I would like to start a discussion about problems people have had that they attribute to the use of Bio-Pellets. Trying to find some common pathways, either in systems, setup, or use that is causing the adverse effects. I have a relatively new system set up and running for about 8 months. 180 display. 300gal total. I use an Octopus reactor with a fairly slow tumble of about 2 cups of W-M pellets. I have a sump with multiple chambers. Tank overflows go into chamber 1. My Reeflo skimmer pump draws from chamber 1, as does a separate pump to the Bio-pellet reactor. I have a 1 1/2 inch T connected to a bulkhead fitting at the sump for the skimmer input. One side of the T is from the sump, the other is the effluent form the bio-pellet reactor. That means 100% of the reactor output goes directly into the skimmer input. Setup was about 1 month after I fired up the whole system, which is a mixed reef with predom Acros and is thriving. Nitrates and Phosphate are minimal. Had very minimal algae growth during cycling. Virtually none detected since. Beautiful coral colorating and prolific growth. So far I'm happy with the system. What's your take on this?? What's your problem??
What's Your Problem With Bio-Pellets?
- Thread starter t.trezona
- Start date
Cyano is probably the most commonly reported problem when people use pellets.
There are many reasons I do not use them, but these might be considered "advantages" of other types of organics, rather than "problems" with pellets. In any case, here's the list of what concerns me about them:
1. Harder to quickly control and adjust dosing than soluble organics.
2. More tendency to potentially cause cyano than some soluble organics such as acetate.
3. More expensive and requires equipment purchases for use (although a doser for soluble organics also costs if you use one)
4. Not as easy to control where and when the dosing takes place in the overall reef system
5. The released organics are perhaps not as widely bioavailable to reef creatures as things like acetate or ethanol
6. Possibly more of a concern for hydrogen sulfide production during a power failure.
There are many reasons I do not use them, but these might be considered "advantages" of other types of organics, rather than "problems" with pellets. In any case, here's the list of what concerns me about them:
1. Harder to quickly control and adjust dosing than soluble organics.
2. More tendency to potentially cause cyano than some soluble organics such as acetate.
3. More expensive and requires equipment purchases for use (although a doser for soluble organics also costs if you use one)
4. Not as easy to control where and when the dosing takes place in the overall reef system
5. The released organics are perhaps not as widely bioavailable to reef creatures as things like acetate or ethanol
6. Possibly more of a concern for hydrogen sulfide production during a power failure.
Not sure why you feel you would need to quickly adjust?
I don't think there is any significant dosing in the tank. I'm guessing most of the bacteria that reproduce metabolizing the pellets go out my skimmer. Don't know for sure.
Is there some evidence that significant pellet organics are released into the system?
Definitely a potential problem with power outage. That's why I am in the process of installing a switch that will cause my pump to stay off when the power comes back on. I have installed a set of valves that allow me to flush the reactor effluent down the drain when I power up. When clear, back to system.
The fact that many folks get cyano remote from the pellets proves, IMO, that the pellets do in fact release organic matter. Since no one has ever tried to measure it, the hypothesis (and that is all it is) of purely localized organic additions, while seemingly attractive, seems to not hold up in reality.
I've adjusted doses of soluble organics many times. I want to do it quickly when I do it. Is that a big deal? Perhaps not, but there is obviously a lot better control than with pellets that take substantial time to get coated and growing.
I've adjusted doses of soluble organics many times. I want to do it quickly when I do it. Is that a big deal? Perhaps not, but there is obviously a lot better control than with pellets that take substantial time to get coated and growing.
doctorgori
New member
...it a trade off ...I think what the doctor is also implying is known methods vs .more guess work with the pellets...
I thought about dosing vinegar but I'm not diciplined enough to monitor & adjust...
I used pellets & A reactor and might have simply got lucky: my tank looks pretty good...I saw a lil cyno but nothing a change in flow didn't take care of
...I think this topic is a good one...we need a survey...more data ..et:
Which pellets/brands worked best, which reactors, et....
Those long threads on both the solid vodka dosing and vinegar/vodka dosing are full of data, just albeit unorganized
I thought about dosing vinegar but I'm not diciplined enough to monitor & adjust...
I used pellets & A reactor and might have simply got lucky: my tank looks pretty good...I saw a lil cyno but nothing a change in flow didn't take care of
...I think this topic is a good one...we need a survey...more data ..et:
Which pellets/brands worked best, which reactors, et....
Those long threads on both the solid vodka dosing and vinegar/vodka dosing are full of data, just albeit unorganized
doctorgori
New member
hmmm...make me wonder if you can dose Vodka while using Bio-pellets?
best of both worlds?
hmmm...make me wonder if you can dose Vodka while using Bio-pellets?
best of both worlds?
You can, but I don't know if that is as good as vinegar alone.
best of both worlds?
You can, but I don't know if that is as good as vinegar alone.
We need more people to weigh in on this. Can it be that there is a common thread with respect to cyano and how the system is set up? How about total pellet volume vs tank volume? How about how vigorous the tumble is? How about plumbing? How about skimmer use? Etc, Etc.
I have run mine for more than 6 months without noticing any significant reduction in pellet volume so it would seem to me that the amount of organics that are being released into the system can't be very much. The organics in the huge amount of food I dump into the tank is vastly greater than any minimal portion of pellets fractured off or metabolic end products released into the system.
