Is anybody still running BioPellets?

MammothReefer

MammothReefer

Active member
I guess it's been about 3 years or so now since they first started showing up. I ran them for a while had good results but for whatever reason took them offline and never got around to adding them back on. I don't see much talk about them anymore. Today I was looking at my brand new 2+ year old reactor and am toying with the idea of putting them back online.

So my questions are

Do you still use them?
How long have you been using them?
What brands are you using these days?
What manner are you using them?
If you stopped using them why?
(Any pics to go along would be great to)

Thanks.
 
i have been using warner marine ecobak pellets on a 300 gallon for almost two years.
these are in a big two little fishes reactor.
this is a mixed reef with many large sps colonies. it also has a number of large tangs and dozens of smaller fish.
this aquarium has very low PO4 and no nitrates in spite of the large bioload and the unnecessarily heavy feedings the owners (and their small children) do.


 
Last edited:
Bio pellets first hit the scene close to 6 yrs ago I bet. Lots of people still run them and I have been personally using them for 4yrs. I'm running the brs brand, with great success.
 
I've been using the Warner marine bp's for two and half years with good results. I over feed frozen every single day and phosphates stay at 0.01-0.02
 
Ive been running mine for a couple years. I have a light bioload with minimal biopellets-25ml inside my phosban 150 40r tank. I took them off and on for experimentation purposes and have noticed great results. My sps grew a lot quicker with them on because I am allowed to feed my tank more. Its a nutrient export/import balance I believe and it helped take my tank over the edge. I was running gfo before the pellets, but I noticed my pocket shrunk every 4 weeks so I decided to take a more economical approach by using the biopellets and my tank really thanks me for it. I don't have to hassle with a reactor every month and I am so thankful for that. I was able to drop the gfo all together.

On the other hand, on my high nutrient softy tank, which is a 40r as well, I have been running pellets for a year and a half and have only seen negative side effects from them. I saw such great results with my ULNS that I had to try it on this tank as well. However, I was left with Cyano, Dinos, couple deaths of corals, etc etc. The tank balanced out finally, but that was when the biopellets fully disintegrated. I looked at my tank 1 day and was like damn the cyano and dinos are gone, but where are all my bio pellets....gone as well. I replaced the pellets again to see if it was the problem for the second time and yep the cyano and dinos were back. I am now using the reactor for GAC and I couldn't be happier.

ALL IN ALL, I believe it is up to the system because no ONE system is the same. As a reef addict, we experiment to try to find the best solution and routine for our systems and that is part of the enjoyment we endure. Once we have figured out our set solutions and routines, I like to say sit back and enjoy your matured tank!

Pellet System:




Non-Pellet System:




Sorry about the quality. Taken with phones. Blackberry for life!
 
Ron Popeil said:
i have been using warner marine ecobak pellets on a 300 gallon for almost two years.
these are in a big two little fishes reactor.
this is a mixed reef with many large sps colonies. it also has a number of large tangs and dozens of smaller fish.
this aquarium has very low PO4 and no nitrates in spite of the large bioload and the unnecessarily heavy feedings the owners (and their small children) do.


Click to expand...

Wow beautiful tank! I think im going the biopellet route with my rebuild. How are you running the pellets in the two little fishes reactor? I have 2 of the smaller ones for my 150g and have heard to take out the foam disks and run with a moderate flow to keep from clumping. Any insight would be awesome!
 
After trying various techniques I think it is much easier to have a successful sps tank with biopellets than any other method. You can feed more, nitrates are low and phos is lowered a bit. I did have a problem with adding them to a older system, but when I cleaned the old system of its sand and cleaned the live rock the pellets worked great.
 
Yes I have used BP's since the beginning of the tank with great success. I does MB7 - 7 drops a day and have never seen cyno. I keep nutrients up with healthy population of fish and frequent feedings while dosing AA's.

I run 2000 ML in BRS/ATB pellets in an Avast reactor inline with my Dart 3200GPH.

bp2013.jpg
 
in the two little fishes reactorm, i have removed the foam pads. and i have them tumbling quite a bit, with the out put feeding right into the input of the beckett skimmer. seems to work pretty well in this system.
 
biopellet club. Woot woot.

P1017203.JPG


I agree, seems to be the easiest way to keep bioload and food import high while keeping broken down nutrients and organics low. Great for an SPS tank. I also recommend putting them on a new tank with out NO3 and PO4 problems vs. using them to solve a problem tank.
 
dvanacker said:
biopellet club. Woot woot.

P1017203.JPG


I agree, seems to be the easiest way to keep bioload and food import high while keeping broken down nutrients and organics low. Great for an SPS tank. I also recommend putting them on a new tank with out NO3 and PO4 problems vs. using them to solve a problem tank.
Click to expand...

Wow!! amazing tank! Very inspirational. My tank has just finished cycling and was going to add biopellets today. My nitrates and phos are both undetectable right now. I know when adding you add small amounts of pellets at a time, is the case the same on a new tank?
 
When I was running Biopellets. I was. If I were to run them again. I still would maybe less however. It's such an easy thing to run passively I've never seen a reason not to run it.
 
Check out the reef octopus biochurn reactors. I really like them as the churning does not allow for detritus buildup. I think mine is great.
 
Mine has been running 4-5 months now and has kept nitrate/phosphate in check.

Very pleased so far, I'm using a biochurn 120 with 700 ml of Warner Marine Eco bak in a 120 DT.
 
Same here. I run just a small amount and watch some of my more sensitive sps for signs that I need to change it out
Right now I'm busy and not feeding as much. I haven't changed the 1.5cups I run in months.
 
My last FTS


I don't run anything else...then again my tank is smaller. About 65g -/+

Maybe on my 120 I will run carbon or a little gfo.
 
I've been using pellets for 1 year since startup of tank ...and am
Pleased I did however at the beginning run a crap load of them and paled out alot of sps I lowered the flow and amount and there working better u have to find the sweet spot
 
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