Is anybody still running BioPellets?

Starting BP on the tank with low nutrients level could be disastrous. I've seen it few times and done it myself. BP is a tool to lower nitrates (and phosphate to some extend) but applying the technique on already low nutrients tank will lead to all sort of problems. Key is to keep everything in balance with or without BP your corals have to have enough nutrients to feed on.
 
I actually recommend starting them on a tank that has low PO4 and NO3. Not a starving tank but a healthy one. No matter what you need to increase feedings/bioload or use AA's after adding them because they are good at keeping nutrients low.

The best is to add them to a new tank that doesn't even have corals yet but I started running them on my 200g tank which was an upgrade from a previous tank so it had lots of corals. My water nutrient level was good on my newly started 200g but decided to start them anyway because I noticed in my previous tanks that a time would go by were the corals did well but nutrients built up over time causing problems at about a year. Anyway I added the 1l of pellets at once and no issues at all, plus my tank is now almost 4yrs old and better than ever.
 
I salute you guys who have been running BP successfully. I tried them a couple a years ago and ran into the same problems a bunch of others encountered with pale starving corals.

I'm tempted to try again just because of the challenge, but I'm too scared to risk my colonies.
 
I started running mine last night. Tank has no corals or fish just started building my clean up crew. I'm running them in a tlf 150 reactor with the screens, and a mj1200. I have a valve after the reactor to control flow but if I turn it down any I don't get all the pellets tumbling only about 2/3rds on one side of the reactor. I'm going to see how they do before I invest in a pellet specific reactor. I know some of you said you lowered the flow through the pellets and that helped but I can't do that without 1/3 of the pellets not tumbling very good.
 
Thinking of adding them like suggested on my tank swap.. Should work out well as I'm swapping a 12+ year old reef into a new larger tank.. I have a reactor already setup to run them I just wasn't sure if i should if i should start right away..

I think I will start with a small amount and increase slowly..everything is established and running now just waiting on the new sand and adding water.. Given the results and experience here and others I've read guessing I should just feed a little more and watch my levels after adding the pellets..

So for you guys who added them on a newer tank did you just start at like 1/4 the recommended amount? My 45 is packed right now and will be transferring it to the 100 gal but thinking it will be a relatively low load for the size and equipment I have so I'm Thinking in my situation it's better to start with less then more? Guess I have to start looking into buying some now to fill the reactor;-).. Not even gonna get into the what the best pellets lol..
 
First off, not to thread jack, but...

For you guys that do run these, how are your zoanthids doing? I was really wanting to get on board, but I had read a few posts online that they strip so many of the nutrients out of the water that zoas tend to keel over.

I really wanted to get a reactor but this steered me away from them since I have some large zoa colonies that are growing like mad, but I do want to keep some SPS corals as well.
 
dvanacker said:
Crap info. Feeeeeed the tank and you are fine. My zoa grow fast.
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Is there any guidelines for feeding properly? I typically feed fish 2 cubes a day of frozen mysis or brine.

For corals I typically do either marine snow or bulk reef supply reef chilli, coral frenzy, or rogers reef food 2x a week, sometimes 3x.

Do biopellet reactors affect the growth of macro-algaes? I have been growing ulva and Gracilaria to feed my tangs in my current fuge.
 
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I have run Warner Marines ecoBak for the life of my tank for close to 3 years and have been very happy with them. I did however put them online right after the tank cycled, which I believe is why I have not experienced any issues with them. I feel like BP's have gotten a bad wrap because of people putting them on an existing system trying to fix a problem. If you dont truly understand what they are and what they are capable of, you can run into issues for sure.

Problems of stripping the tank of all nitrates and phosphates way too fast, starving your corals because you have been programmed to not feed heavily, not having a proper and capable skimmer to remove the bacteria that sloughs off and enters the water column which then can cause a bacterial imbalance, hence cyano. Tumbling the pellets too fast, adding way too many pellets too fast etc. All these things have been why BP's have received negative opinions. When the truth is, it has been more times than not "operator error".

