Biopellets: Let's here your thoughts

[melev]

I'm thinking about drilling a hole in the body of my skimmer, installing a uniseal and feed the NP reactor right into the body to skim out any dying bacteria. What I don't know is how that will affect the skimmer itself. I have a Euro-reef CS 3-12 with two Eheim pumps. Adding the NP reactor will put about 500gph or so into the body, but I can open the gate valve on the skimmer to lower the water level accordingly. I wonder if the back pressure will be a factor? And when the power goes out, I don't know how the water might siphon back and forth between the two.

 

[swissgaurd]

i ran the eho pellets for about 6 months my tank is 10 yrs old.
i used prodibio for 2yrs with excellent results.
i went for 1 yr without prodibio and went with pellets.
the pellets are great and do work like there suppose to,color and growth are amazing with pellets.
i had to take the pellets off line do to a cyno breakout that i could not control.
i used special blend to clean up the problem. its been 7 weeks.
i also know that biogest from prodibio will do the same.

when i get a new tank hopefully soon i will run echoback pellets with prodibio and special blend.what a combination this will be.


jon your products are #1
and highly recomended

vic

since taking pellets offline i still have zero phosphates and zero nitrates

 

[Akwarius]

How did the pellets contribute to the cyano bloom and what did you do to clear it up?

 

[swissgaurd]

not sure why they contibuted to the cyno.
only thing i can think of was the sand was 10 yrs old and possibly needed a different strain of good bacteria.
the tank had zero nitrates and phosphates before adding the pellets,possibly there was a need for nitrates.

special blend and the help of a white goby fixed my problem

before trying them again i will dose prodibio and special blend for a few months then add the pellets

vic

 

[PR_Reefers]

I've seen this happen to some! for some reason while using the pellets they'll get uncontrollable algae blooms... not necessarily cyano mainly hair algae or similar! even while having low nutrients....I could assume the little nutrients presents are being used by the algae to grow but not sure if having the pellets has to do anything with it! anyone experienced this?

I personally have used them for about 9mo. and haven't had any major probs and am very happy with them! recently I was skimmer-less for a couple of days due to a broken impeller and have noticed some new algae growth i didn't have before... I guess it's due to higher nutrient levels build up over those days but anyways it's still seems to be growing.

would adding refuge be a solution either of this? anyways would you recommend running a refuge with the pellets? I removed my refuge when I added the pellets & upgraded the skimmer due to lack of space....:squigglemouth:

 

[Akwarius]

I've seen this happen to some! for some reason while using the pellets they'll get uncontrollable algae blooms... not necessarily cyano mainly hair algae or similar! even while having low nutrients....I could assume the little nutrients presents are being used by the algae to grow but not sure if having the pellets has to do anything with it! anyone experienced this?

I personally have used them for about 9mo. and haven't had any major probs... but recently I was skimmer-less for a couple of days due to a broken impeller and have noticed some new algae growth i didn't have before... I guess it's due to higher nutrient levels build up over those days but anyways it's still seems to be growing.

would adding refuge be a solution either of this? anyways would you recommend running a refuge with the pellets? I removed my refuge when I added the pellets & upgraded the skimmer due to lack of space....:squigglemouth:

I know that some people have trouble running a fuge with them because nutrients are too low to support macros, but I have never had this problem. I wonder if an excess of bacterioplankton being shed from the pellets is contributing to the sudden cyano blooms.

 

[sohal tang]

bio bead stuff...not sure title!

I have been using 1000ml of NP pellets in a Super Octopus round bottom reactor with MAG 5 dialed back significantly for one week....The beads are at a slow but steady tumble. This is on a 300 gallon 8ft system....with high phosphate off the chart at time started. Phosphate has dropped significantly but that is
because i used a chemical and cheated on reducing it short term till the beads kick in. The GFO I am leaving run until I am convinced the beads
are handling the workload themselves of reducing Phosphate and they may NEVER fully handle it...so I may NEVER take the GFO offline although right
now I am wondering why my GFO has not worked wonders..it has not. I think the reason so many people are getting inconsistent and non-conclusive results is because of the major variables in all the systems. Size of Tank, Phos level upon start, tumble speed too fast or too slow, length of time online, would that new algae bloom been there without the beads-I say yes in many cases, how many beads vs size of their tank
being used, water changes how often, ro water good or bad tds, etcetc the list goes on....

So..the point is..the theory of them is sound...they absolutely mussssst work iffffffff used properly as per recommendation.....
The recommended levels by the mfg are likely an *estimate* of useage to give us a starting point...they are not the begin and end all....
Your corals and system is the begin and end all and it's appearance and reaction and what you thinkkkkkkkkk it is reacting to might be something
totally different... The beads raise bacteria that eats nitrate and phos..no brainer...but..many are using them wrong I believe..

