Are Bio Pellets becoming a thing of the past?

[Hitman]

Seems like everyone that doses carbon has gone to Vinegar or Vodka. Is there a reason people seem to be walking away from the bio pellets?
My system is a uln and frankly I’m worried about winter vacations coming up and not manually dosing my carbon source while I’m away, so I’ve been looking into bio pellets and a reactor but almost every article I’m finding is several years old.

If you are using or have and left the bio pellet side of the hobby help a new guy out with the pros and cons of modern bio pellets.
I’m looking at the Vertex Pro pellets and a XL Lifegaurd Aqutics reactor.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've never been a fan of biopellets for several reasons, most apparent of which is that it is harder to control the "dose" and very difficult to control the timing of its consumption (and the follow on effects of lower pH).

 

[Hitman]

What are better options? I was manually dosing Vodka but after reading several of your articles and responses to other posts I’ve switched to manually dosing Vinegar. I have 2 open/in-used dosing heads just wasn’t sure if I could safely auto dose vinegar.

 

[DSC reef]

I've been using biopellets for 7 years now. It took a good 5 months to get it dialed in. I've thought about switching to dosing a carbon source manually but if it's not broke why mess with it. Pros and cons, just weigh them out. I use reef interests NP reducing biopellets. I've found that sticking with one brand has proved more consitent.

 

[Hitman]

Presently I’m dosing the following.
B ionic Ca 3ml every 4 hours
B ionic Alk 3ml every 4 hours ( separated by 2 hours from Ca )
Red Sea Reef Energy A&B 10ml daily @9am
Red Sea A,B,C,&D Color 2.5m of each daily between 7-8 pm with 15 minuets in between doses.

and manually 15ml Vinegar daily no set times dontonwork schedule. This is why I was looking into pellets to help keep things stable or so I hoped.

 

[bubbaque]

How do pellets reduce your ph?

 

[Hitman]

I've been using biopellets for 7 years now. It took a good 5 months to get it dialed in. I've thought about switching to dosing a carbon source manually but if it's not broke why mess with it. Pros and cons, just weigh them out. I use reef interests NP reducing biopellets. I've found that sticking with one brand has proved more consitent.

Would starting say at 25% recommend volume of pellets help with starting?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How do pellets reduce your ph?

All organic carbon ends up as carbon dioxide after being metabolized, reducing pH (unless it is dosed with something that offsets the effect, such as limewater).

 

[Hitman]

Good catch I missed that! @Randy Holmes-Farley what would cause them to lower the ph?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Good catch I missed that! @Randy Holmes-Farley what would cause them to lower the ph?

See above.

 

[Hitman]

So could you add lime water via a dosing pump or is that getting way to complicated with to many variables?

 

[DSC reef]

I started with 50% of the recommended dosage when I started. A little cyano followed but I kept it consistent. Now the biopellets get used up pretty quickly and every few months I just top off the reactor. Dr. Tim helped a lot with getting me started a while back.

 

[Hitman]

I started with 50% of the recommended dosage when I started. A little cyano followed but I kept it consistent. Now the biopellets get used up pretty quickly and every few months I just top off the reactor. Dr. Tim helped a lot with getting me started a while back.

What else are you dosing if I may ask? I just got into the SPS world so up till this year I’ve never been to concerned as my softies and lps liked my dirty tank lol. Now that I have several acros and montis I’m having to learn the new ways of our hobby again lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So could you add lime water via a dosing pump or is that getting way to complicated with to many variables?

You can, certainly, but organic carbon dosing is only a small part of the overall pH issue, and I'd wait to see if there's a problem before planning a fix.

 

[Oldreefer44]

tried them and like it seemed with every new thing, had to adjust something else to make up for it and then something else to make up for that. Went to Red Sea system because of its simplicity and so far after a year .....so good.

 

[DSC reef]

What else are you dosing if I may ask? I just got into the SPS world so up till this year I’ve never been to concerned as my softies and lps liked my dirty tank lol. Now that I have several acros and montis I’m having to learn the new ways of our hobby again lol

I dose aquavitro calcium and alk, acropower. That's it other than some carbon and food

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Went to Red Sea system because of its simplicity and so far after a year .....so good.

That means NOPOX?

 

[Hitman]

That means NOPOX?

Correct me if I’m wrong sir but isn’t NOPOX basically Vodka and Vinegar?

 

[redfishbluefish]

All organic carbon ends up as carbon dioxide after being metabolized, reducing pH (unless it is dosed with something that offsets the effect, such as limewater).

Hold on one moment.....this is certainly true if we talk about life, death and decomposition, but in our systems the bacteria is "eating" whatever carbon we are providing and then utilizing that carbon to grow, build cell walls, proteins, enzymes and everything biological. Ideally when this bacteria is in its prime of life, it gets ripped out of the water column by our skimmers, never having a chance to die and decompose, with one of the final byproducts being carbon dioxide. Now I will concede that there is "respiratory" carbon dioxide released during the bacteria growing, but have to believe that this is minimal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Correct me if I’m wrong sir but isn’t NOPOX basically Vodka and Vinegar?

Mostly, yes. When someone says they are using the Red Sea method it could mean all sorts of different things, but that is their organic carbon dosing scheme.