vette68
Member
I would say that it depends on your goal. I have had my 180 set up for over 10 years. Just over a year ago, I started getting hair algae so bad that it killed heads of acro that were twice the size of basketballs that started out as half inch frags. So, I took drastic measures. Tore down the tank, bleached all of the rock, muriatic acid dipped it, and the put it all back together again. Wouldn't you know, the hair algae came back worse the second time around than the first. It was so thick on my gravel, that it looked like I was growing grass. Long story short, I started using bio pellets about 3 months ago, in addition to soaking the rock in lanthanum chloride (SeaKlear). Within about a month of starting up the BP reactor, skimmer output significantly increased, and slowly over time, the hair algae has died to the point where my tank is now 95% free of hair algae. The skimmer is still pulling quarts of foul smelling nasty skimmate each week, so something must be working.
But like all the others, now I'm experiencing a cyanno outbreak. So my thought is that I'm going to run the bio pellets for about another month to kill all of the hair algae, and then I'll take the reactor down. I don't think that bio pellets are a cure-all, and do have their own side-effects. But they definitely will reduce the nutrient level in your tank to the point that it will significantly inhibit hair algae growth.
Talking from my own experience, I will continue to use it to control outbreaks. If my hair algae growth is under control, then the BP reator will sit on the shelf with the collection of other unused eqipment. But if things start to go south again, I know I can set up the reactor and within a month, have things under control again. I would use it as a short term treatment, not as a long term solution. Of course, that's my opinion, and what works for me, as is definitely the case with bio pellets, may not work for others. For me, I'm going to run bio pellets for about 4 months and then take the reactor down until the nutrient level builds up again to the point where I need the extra boost that they give to control hair algae. If you don't have a hair algae problem, I wouldn't waste the time or money.... It can definitely be a solution in search of a problem. I just wish I would have tried bio pellets before I ripped my whole tank down, which was practically a 2 month endeavor.
But like all the others, now I'm experiencing a cyanno outbreak. So my thought is that I'm going to run the bio pellets for about another month to kill all of the hair algae, and then I'll take the reactor down. I don't think that bio pellets are a cure-all, and do have their own side-effects. But they definitely will reduce the nutrient level in your tank to the point that it will significantly inhibit hair algae growth.
Talking from my own experience, I will continue to use it to control outbreaks. If my hair algae growth is under control, then the BP reator will sit on the shelf with the collection of other unused eqipment. But if things start to go south again, I know I can set up the reactor and within a month, have things under control again. I would use it as a short term treatment, not as a long term solution. Of course, that's my opinion, and what works for me, as is definitely the case with bio pellets, may not work for others. For me, I'm going to run bio pellets for about 4 months and then take the reactor down until the nutrient level builds up again to the point where I need the extra boost that they give to control hair algae. If you don't have a hair algae problem, I wouldn't waste the time or money.... It can definitely be a solution in search of a problem. I just wish I would have tried bio pellets before I ripped my whole tank down, which was practically a 2 month endeavor.
