Vertex Pro Bio Pellets

[ReefyRoy]

Thought this might help someone: I'm running the Vertex Biopellets in a NextReef MR1 reactor, but the sponge at the bottom of the reactor was restricting the flow...so before taking it out and experimenting with mesh I called the company, and they have a retrofit available (only directly from them) that apparently increases flow through the reactor, gets rid of the foam pads in favor of a drilled plate all for the low low price of $20. So it's on order and hopefully it'll help my tumbling

For what it's worth I added my pellets near the end of a new tank cycle, and all is going well...N & P nearly zero despite adding fish at the rate of every other week. The only thing I've noticed that I haven't seen described here is that my chaetomorpha really isn't growing at all...it makes sense that if the pellets drop my N & P to zero there won't be anything for my chaeto to eat, hence grow. Anyone else see a change in chaeto growth rate? Anybody using pellets instead of macroalgae?

Roy

 

[Radioheadx14]

I was planning on plumbing a new fuge to my tank and ended up with bio-pellets instead. Fuges trap lots of detritus due to the low flow/algae. I still have some LR in my sump, but no algae.

 

[bmanzie]

I also called the company about the issue I outline here in this post about the extra slime that I was encountering. From what they said, I should have made sure I was good with the good bacteria using MB7 or the like before I started the bio pellets. He said (which made sense) that bio pellets will feed all bacteria not just the good ones that I want. So he said I should turn off the bio pellets until I got through the routine of adding MB7 and then start off with 1/4 to 1/2 of the recommended dosage and then gradually increase it. So that is what I am doing now. Pain the int butt though to turn off skimmer for 4 hours after dosing MB7 and remember to turn it back on. Two weeks of this Yuck....

 

[eb8919]

So you have to use MB7 before?

 

[reeferbro0622]

Did anyone use bulk reefs supply double media reactor???

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/dual-brs-gfo-and-carbon-reactor.html

 

[bmanzie]

No I am using MB7 now as instructed. I can tell you that has really cleared my tank up though

 

[Toadally]

update.....
Q: how do you know when your bio pellets are not working?
A: when you notice algae growing on your cleaner shrimp. haha

This is the second time that he has had algae growing on him. The first time it got rid of it by molting. I'm not talking about a little algae....he was covered in it.

It looks like the algae has started talking hold again. I was doing much better before the bio pellets and may go back to my old ways soon. I'll give it a few more weeks and see what happens.

 

[Mirugai]

its been more than 2 weeks. I didn't have cyno before, now I am starting to see traces of it on the sand. I decided to give these pellets a try and hoping that it will help me with my dictyota algae. So far, it only help it speed up the growth

 

[eb8919]

Mine finally came in today so I'm going to begin using them tomorrow and documenting my progress. Just a few questions...did anyone not let them sit in ro/di the night before? or if so did you notice anything. Also i have a 90g dt with about 40g in the sump so 130g total. Would 150ml be a good starting dose? I want to start it slow as I've never used any carbon source previous to this (i.e vodka).

 

[ReefyRoy]

Hi eb8919, I did not let them sit overnight...just dumped them into my reactor and off I went. I have a 150g tank with about 80g volume in my sump, and I used 500mL of media with no ill effects.

 

[eb8919]

Thanks for the advice....how well is it working for you? Any positive results? I'm using it to overcome a GHA problem I've been battling for awhile.

 

[ReefyRoy]

I also had a GHA problem, and I took a 3-pronged approach:

1) Added a sea hare...ate it like a cow, but took his own sweet time...the algae grew quicker than he could eat it

2) Added the biopellets...my N&P never really were that high, but I suspect they were all bound up in my algae

3) Used AlgaeFix...dosed per the instructions on the bottle

I did all of the above on pretty much the same day, and within 2 weeks I had pretty much ZERO GHA in my tank, and I still have none. I gave the sea hare away when it was about 90% gone, and still add 1 dose of AlgaeFix with each water change (once a week). So the biopellets have now been running for about a month, I have no hair algae, and my N&P are zero.

Here it is at its worst on 7/16:

And here it is on 8/12:

 

[eb8919]

Wow...that cleaned right up...that's what I'm hoping for. Did a lot of the algae die off and get filtered out or was all of it eaten? Who makes algae fix?

 

[ReefyRoy]

From what I'd read I assumed it'd all sorta get frazzled looking and then I'd have to yank it out, but it all sort of slowly disappeared. I went through and cut all of the longest strands with scissors initially and let them get sucked up by my overflow, and then I just cleaned out my filter socks every other day or so. It turned a darker green, then a little less feathery, and then vanished.

AlgaeFix is made by API, and they make a marine and freshwater version. Found it on another thread here somewhere. There were plenty of people warning against adding a poison to your tank, but the company claims it's safe, I didn't have much livestock, so I chanced it. Worked so well that I'm still using it.

These are the reviews that ultimately sold me on the product: REVIEW. Dose (if I recall correctly) is 1cc/gallon every 3 days.

 

[reefrad]

algaefix works great but, it will also kill the bacteria growing on the BPs. pretty counterproductive...

I also had a GHA problem, and I took a 3-pronged approach:

1) Added a sea hare...ate it like a cow, but took his own sweet time...the algae grew quicker than he could eat it

2) Added the biopellets...my N&P never really were that high, but I suspect they were all bound up in my algae

3) Used AlgaeFix...dosed per the instructions on the bottle

I did all of the above on pretty much the same day, and within 2 weeks I had pretty much ZERO GHA in my tank, and I still have none. I gave the sea hare away when it was about 90% gone, and still add 1 dose of AlgaeFix with each water change (once a week). So the biopellets have now been running for about a month, I have no hair algae, and my N&P are zero.

Here it is at its worst on 7/16:

And here it is on 8/12:

 

[ReefyRoy]

Hrmmm...is that true ReefRad? Per API it is indeed a biocide, which in appropriate concentrations will kill everything in the tank (fish, corals, inverts, etc), but in the algaecidal concentrations recommended in the literature it's "reef safe". Now, I'm just as suspicious of that statement as anyone else, but there are plenty of folks that have used the stuff successfully with full tanks without any evidence of a tank crash, or a rise in N/P which one would expect if bacteria start to die off. I'll try to call the company tomorrow to clarify.

 

[Radioheadx14]

After a week and a half, my water got very clear... I thought I had clear water before... but I was wrong. Also my hair algae was starting to die off, so I helped it a little and took a tooth brush to my rocks. My tank looks very clean now, but I do have a little dark red cyano growing in spots. I'd rather have that than HA though.

 

[sfexplicit]

For sps tanks running these pellets what are you keeping your alk at? Please and thank you.

 

[sedorusc]

I think most are between 7 and 8 just as if they were dosing vodka

 

[Felixc395]

What gph rate are you guys putting through your reactors so they have a nice tumbling effect?