I have run mine for more than 6 months without noticing any significant reduction in pellet volume so it would seem to me that the amount of organics that are being released into the system can't be very much. The organics in the huge amount of food I dump into the tank is vastly greater than any minimal portion of pellets fractured off or metabolic end products released into the system.
I do not know how many such folks will stop by this forum, but there are many threads on these topics in other forums, and perhaps you can glean something from them. 
Crazyfingerz
New member
Hmmm, I recently started running Bio pellets about a month and some and the results have been ok for me. i sometimes see a little cyano but usually last a day before it just disappears. I'm still monitoring the tank to see if i would run in to any problems but so far so good.
I just started a tank and have been using bio-pellets from day 1. Are we certain that people are experiancing cyano outbreak? My experiance was a huge bacteria outbreak at first, i was changing sock 2X a day and skimmer was mad. During this time my rock(started with mostly dead rock) went from white to tan. I assume the change was due to bacteria colonization. I used 1000mg of bio pellets with is almost 2X what i should have on an established system at 120G. The directions indicate start slow and ramp up to about 500mg per 100G. I suspect if i had followed the directions i would have had minimal issues. Now everything is perfect rock is getting back to white(bought handfuls of snails) and have low to no detectible NO3 or Phosphates.
I'm not sure what you are exactly asking, but it is certain that a reasonable number of folks report a cyano outbreak on initiating these plastic pellets, and some have stopped them for that reason. It is also true that some do not see any cyano.
Vodka also tends to cause cyano in some, but not all tanks. Vinegar does not seem to (or has a much lesser tendency to do so).
heckeng
New member
I have been using BP for around 5 months now and am using about 3/4 the recommended dosage and have seen positive results. My cyano that I DID have has disappeared. I know I feed more than I should but I am trying to keep my fish health as well as the corals. So far the BP seem to be allowing me to do that. I never had any cyano outbreak after starting them, but MAY have had a mild bacterial outbreak as my tank went through a slight cloudy phase for a couple days.
Malign Reefer
New member
To new for me...
I used 200 grams of Katalyst in a modded Nextreef reactor and had a terrible time with cyano , my nitrates were <5 and phosphates .02 or less I ran them for 6 weeks waiting for cyano to clear up and it never did as a last resort I did start dosing bacter7 to see if it would help and did nothing. I had cyano so bad there were thick sheets of it covering the sand but they would disapte at night only to immediately take back off once the lights were back on. I wrote Brightwell with the problem and they informed me my nitrate and phosphate levels were too low to support the pellets.
I took them offline and the cyano cleared up in about a week or so never to never reappear so that was my experience with it.
I'm sticking with the occasional carbon a small amount of gfo and weekly 20% water changes in my sps dominant 180.
It seems from what I got from them the pellets are perfect for tanks with a ton of fish and/or non-photosynthetic corals were the nitrate levels are really high from feeding and waste, another thing to note is the pellets need both nitrate and phosphate to colonize the bacteria on themselves.
I took them offline and the cyano cleared up in about a week or so never to never reappear so that was my experience with it.
I'm sticking with the occasional carbon a small amount of gfo and weekly 20% water changes in my sps dominant 180.
It seems from what I got from them the pellets are perfect for tanks with a ton of fish and/or non-photosynthetic corals were the nitrate levels are really high from feeding and waste, another thing to note is the pellets need both nitrate and phosphate to colonize the bacteria on themselves.
willybub
New member
here is the FAQ for the vertex bio pellets, has some nice info
http://www.vertexaquaristik.com/Portals/0/Pro-Bio Pellets FAQ.pdf
http://www.vertexaquaristik.com/Portals/0/Pro-Bio Pellets FAQ.pdf
stangchris
New member
Ive been using bio pellets for over a year now........ when i started them it was in a tank that was a year old and had high nitrates, i dosed WM pellets according to tank size and didnt gradually add them over time. out put is in zip tied to front of the intake .In 24-48 hours i got a nice bio bloom, tank water went milky white for 48 hours. at the same time skimmer was pulling nasty sour white skim(lasted until bloom cleared). after that i noticed hair algae dieing rapidly, then cyano came.. my theory is yes there are organics released but i think its from algae decomposing. when i slack on keeping an eye on when i need to top off the pellets i notice algae blooms. then i top off and cyano returns, cyano seems to cycle through and i control it with KZ coral snow.
another problem ive noticed is trace elements seem to striped faster and i would have to dose potassium, iodine and trace element product to keep my SPS( tank is mostly SPS) from getting pale. for the last month and a half ive been using KZ sea water complex(Meerwaser) and coral still looks good. i also run a high capacity gfo to help with phosphates with no problems.
im sure more water changes could help with elements but i work full time and go to school full time. so water changes are 10 gallons a month on a 85g system.
another problem ive noticed is trace elements seem to striped faster and i would have to dose potassium, iodine and trace element product to keep my SPS( tank is mostly SPS) from getting pale. for the last month and a half ive been using KZ sea water complex(Meerwaser) and coral still looks good. i also run a high capacity gfo to help with phosphates with no problems.
im sure more water changes could help with elements but i work full time and go to school full time. so water changes are 10 gallons a month on a 85g system.
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After reading nearly all threads on Biopellets I believe it is essential that 100% of the reactor effluent feed into your skimmer input. The skimmer must be very efficient. Otherwise you are simply adding excessive carbon to your system. So far I have had no Cyano. Hopefully it stays that way. That's the only common thread I see so far. Anybody else?
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