Time willlllllllllll definitely tell... I know someone who is having great success with them that is not part of this board....if he can do it...it can be done...his tank is immaculate 150 gallon reef complete mixed gorrrrgeoussssssssss.

Opinions will vary and I hope I feel this way in a few weeks and months....time will tell..

Tim

 

[Akwarius]

I wouldnt take the GFO offline. I've heard that the bacteria produced by the pellets consume a higher ratio of nitrate than phosphate, and when nitrates are dropped to ulns levels, their capacity for consuming po4 may be diminished.

 

[reefkeeps]

I'm thinking about drilling a hole in the body of my skimmer, installing a uniseal and feed the NP reactor right into the body to skim out any dying bacteria. What I don't know is how that will affect the skimmer itself. I have a Euro-reef CS 3-12 with two Eheim pumps. Adding the NP reactor will put about 500gph or so into the body, but I can open the gate valve on the skimmer to lower the water level accordingly. I wonder if the back pressure will be a factor? And when the power goes out, I don't know how the water might siphon back and forth between the two.

Marc, did u ever try the uniseal? Are still using BIOPellets, if so are you also using GFO?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[melev]

I didn't use a uniseal. Instead, I made a fitting using some PVC parts that affixes to the intake of the skimmer's Eheim pump. The vinyl tubing is inserted into the fitting so the NP reactor's effluent flows into the intake pump to skim away the dead/dying bacteria.

I"ve been running only biopellets since February, and continue to have 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate. I don't run GFO period.

 

[kuyatwo]

Problem with running gfo and biopellets is that you can run into couple situations I have seen first one is that you run too clean of a tank when biopellets are fully up and running . Second I have seen is that since gfo is taking phosphates out you are starving the biopellet bacteria so they never get fully going. I have seen both if these happen in two seperate systems


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[AsphaltPays]

Great thread.... Very informative

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[reefkeeps]

Problem with running gfo and biopellets is that you can run into couple situations I have seen first one is that you run too clean of a tank when biopellets are fully up and running . Second I have seen is that since gfo is taking phosphates out you are starving the biopellet bacteria so they never get fully going. I have seen both if these happen in two seperate systems




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Seems logical, I'm just regretting filling my GFO reactor two days ago...:wink: Thank you

 

[reefkeeps]

I didn't use a uniseal. Instead, I made a fitting using some PVC parts that affixes to the intake of the skimmer's Eheim pump. The vinyl tubing is inserted into the fitting so the NP reactor's effluent flows into the intake pump to skim away the dead/dying bacteria.

I"ve been running only biopellets since February, and continue to have 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate. I don't run GFO period.

Great idea, thank you sir

 

[Orly20]

Ecobak biopellets

This has been a great thread to read, tons of information.

Is there any hope of the peeps to post back followups of their experiences?

Hope so!

Thanks Everyone

 

[shred5]

How did the pellets contribute to the cyano bloom and what did you do to clear it up?

Why wouldn't it? Cyano is bacteria and with the pellets you are feeding the bacteria that's what bio pellets do.

 

[Orly20]

Why wouldn't it? Cyano is bacteria and with the pellets you are feeding the bacteria that's what bio pellets do.

Shred5,
You are right cyano is a bacteria, but I am curious. I understand that the pellets feed different strains of bacteria. But why would that particular bacteria bloom when using pellets if you did not have it in the tank before?

Just want to understand the exact reason I guess to prevent it when I run the WM pellets.

Cheers

 

[shred5]

Shred5,
You are right cyano is a bacteria, but I am curious. I understand that the pellets feed different strains of bacteria. But why would that particular bacteria bloom when using pellets if you did not have it in the tank before?

Just want to understand the exact reason I guess to prevent it when I run the WM pellets.

Cheers

Cyano almost always there even if you dont see it. It can come in on a frag or a coral. One of the most common strains of bacteria out there.

Carbon is carbon in most cases, some strains of bacteria prefer certain forms of carbon and can use it easier. Cyno is considered one of the first bacteria on earth and to be around that long you have to adapt..

Allot of people have had cyno blooms when using pellets.

Remember if your going to boost bacteria levels adding carbon does not discriminate it is going to increase good and bad forms of bacteria.

Prevent it by lowering phosphates a different way.

 

[melev]

Once I got in the habit of dosing bacteria regularly to my tank, the biopellets took care of my NO3 and PO4. When I didn't dose bacteria, I had brown stuff dusting the surface of the substrate. I tried to remember to dose MB7, but it was hit or miss. Once I started dosing Prodibio (every 15 days), it was much easier to make it a routine for me. Reef Addicts - Dosing Prodibio Products

My corals are all doing very well, but keep in mind that like dosing any other carbon source water clarity will improve. That means better lighting penetration or increased PAR that can burn your corals, so adjust your lighting schedule accordingly. Feed more often or more heavily than before you ran biopellets, because your system can handle it and your corals will need it.

 

[oowtfmang]

VSV > all