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

[R.W.]

I have been running BP for 9 months and love them. I had a little cyano that eventually died off and haven't seen any since. My NO3 and PO4 have been zero since I've started them. I think you just need to wait out your initial algae cycle. I agree with adding bacteria strains. I was using Zeovit for years before switching to pellets, I still dose Zeobak, AA, SPower, ZeoZym, and CoralSnow.

R.W.

 

[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

 

[vivek]

I think we can safely conclude

CARBON DOSING= CYANOBACTERIA. I had cyan with using bioactif salt. I will never dose carbon again !!

Vivek

 

[MammothReefer]

I didn't have cyano issues with vodka, and I didn't have any cyano issues until 4 months of pellets, and a huge die off from a bad shipment of stuff I tried to save. I can't blame cyano on my pellets with any certainty.

 

[reeflover7826]

I never had cyano on zeo now that I'm on pellets I see little of cyano, I miss zeovit.

 

[Frick]

I was using Katalyst for three months and took them offline recently. The cyano was annoying, but i stopped it because the color became awful and I start to see some STN.

 

[JCR's Reef]

Why doesn't anyone dose MB7 along with the bio pellets? I'm just curious as I was going to try it.

 

[jnc914]

Why doesn't anyone dose MB7 along with the bio pellets? I'm just curious as I was going to try it.

I dose it when I do weekly water changes. And everytime I do, the following day I get new blooms of Cyano. I am convinced that whatever strains of bacteria that are in MB-7 is fueling the cyano. Obviously these bacteria strains then populate the biopellets, which only further feeds the cyano.

 

[jnc914]

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.

My exact experience with Vertex biopellets. Your not alone brother. :beer:

 

[M007]

I've been running them since August 2010. Started with 1/4 recommended (Vertex) and gradually moved up to 1/2 recommended. No water clouding issues but did get cyno at about week 6. Chemi-clean took care of that. Dosed Zeo-Bak to start then switched to MB7. Also had some snot algae but that went away on it's own. Happy with the results thus far. NO3 and PO4 just where I want them. Upped my feeding to compensate for colour loss.

 

[JCR's Reef]

I dose it when I do weekly water changes. And everytime I do, the following day I get new blooms of Cyano. I am convinced that whatever strains of bacteria that are in MB-7 is fueling the cyano. Obviously these bacteria strains then populate the biopellets, which only further feeds the cyano.

Thats not really what I wanted to hear :lol:
I figured they would compete to comsume even more bacteria to feed off of. I though cyno was a bad bacteria? Dosing MB7 and vodka I never had cyano. If I saw a hint of it I would just dose a little more vodka for a few days and then back off. I have only had to do this twice in the past 6+ months.

 

[deeznutz1]

My exact experience with Vertex biopellets. Your not alone brother. :beer:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/i...eefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/sad2.gif

What have you done to rid your problems?

-dan

 

[deeznutz1]

My exact experience with Vertex biopellets. Your not alone brother. :beer:

:Cheers:

What have you done to rid your problems?

-dan

 

[graha321]

I have 180g tank and have been running a little over 1L of vertex pellets. I add MB7 once a week. My skimmer has been skimming much more than before. I had an outbreak of cyano when nutrient levels reached 0. This was the same thing I experienced when dosing vodka. I treated with red slime remover and have not seen the cyano return for over three months now. My levels are still at zero. It has allowed me to feed my fish more frequently and add amino acids every few days. I'm very happy with the results and I don't have to dose anything. Looking at Lunar's tank is extremely convincing that biopellets can work very, very well when done correctly.

 

[Felixc]

My results:
Been running the pellets for almost a year.
1L in 140g
Huge cyano bloom
3 months later, plumped outlet into skimmer
Cyano decreased by 90% and has remained that way for months
SPS colors has be much more consistant with the pellets.

Those who have NOT plumbed the reactor outlet to go directly into the skimmer, do so, it makes a huge difference. Your tank be will much cleaning as all the bio-product exiting the reactor will be skimmed immediately. I was very unhappy with the pellets until I did this modification.

 

[dan223]

I think we can safely conclude

CARBON DOSING= CYANOBACTERIA. I had cyan with using bioactif salt. I will never dose carbon again !!

Vivek

I dont think so, I have not seen any cyano since starting WM biopellets last summer.
People have been having probs with cyano long before carbon dosing and are always looking to blame it on something, bad bulbs bad food bad water bad DI resin and on and on. Cyano a very opportunistic bacteria Ive had tanks I used chemi clean on and it never came back even though husbandry never changed.

 

[tootsmcgee]

I havent had any cyano issues. I've been running WM pellets for 2 months now and I am pretty happy with results. My nitrates are at 1 according to the elos test and I can't get them below that. I think the flow might be too strong through my reactor or something. There is definitely some fiddling left to do.

 

[Useful_Idiot]

I started with the 1'' of vertex pellets in a tlf 150 reactor. i added a few tablespoons of pellets every other week until i had the tlf 3/4 full when running. got my no3 and po4 to 0. stonys look great, acans frogspawn chalice doing good. some of the zoos not so good but my darth mauls seem better. but reading about people having sterile tanks and questioning how well something i bring home from the petshop will do with a drastic change in no3 po4 i cut back to 1 1/2'' of pellets in the reactor and will continue to monitor my overfeeding. my hope is to have the pellets add some bacteria to the water column as food. if it works that way and i think it does cause when the pellets stopped tumbling and i shook it all the feeder tentacles came out. and to have the pellets take care of the bulk of my overfeeding without creating a ULNS.

 

[andresp]

I have not used the bio pellets but i have done vodka dosing to lower nitrates. It was a horrible experience but I'm happy i didn't lose anything. I had a dinoflagellates aka cyano throught the whole system. I will never do it again. People the more natural the better. More wc's and use gfo and sometimes activated carbon for clarity and that's it.

 

[graha321]

I dont think so, I have not seen any cyano since starting WM biopellets last summer.
People have been having probs with cyano long before carbon dosing and are always looking to blame it on something, bad bulbs bad food bad water bad DI resin and on and on. Cyano a very opportunistic bacteria Ive had tanks I used chemi clean on and it never came back even though husbandry never changed.

I agree. Cyano is an opportunistic bacteria. When you achieve ULNS, it opens up a niche for the cyano to grow. It has nothing to do with the method of achieving ULNS.