? for Bio Pellet users

[solitude127]

NO, not when I bought it.

 

[dcmartinpc]

Nico,

I am not a good example because I don't do waterchanges but once or twice a year on my system. But my system is different in that I am evaporating huge quantities of water. A day like today with high 60's weather and a light breeze and I will replace maybe 20g of water with Kalkwasser. In the summer times that number goes up to 40gallons a day. Plus I have a much larger filtration system than most people.

I also added Bio-pellets for a different reason than most. The majority of people look at Bio-Pellets of a means of reduction.

After talking with the developers, biologists, chemists and researching them I found that Bio-Pellets could also be adding to an enclosed system. My study into the bio-pellets was not to reduce levels into my tank, but that a byproduct of the Bio-pellets was food for the corals.

I knew several people with exceptional systems that had gotten better results using Bio-Pellets in such a manner, so I took the plunge.

But the Bio-Pellets have been a pain in the butt - I have had 4 reactors in the past 18 months of using them. And I have not had luck getting them to consistently flow and not clump. The biopellets are probably the second highest maintenance task on my system. The first being wiping algae. The Reactors seems to clog weekly. And my last round with the Bashsea resulted in it needing to be back flushed every 12 hours.

Dave B

That sucks you are having so many problems with the reactors. Have you tried a Reef Dynamics reactor? I have the BPR500E and it hasn't clumped on me once in over 6 months!

Don

 

[o2manyfish]

DCMartinPC,

Thanks for the recommendation - The Reef Dynamics looks like a different design that might work better for my application. Before I buy yet another reactor, I am waiting to see if switching to Triton might be in my future, and Triton doesn't work with the Bio-Pellets.

But thanks for the recommendation - I like it and will definitely consider that if I move forward with the pellets.

Dave B

 

[gregr]

I've got the same RO that you do Dave- I think-- 110? It doesn't give me any trouble while it's running. No clumping, decent tumble etc.- set and forget pretty much, but the one problem it does have is when it's time to add more pellets. When I turn the feed pump off it back syphons and a whole bunch of pellets flow into the sump
That issue aside, I believe the pellets are helping my tank a lot by reducing nitrates and feeding the corals.

 

[pciscott]

I second the recommendation of the Reef Dynamics reactor, never clumps. I do recommend you feed it with water though or the bio slime starts to restrict flow on the output tube of reactor.

 

[dcmartinpc]

I second the recommendation of the Reef Dynamics reactor, never clumps. I do recommend you feed it with water though or the bio slime starts to restrict flow on the output tube of reactor.

And all of their products are %15 off right now if you are subscribed to their newsletter! NOPO Bio Pellets are also %20 off.

I can't recommend Reef Dynamics enough. I run the outlet directly into the inlet pipe for my skimmer and it works perfectly.

Don

 

[Young347]

Okay so I know this is old but I am buying all my stuff for a 150 gallon reef tank and I am going to get a reef dynamics bio pellet reactor I just wanted to ask and kinda put this out there since I have not got to use one yet in theory you use the bio reactor and it removes the nitrates and some people are saying they still do water changes do to wanting more nutritions in the water are you guys and girls not remembering that you are adding fresh water regularly from the evaporation so you are replenishing the nutritions at he same time ??? I can't wait to have mine up so I can experiment and I hope it helps

 

[BeanMachine]

Okay so I know this is old but I am buying all my stuff for a 150 gallon reef tank and I am going to get a reef dynamics bio pellet reactor I just wanted to ask and kinda put this out there since I have not got to use one yet in theory you use the bio reactor and it removes the nitrates and some people are saying they still do water changes do to wanting more nutritions in the water are you guys and girls not remembering that you are adding fresh water regularly from the evaporation so you are replenishing the nutritions at he same time ??? I can't wait to have mine up so I can experiment and I hope it helps

I think your confusing things. Biopellets remove Nitrates and Phosphates in a certain ratio. Some systems will have excess Phosphates after Nitrates are close to or at zero, so in that situation some hobbyists also use GFO, or increase water changes.

RODI is pretty much void of vitamins / minerals/ trace elements. Top off RODI water should be very low TDS and the amount that is topped off in a system varies. Its probably not enough for nitrate / phosphate export.

 

[david00061]

I think your confusing things. Biopellets remove Nitrates and Phosphates in a certain ratio. Some systems will have excess Phosphates after Nitrates are close to or at zero, so in that situation some hobbyists also use GFO, or increase water changes.

RODI is pretty much void of vitamins / minerals/ trace elements. Top off RODI water should be very low TDS and the amount that is topped off in a system varies. Its probably not enough for nitrate / phosphate export.

Why can't you dose nitrate to the point that they stay around 10-20? wouldn't that cause the phosphate to drop to zero?

 

[DamonG]

Okay so I know this is old but I am buying all my stuff for a 150 gallon reef tank and I am going to get a reef dynamics bio pellet reactor I just wanted to ask and kinda put this out there since I have not got to use one yet in theory you use the bio reactor and it removes the nitrates and some people are saying they still do water changes do to wanting more nutritions in the water are you guys and girls not remembering that you are adding fresh water regularly from the evaporation so you are replenishing the nutritions at he same time ??? I can't wait to have mine up so I can experiment and I hope it helps

Hopefully you can't still find the reactor, as unfortunately, dynamics went out of business. If not, there are a couple other mfg of recirculation reactors. AVAST being the cheapest.

But, as stated, if your ro/di is working correctly, you have no too very little coming in through top off. So your feeding nothing that way. As to that, if you are, like me, running the top off through a kalk reactor, for phosphates, the high ph helps to precipitate it out..

With the pellets, you will find, at least I have, that smaller water changes work well. On my current system(total of 210 gallons), I change 5 gallons a week. On my 110 that I previously had,I would change 5 gallons every other week.

I do stones, so I try to balance the minimum amount to change(for no shifts), along with a decent maintenance amount for excess waste transport..

 

[BeanMachine]

Why can't you dose nitrate to the point that they stay around 10-20? wouldn't that cause the phosphate to drop to zero?

Yeah you can do that as well. Specifically 10 to 20 Im not sure, but you need the nitrate for the bacteria to also consume the phosphate. Its about finding the balance.

 

[david00061]

i'm using flourish nitrogen. its cheap so far its working. now if i can get reactor to stop plugging up on me