Ok lots of us have been using bio pellets for a while, let's talk results

[buy_baff]

I have been useing bio pellets for around 6 months. My no3 and po4 are both bottumed out. I do still use some gfo though to keep po4 at 0.00. Before useing my no3 was always zero. I'm starting to wonder if these pellets are realy doing that much for me. My color is great and growth is awesome. But I'm not convinced that it is from the pellets. Also I have had diotom blooms on the substrait practly the whole 6 months but never before useing the pellets. And trust me I have more than enough pellets in my reactor. I have 1.75 liters to my 150g of water. So what I would like to hear from you guys is your honest opinions of what these pellets have done for you? I'm concidering takeing them offline and seeing what happens.
-Bill

 

[MammothReefer]

I'm not sure what to make of it. I've been running my pellets (wm) since day one. I know my N/P were surprisingly lower then I thought after a mess up of mine, but since I haven't taken the pellets offline I don't know if they are keeping things in check or my weekly water changes. I am toying with the idea of taking them off line to see if I notice any difference, but on the other hand for the most part I'd say my tank is 95% headed in the direction I want it to, so I don't know if I want to mess with it.

 

[joker295]

when i 1st used the pellets my tank crashed but since then i just left them in.. ive had the same issue with diatom on my sand bed as well and had a red slime outbreak when i lost my uv light..but i have seen my p04 drop to zero with the pellets and my no3 drop as well.. so except the for diatom and red slime they seem to be working

 

[leicaguy]

Bio pellets

Bio pellets

I started using them on a 150 mainly SPS tank, levels of phosphate/nitrate were the same before and during use
I did have 2 colonies of sps completely bleach, during use, never had the problem again! maybe because of biopellets or maybe not!
ALso I did notice the water became very cloudy just after starting, then, I had several blooms of red slime
I stopped using them, they were a nasty slimy mess when I threw them away
from the reactor
I am not a novice to saltwater/reefs keeping aquariums as a hobby for 40 years

This was one of the worst new things I have tried
Used exactly as directed NASTY !!

for me I will stick with my deltec skimmer, Carbon and GFO with water changes and trace elements such as strontium and iodine

 

[dvanacker]

Seem to be working good for me......will continue using them.

 

[jnc914]

Pro-- Coral coloration and growth have been amazing. Clear water and no readings of phosphates or nitrates.

Con- Been dealing with cyano outbreaks; syphoning almost daily. Had a hair algae explosion during initial use with Vertex pellets; getting better since using large amounts of GFO and switching to WM Eco BAk pellets.

 

[buy_baff]

I took mine off line today. I'm going to give the tank a 6 week period and observe the results off takeing them offline. At the end of 6 weeks I will decide if I want to put them back on or I may just go zeo.

 

[rutz81]

I used them for about 3 months. IMO, they do work. It was strange, for about 2-3 weeks , my colors were amazing, then after that I started getting some slime like the others stated and lost the color I was getting. I stopped using them, and after a few weeks started Zeo and haven't looked back. It is definitely more work, but, worth it in my opinion.

 

[reeflover7826]

I ran Zeo before pellets. When i ran zeo every thing was perfect a little pricey put perfect No N/P and colors were awsome needed something cheaper so decided to run pellets. Now starting to get red slime,, green slime colors are starting to dull, Po4 starting to creep up. I'm going back to zeovit (soon as I save some money LOL).

 

[MammothReefer]

I've given it alot of thought, and decided to take mine off line tonight. I know they are working to some degree as I my n/p have never been that bad even w/abuse and there is always balls of "bacteria" growing inside the reactor. I want to see if I can keep those levels low though w/out them. I did a 15 gallon water change (which is a fair bit for my 65g tank) I replaced my gfo & my carbon and took my biopellets offline today. I'm going to just keep monitoring N/P and if I can keep it where it is without them, I won't put them back online. If I start to have issues I'll return to them. I really don't have any complaints per say. Just wondering what part of my tank is carrying the brunt of the load in terms of N/P reduction.. Water Changes? GFO? Skimmer, or Pellets.

I also am having issues w/cyano but I can't attribute it to pellets with any certainty as it's more a recent thing and I've been running pellets for almost 4 now, although my phosphate are .03-.04 on a hana.

 

[gary faulkner]

leicaguy

[welcome]

 

[mutateddogbone]

i would like to add that for biopellets to be most effective, you have to add a correct bacteria strain to feed off them. i would like to throw out there that most that have had cyano outbreaks, never used a product like MB7, or zeobak. Cyano is a form of bacteria, which is what the biopellets were designed to reproduce. they only work if you use the whole system.

having said this, i have been running biopellets for a couple months, and some hard to get growing SPS for me have taken off since using them. i run them in combination with zeo and have had wonderful results thus far. no cyano, took gfo offline, and my growth has doubled

 

[buy_baff]

i would like to add that for biopellets to be most effective, you have to add a correct bacteria strain to feed off them. i would like to throw out there that most that have had cyano outbreaks, never used a product like MB7, or zeobak. Cyano is a form of bacteria, which is what the biopellets were designed to reproduce. they only work if you use the whole system

The pellets are supose to contain the carbon source in the reactor. Which they most certainly do not. This is why people end up with cyano. Or what apears to be diotoms but is infact another type of bacteria useing up the carbon source.

