...
 
Yeah, but then after awhile that adds a yellowish tint to your water and you need to start adding ozone to get rid of it, etc...


How so? If anything, carbon dosing helps keep your water clear and you see a difference in what your skimmer pulls out too. You may get a slight bacterial bloom when you start, but that's about the extent of unclear water, IME.
 
No yellowish tint that I've ever seen..
And yes.. It seems to make the water clearer for some..
 
I like Bio-pellets better than any source of Carbon, most of bacteria form inside the reactor , not like dose Vodka or Vinegar (all over the tank) is easy to realize is most in reactor (stop the pump for 6-8 hrs. than your Nitrate ,PO4 go up again) then you need 2-4 Weeks to got back. All my water filter grow faster when i use BP.You still need a good Protein Skimmer. Sometime you may have to balance (if Nitrate is undetectable ,PO4 still up, Bacteria need both) then you need to dose some Nitrate. Most of Reactors wont work well, i like the return to be double size then intake , just to release the restriction inside the reactor (BP move better) also bottom to be cove (round shape) BP must move gentle , to make sure they make the mass (white film, help to form Bacteria) try to avoid the grinding noise and move. I like the best NP from DVH. List that my opinion.

https://www.dvh-import.com/portal-product/np-reducing-biopellets
 
Bump on this thread because I didn't want to start a new one if not needed.

Here's my question, I have been doing vodka/vinegar for awhile now, but recently (2wks) tried a bio pellets reactor that my buddy took offline. My nitrates in my tank are in 5-10 range. But I just was refilling my water change barrel and looked at my inline TDS meter and it read 52!!! This could be an error of course. But let's say it's not....for educational purposes. Is it possible that carbon dosing is eating the nitrates that quickly coming from RODI unit? It's a 240 gallon tank.
I am going to my LFS tomorrow and picking up all new cartridges and such for my unit, but I'm also curious on this.

Corey
 
Well, my friend came over and it tested at 8 with his handheld. So hat first reading might have been the water I need to flush out.
However, I'm still curious to the original question.


Corey
 
The pellets "melt" and the organic carbon goes all over the tank for the bacteria to consume as they multiply. If they just stayed inside the reactor, then the skimmer could never get them out.

They are time released vodka, vinegar or sugar, that is all.
 
I'd like to piggy back off this thread post. Does anyone have a bio pellet reactor in a small nano aquarium that does not run a protein skimmer? Would running carbon / GFO help remove the excess bacteria?
 
I thought so but wasn't sure. It was all hypothetical to begin with since my unit is only producing 8tds. Was just curious is all.
Took the day off work to go buy new cartridges for the unit anyway.

Corey

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
Bobby, me too. I am just curious on the science behind it. Because when someone says, "help me i have high nitrates and phosphates" one of the first questions asked is if they use RODI water. But I guess that has no bearing on it actually. See we do learn something everyday!

corey
 
TDS is total dissolved solids in your water. I don't even think nitrate or phosphate would show up on a TDS meter since they are not solids, but don't quote me on that.

The problem with using water with TDS in it is that you don't know what that TDS is (it could be any number of fifty things) and you don't know how those things will either a) affect the tank or b) react with your salt mix. This is why zero TDS is important.

Biopellets or carbon dosing is basically feeding the beneficial bacteria in the tank. These bacteria consume n&p, and then your skimmer skims them out, which is effectively removing n&p from the tank. If you don't use a skimmer while carbon dosing you will have a massive buildup of these bacteria, eventually they will all die, and you will have a massive nutrient explosion in the water, which is obviously bad news.
 
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