I was running a Bubble King 200 along with 2 Vortech mp40s and 2 Tunze 6001s for circulation and lost 8 fish. Majority of the fish I had for over a year. So, all I'm saying is watch for any signs of stress. 3 days into the cloudy water I came home from work to find most of my fish dead. The rest were breathing very heavily. I added a few airstones and that seemed to help a little until the bloom died out.
N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)
- Thread starter tntneon
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SimonSKL
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Wow! That really concerns me as I am about to start using the pellets in the next couple days. All your equipment are first class. Can you tell us more about your tank set up, how much pellets did you use, what kind of reactor you put the pellets in and the water flow rate...etc. Thanks!
Simon,
I wouldn't be too concerned with using these. In several pages of posting, this issue has only come up twice and only my situation has caused any fish loss. If it makes you feel better, I am still running the biopellets on my system. In my case, I'm pretty sure it was caused by other conditions such as high bioload, or high organic load. I was running the Brightwell MB7 and Biofuel before adding these and it could be that I was overdosing the Biofuel.
Anyway as stated before, I had no intention of bashing the biopellets, just wanted to caution the other poster about cloudy water.
As for setup, It is pretty much as most are doing here. I run the biopellets in a NextReef reactor with output near the intake on my skimmer. Ever since the bloom died out, I have been running 0 Nitrates and all looks well.
I wouldn't be too concerned with using these. In several pages of posting, this issue has only come up twice and only my situation has caused any fish loss. If it makes you feel better, I am still running the biopellets on my system. In my case, I'm pretty sure it was caused by other conditions such as high bioload, or high organic load. I was running the Brightwell MB7 and Biofuel before adding these and it could be that I was overdosing the Biofuel.
Anyway as stated before, I had no intention of bashing the biopellets, just wanted to caution the other poster about cloudy water.
As for setup, It is pretty much as most are doing here. I run the biopellets in a NextReef reactor with output near the intake on my skimmer. Ever since the bloom died out, I have been running 0 Nitrates and all looks well.
SimonSKL
New member
Rbonick, thanks for the reassurance. I will be putting the biopellets in a NextReef reactor also with its output near the intake of my skimmer. I have started to dose Vodka/Vinegar/Sugar mixture about 10 days ago and is still building up my dose. I think I will continue to do that for may be another 7-10 days after the biopellets system is running as I understand it takes at least a couple weeks for the biopellets to work.
Someone mentioned to soak the biopellets first so they won't be as buoyant and float to the top of the reactor. I probably will do that first.
It would probably b smart to have water mixed up in anticipation of a large water change, in the event things go south. Just as a precaution.
DJ
So I made it through a few pages of this thread and didn't find the answer to the question that immediately came to me. I know with vodka dosing it is recommended to keep alkalinity to a 7.5-8 dKH range to avoid bleaching and burnt tips on SPS. I'm wondering if that holds true as well when using these pellets? Are there any problems with keeping your alkalinity higher like in the 8-9.5 dKH range?
AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
You can keep the dKH in the above mentioned ranges. It's not an issue with NP biopellets.
Thank you,
stevedola
Master of my domain
20 gallons of fresh mixed water all ready 2 go. just in case.
Still milky but no deaths. Fish seem fine however corals are little ticked off.
AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
You may want to slow down the flow through the reactor. It's possible that you started with a high nutrient load and the bacteria are really taking off on the pellets. Slowing down the flow in a situation like this is best. Also, if you are adding any additional probiotic bacteria (ZEObac, Bio Digest, MicroBacter 7 or other) then you might want to stop using it until your clarity returns. Hope this helps.
reefkeeper2
Premium Member
Since you just started dosing vodka/vinegar/sugar, I would taper off and stop a little faster. The carbon dosing plus the biopellets together could give you some serious pH problems. I was dosing 30ml of vodka daily and keeping the pH above 8.0 was very difficult. I added the pellets and went to 0ml of vodka in less than 2 weeks. During that time the pH improved daily as the vodka dose decreased. It's amazing how things improved after that.
bluereefs
New member
This is quite coincidence, just yesterday one of my friend who use BP asked me about cloudines what hapened to him due to BP usage. I tell him that I was not aware of that situation and I never readed about that issue. And now we have few same issue from diferent part of the world. My friend use slow flow throu fluid. reactors, no carbon dosing, new aquarium, low bio load... nothing what IMO can trigger bacterial bloom. He dont have any loses and fishes are not afected at all, soft corals was closed and only livestock afected from those bacterial bloom. He actualy try few times to disconect the bp and every time when he try again with bio pellets aquarium get cloudy, without BP aquarium are crystal clear. He use very strong skimmer reef octopus super skimmer 5000 on 500 liters aquarium and only 500 ml of BP. Only what can come to my mind as a trigger what created those issue is that he used sponge inside the reactor who get cloged from bacterial bio mass and slow the fluidisation considerably(creating first bacterial bloom), he remove the sponge but he do not washed BP and probably inside the reactor was created high bacterial bio mass what cloud the aquarium after he start the BP again.
I use BP in same fluid reactor, also use them in 3 aquariums with diferent reactors and never get the bacterial bloom even I had issue with protection sponge inside the reactor what almost stoped completly flow through the reactor and create bacterial bloom inside the reactor what I intentionaly pour in aquarium to see the efect and feed the invertbrates who like bacteria, I dont had any problems with my livestock when I release the bacteria from reactor in aquarium but I inject air together with bacteria to compensate oxygen loss and low pH.
I use BP in same fluid reactor, also use them in 3 aquariums with diferent reactors and never get the bacterial bloom even I had issue with protection sponge inside the reactor what almost stoped completly flow through the reactor and create bacterial bloom inside the reactor what I intentionaly pour in aquarium to see the efect and feed the invertbrates who like bacteria, I dont had any problems with my livestock when I release the bacteria from reactor in aquarium but I inject air together with bacteria to compensate oxygen loss and low pH.
I keep mostly SPS. They closed up (no polyp extension) for a few days but I didn't lose a single coral. If your fish are OK, then I would think the corals will be fine once the bloom subsides.
I am trying to decide whether to use the pellets or neo zeo method for my new 50 gallon tank. I am leaning towards this for cost effectiveness and there is no dosing of a million of different Brightwell products. I had a couple questions if I decide to go the route of the pellets should I run them right away when I begin my cycle or should I wait till the cycle is over? Also should I run any phosphate removing media in another reactor? What other elements are you all dosing in conjunction to the pellets asides from a 2 part?
stevedola
Master of my domain
did a w/c today and now my coris wrasse is laboring to breath. hoping for the best.
rbonick, how long did it take for your cloudiness to clear up?
Sorry to hear that. In my case, the wrasses had the worst survival rate. I would say the worst was over in about 4-5 days. It took 2 weeks for the water to become completely clear. I did several water changes during this period and it didn't seem to help. I know it is probably impossible, but if you can catch any of the fish and store them elsewhere I would recommend that route. I was able to remove a sailfin tang and put him in my 34 gallon reef and he survived. Weird thing is my anthias all survived and I would have thought they would be the first to go. You could also try moving your powerheads to create more surface turbulence. Good Luck and I hope all goes well.
Bluereefs,
I would be interested in hearing how your friends tank fairs. Please keep us updated. My biggest disappointment was losing a pair of Rhomboid wrasses that I had kept for over a year. Expense aside, they were very hard to find.
gbcichlids
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