Research and understand what you are about to add to your system. PERIOD

I have never seen a single sprig of GHA in my tank...EVER. I feed heavily upwards to 4 times a day. Pellets, flakes, mysis, cyclopeze, Rod's frozen, seaweed, reef chili, oyster feast and dose vitamins and aminos. My phosphates have read as high as 0.10 but never had issues with color or growth. Even when they stayed in the range of 0.05-0.08 for weeks on end. Nitrates are always undetectable, and my chaeto grows very fast. And all my zoas and rics and mushrooms do just fine along with my Acros.

I highly recommend them, but depending on the situation they need to be incorparated to the system in the proper way.
 
I dont use any additional supplements (coral snow once in a while). I feed once or twice a day but feeding will depend on the tank. Strong observation skills are needed to find that right balance. For food I like PE mysis, nori, NLS pellet and some flake as well.
 
dowtish said:
Tumbling the pellets too fast, adding way too many pellets too fast etc.
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How fast is too fast for tumbling? With the 2 little fishes 150 reactor and a mj1200 they tumble good but if I cut flow back at all some of the pellets don't tumble. It seems as the reactor gets higher flow on one half then the other.
 
There is no specific way I could tell you. Everyone's reactor and pumps are so different, not to mention the pellets. Also, depending on how many pellets you are running will depend on how they tumble. With mine, the more pellets I have the more even the tumble. I run a mj1200 on mine with a valve to control it, but now after having it running for so long I run mine at max tumble with no issues.

This is the exact rate of tumble I have in mine. This is a little aggressive flow for most, and I would suggest tumbling this fast until after you have had steady low parameters and are trying to keep them there, because you can feed your corals so much more at that point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COSaqcdkZNA


If you are having issues with channeling or its tumbling only on one side, make sure the reactor is not clogged with anything. But also, just because some of the pellets arent moving as fast doesnt mean that they are doing their job. Only be concerned if you have pellets that are literally not moving at all. If you cant remedy that, I would look into getting a better reactor.
 
I've been running My EcoBak for nearly 3.5 years now. I removed the sponges in my reactor and rarely have to do anything maintenance wise. Started out with 2 liters but I'm down to about 3/4 of liter now. I run it in a PM 24" tall media reactor and I'm using a MJ900 to run it.
 
Another question for you more experienced biopellet users, when you are performing skimmer maintenance do you also shut down your biopellet reactor or do you let it run. I clean my skimmer and my filter sock at the same time and leave my skimmer offline for about an hour since the skimmer goes crazy for a little after installing a clean filter sock. Is it better for the pellets to sit for an hour or two or to stay running with the skimmer shut down for an hour or two? I do this about every three days.
 
Bm

Bm

I am actually modifying my Avast 18X10 Reactor this weekend. The purpose is to change it from full flow to adjustable so that I can increase trates to low levels. The change will make it a recirculating reactor. Here is an example drawing. The only thing different from the drawing is that the pump suction will be on the intake union and the true union will be on the flow in side.

bpmod.jpg
 
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KEEPonREEFING said:
Another question for you more experienced biopellet users, when you are performing skimmer maintenance do you also shut down your biopellet reactor or do you let it run. I clean my skimmer and my filter sock at the same time and leave my skimmer offline for about an hour since the skimmer goes crazy for a little after installing a clean filter sock. Is it better for the pellets to sit for an hour or two or to stay running with the skimmer shut down for an hour or two? I do this about every three days.
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I would just let the reactor keep running.

FYI: Jon Warner from Warner Marine that is the creator of ecoBak has stated that if you do shut down a reactor, you have about 8 hours before the bacteria would begin to die off.
 
my zoos flourish and my SPS looks great imo. i've been using the same pellets for almost a year now, i haven't even topped them off.. imo its a no brainier now a days and combined with GFO, they both make the export of nutrients very user friendly and stable. i also grow macro algae like crazy in my sump.
 
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