 

[jnc914]

In regards to previous post about "seeding" the biopellets, I was using MB-7 even prior to using the biopellets, and I am still seeing cyano. That being said, I do agree that if you are not using MB-7, you should probably use it to seed the pellets initially. Since starting the Eco Bak pellets, cutting back my light cycle, running carbon and GFO, doing 40 gallon water changes weekly, I have noticed a significant decrease in red slime algae and green hair algae since my previous post. My SPS hasn't looked better and I am getting nice growth. If I start to see negative results again, I have a nice Zeo reactor and startup kit that I got for Xmas. IMO, some people don't keep up with proper husbandry and/or are running a skimmer that is lacking, which leads to alot of the issues that have been discussed in previous posts.

 

[MammothReefer]

I seeded mine w/NSW. My N/P did seem reduced and I had "white/cream" bac blobs growing in the reactor. In the past when I dosed vodka I used zeobak on a different system. Never saw the need this time... I am/was using WM EcoBac. So far they are offline for a day or so.. no difference (none to be expected yet either).

 

[sfexplicit]

Running Vertex pellets and am also having problem with cyano. It's been pretty frustrating.

 

[reefkeeps]

Any good places in the US to get the zeo products?

 

[tinman11]

bio pellets

bio pellets

my 100 gal has been on the vertex pellets for 3 months now and other than some brown diatoms on the sand every thing looks good, i was told to use zeobak to get them going and so far everything looks great, the outlet from the pellets is kinda close to the skimmer, and i tumble them in a tlf 550 with an odssea pump so altiile faster than maybe should be, i still get lots of algae on the glass and no real change in the skimmer.water still tests the same so i'm not real sure if i'm seeing any change other than good color and growth.

 

[deeznutz1]

I'm running 1L of vertex BP in 250g system for the last 7-8 months.
Initial No3 10-15ppm and P04 .003

Results as follows

Cyano, cyano, cyano for the last 4-5 months.
Hair algae
diatoms
Zero P04 and No3
High bio load
SPS are growing, colour on some are great others are ok.
I've lost 3-4 zoo frags, brain is half the size, lost 3 heads of hammer, 3 head of frog spawn and my Fiji yellow leather hasen't been open for months. But before it started to close it was the brightest fiji yellow leather on earth. It was brownish before the BP.

I just recently took them offline about 5 days ago. I was dosing CS and zeobak for 17 days beforehand and nuttin. Since I've taken the BP offline, the cyano seem to be less blanket like and more patchy. I've also been dosing Zeozym, zeobak and coral snow mixed for 8 hours and dosed with skimmer off for the last 6 days. Tonight is the last dose and then twice a week after that. I have my fingers crossed.

Bp do work but they have cause cyano, HA and diatoms in my tank. I plan on getting rid of the cyano first and possibly bring the BP back online, but this time only a small amount. Maybe 100ml and run it with gfo.

When I first started, I only added about 400ml for 2-3 months. Then i added the rest. I never had the cloudy water.

If you can keep your nutrients low with your current Husbandry, then stick to your routine. If you can't get your nutrients low then try BP, but don't be surprised when you experience these problems. I've read a lot on BP and I'm not alone with cyano.

Hope there will be more people chiming in.

-dan

 

[deeznutz1]

I'm running 1L of vertex BP in 250g system for the last 7-8 months.
Initial No3 10-15ppm and P04 .003

Results as follows

Cyano, cyano, cyano for the last 4-5 months.
Hair algae
diatoms
Zero P04 and No3
High bio load
SPS are growing, colour on some are great others are ok.
I've lost 3-4 zoo frags, brain is half the size, lost 3 heads of hammer, 3 head of frog spawn and my Fiji yellow leather hasen't been open for months. But before it started to close it was the brightest fiji yellow leather on earth. It was brownish before the BP.

I just recently took them offline about 5 days ago. I was dosing CS and zeobak for 17 days beforehand and nuttin. Since I've taken the BP offline, the cyano seem to be less blanket like and more patchy. I've also been dosing Zeozym, zeobak and coral snow mixed for 8 hours and dosed with skimmer off for the last 6 days. Tonight is the last dose and then twice a week after that. I have my fingers crossed.

Bp do work but they have cause cyano, HA and diatoms in my tank. I plan on getting rid of the cyano first and possibly bring the BP back online, but this time only a small amount. Maybe 100ml and run it with gfo.

When I first started, I only added about 400ml for 2-3 months. Then i added the rest. I never had the cloudy water.

If you can keep your nutrients low with your current Husbandry, then stick to your routine. If you can't get your nutrients low then try BP, but don't be surprised when you experience these problems. I've read a lot on BP and I'm not alone with cyano.

Hope there will be more people chiming in.

-dan