what happens when too much biopellets?

[hypnoj]

I just wanted to ask those that have been using biopellets for several months now, what would happen if after 1 years use of biopellets I decided to double the amount? Half the amount?

 

[pscott99]

I have been increasing by about 25 %. It depends more on your tank size. Most people are using more than they need to. If they are working well you only need more as they break up and disappear. There are bio threads that argue everything back and forth. Good luck. Go slow and watch for results a few weeks later.

 

[hypnoj]

thx for the info. I've been running them for about a year on 2 separate tanks. My tanks have recently reached 0 nitrates (coming down from around 100+ nitrates) and I'm wondering if I should decrease the amount in my reactor now. (like what you do when vodka dosing etc)

 

[bertoni]

In theory, the pellets might be able to reduce the nutrient level low enough to harm corals. That'd be my primary concern with increasing the pellet dose. I agree that going slowly should help minimize the risk.

 

[Aquarist007]

Besides lowering nitrates the other use of carbon dosing is to increase the amount that you feed--therefore making a more nutrient rich environment for your corals.
Many times the biopellets get the credit for increased growth and colour in the corals when it is really due to the aquarist increasing the nutrient levels in the tank.
If you continue to increase the feeding but measure the nitrates then you will know when the time is correct to increase the biopellets.

 

[tmz]

It's difficult to control the level of organic carbon provided by pellets. Flow ,clogs, degradation,type of pellet, NO3 ande PO4 avaiabillity and other variables make genral recommendations on amounts very difficult to frame.

 

[Aquarist007]

I believe this is a related question:

I have been noticing a decrease in corraline algae on the rocks in systems that I am running heavyly the np pellets. (these are systems without urchins etc or known consumers of it) Is this just coincidence?

 

[hypnoj]

both of my systems that I've been running pellets on have good corralline. The only time a notice a drop off is when my calcium is low.