Who uses Biopellets?

[thebanker]

OK SPS keepers. I just got on the biopellet bandwagon, with my first dose of 250ml of Vertex Pro Bio pellets yesterday. I'm excited to see what happens; I'm using them to improve coral color and growth. I didn't have any issues with algae or N/P.

Tell me about your switch to biopellets from Berlin or Zeo systems!

 

[Frick]

I just started to use Brightwells Katalyst. First thing I noticed after a few days would be the diatoms on the sand. I am not sure if I am using enough though. The instructions say one gram per two gallons. What is the dosage on the Biopellets?

 

[thebanker]

I'll have to look at the packaging. It's the Vertex biopellets, it might be online somewhere. I added 250 ml for my 45G water volume in my system.

I did not know Brightwell made a solid vodka product. Very cool. Let us know how it goes, you're one of the first to report in w/ that product.

 

[joker295]

I had the sale problem with diatom on the sand and after consulting Jon from Warner he said to back the flow down..after doing that the diatom started to disappear. I guess if u have too much flow through the pellets the bacteria doesn't have time to colonize in the pellets... my phosphate dropped dramatically with the pellets and now my nitrates are dropping with the slower flow

 

[MammothReefer]

Huh, I have the same thing going on Joker, and am using WM pellets as well. I've got a steady tumble but I guess I'll try dropping the flow down.

 

[regent2010]

i've been (500ml) running the Vertex pro biopellet for the 90 g (total) about 3 months now using a maxijet 1200. the flow is not fast but not slow. as long as they keep tumbling up. cyano long gone, hair algae on background all gone 4 weeks ago.

 

[MammothReefer]

hmm. mine are a steady tumble they aren't flying all over the place but the whole chamber turns over maybe once every 3-5 seconds I guess? I've seen an increase in algea in my tank, but a decrease in numbers (I will no for sure tonight when I retest.)

 

[mark54321]

I have 500ml bio pellets and 250ml WM eco-back pellets in my TLF 550 reactor,MJ 1200,pellets tumbling very slow.First week got slight bacteria bloom,after this no problems,my nitrate and phosphate are undetectable, 120gal.,heavy bioload and I feed a lot.For me pellets seems to be working well.

 

[mr. pluto]

I have 500ml bio pellets and 250ml WM eco-back pellets in my TLF 550 reactor,MJ 1200,pellets tumbling very slow.First week got slight bacteria bloom,after this no problems,my nitrate and phosphate are undetectable, 120gal.,heavy bioload and I feed a lot.For me pellets seems to be working well.

how full is 750ml of pellets in your TLF550, i don't know how big a reactor
i would need, & i would need at least 1500 ml.
thanks

 

[mark54321]

how full is 750ml of pellets in your TLF550, i don't know how big a reactor
i would need, & i would need at least 1500 ml.
thanks

It is about half full,I will put another 250ml.in it but I don't know if it would hold 1500ml. You can run two of them or check out BRS reactors, They have a big one called Jumbo,it can hold 1500ml I think.

 

[mr. pluto]

RATS! thanks, the price is right on the tlf550.

 

[joker295]

hmm. mine are a steady tumble they aren't flying all over the place but the whole chamber turns over maybe once every 3-5 seconds I guess? I've seen an increase in algea in my tank, but a decrease in numbers (I will no for sure tonight when I retest.)

i had a steady tumble too and now pretty much backed it off to a very gentle tumble and it seems to be working..

 

[Rpierce]

Are you guys just using the biopellets to lower your nutrient levels or are you dosing MB7 and then using the biopellets as a carbon filtration in place of the vodka?

 

[MammothReefer]

Right now, I'm just using them on there own. I still have NSW available to me for another month, so I'm thinking the bacteria I have is more then enough. This winter I loose my ability to get NSW, so I may end up dosing zeobac, or mb7 down the road. But yes, it's in place of vodka. I dosed vodka, zeobak, aa, and phols on my old system. It worked very well. This Ecobak pellets appear to working to. My phosphate is now 0 according to my hanna checker from .58, and my nitrates is between 1ppm-2.5ppm according to the salifert test I just did down from 5ppm, and I heavy fed just a few nites ago.

 

[josee1013]

we are running 1100ml of NPX biobeads in a NextReef MR1 reactor modified for about 3 1/2 months now.
We see that coral colors are better and more bright.
tests says 0 nitrates and 0 phophates (but we have littel hair algea).

 

[thebanker]

Are you guys just using the biopellets to lower your nutrient levels or are you dosing MB7 and then using the biopellets as a carbon filtration in place of the vodka?

Um? Both? That sounds redundant.

We're using the pellets to lower nutrients via immobilization. Simply put, bacteria need organic N, P, and C to construct their cells. N and P are plentiful from the end waste products of aquarium livestock. That waste is in the form of organic nitrate and phosphate molecules. The bacteria readily consume these, which cleans the water of these detrimental organics. C is limited, and the pellets provide an unhindered source of C on demand for bacterial growth. Eventually, the bacteria slough off the pellets, and are either eaten by corals or skimmed out of the system via protien skimmer. They perform the same duty as vodka.

 

[watchguy123]

I have been running warner pellets for about 6 weeks and beginning to see some color improvement.

 

[vono]

Do you need a reactor to run Bio Pellets? Or can they be placed in a media bag with high water flow?

 

[MammothReefer]

I ran them at first in a media bag in a high flow area didn't notice much in the way of results when I switched to the reactor I found it worked well enough. I saw bac growth in the reactor ect, and my numbers are low. Right now I've been offline for a week. Need to test but so far no visible issues w/the tank.

 

[phurst]

I set up my most recent tank (a 90) in Nov of 2010. Started using BRS pellets on day 1. I'm running 500ml in an old modified Lifeguard fluidized sandbed canister I had laying around. It works remarkably well, actually. I went through the typical cycle, and at the end, my nitrates were ~30. In all my past tanks, I had to dilute this via water changes until a DSB or fuge or some other export mechanism came online. This time about 2 weeks after the cycle finished, nitrates were 0 and PO4 was at 0.03 according to the Hanna checker. That's where they have stayed, despite aggressive stocking and somewhat heavy feeding for the 4 anthias and other fish. Coral growth has been good, color is great, and there isn't a speck of algae. I did have the diatom looking slime for a while that some people have complained of, but they went away with no intervention on my part after about a month. No cyano or other issues. I'm not dosing any additional bactera, or aminos or anything else. So far, so good, and I feel like they are an essential part of my setup. I'll use them now, and on any other tanks I set up in the future.