Understanding Bio-Pellets

[Arkayology]

Great article. Very clearly lays out the method of biopellets and the pro/cons/things to consider before using and while using them.

 

[dreefman]

Great article but I have a question when do you know when it's time to change the pellets ? Thanks

 

[AJS]

You don't need to replace them, bacteria colonize them, and eat them slowly. So after about a 6 month period you add more to reactor to replace what has been eaten.

 

[jbsmurf]

Following

Samsung Galaxy S III

 

[TDTA1181]

I would just like to know brand that everyone uses. I want to put one in my sump and would like to use the pellets that have the polymer that do a better job reducing phosphates, like the write-up described. Also how many gal/hr pump would tumble the material the best but also wouldn't heat up the water to much.

 

[Small triggers]

Great article! One question I have for all currently running, is how did you start them? ...I've heard of soaking the pellets in tank water the day before with some bacteria from a bottle...or just wetting them down before putting them in the reactor...any tips on what worked best and didn't cause the hideous first cyano bloom?

 

[Volpone]

Great article, and have question,
Im running bp niw for 6 weeks and doesn't notice till now any drop for nitrate , im dosing also weekly mb7 to ride off the cyano bacteria and its working amazing with bp ,
How long its need to start kicking nitrate ftom 20 ppm ?
And is it good to keep water change 20% weekly ?

 

[Jimbo]

Good article. I recently ordered a Reactor and some pellets and have a question. It's recommended to keep your alkalinity between 7 and 8 dkh when running biopellets.

My Alk runs about 9 dkh and I have adjusted my dosing to lower it in anticipation of starting the pellets next week. You state that the use of biopellets in themselves will lower your Alk.

How much will it lower it? Is it best to leave my alkalinity where it's at and see how it goes after getting the Reactor going?

 

[memontgo]

Following. Great writeup!

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

[GuyWalker1219]

Hi,

first of all many thanks! I have a question regarding the sentence above. What do you mean by too clean? Nitrate and Phosphate not measurable? I have a Reactor running for about a month and I do have some problems with Chalices. They lost color and one Chalice even got a small hole. Now I'm kind of scared after reading your article.

Best regards,
Kobe :typing:

Even though high nutrients our harmful to corals they still need a certain level of nutrients to survive some more than other eg. Zoas and Chalices. Even those running ultra low nutrient systems (Nitrates and Phosphates reading 0) still have some nutrients being consumed by corals before it gets stripped from the water column. If the nutrients are getting stripped from the water column faster than the corals can get what they need this is what we refer to as "to clean". If this is truly your issue then target feeding the chalice should quickly restore its health then reducing you maintenance and bumping up your feedings will help also reducing the amount of pellets used if the problem continues. Also keep in mind you've only been running them a month and a sudden decrease in nutrients can cause stress as well thats why its always best to start with half of the recommended amount of pellets and add more after your corals adjust.

 

[GuyWalker1219]

Great article but I have a question when do you know when it's time to change the pellets ? Thanks

You never change them they will be slowly consumed by bacteria and as you notice them getting low you top them off I add about every six months.

 

[GuyWalker1219]

You don't need to replace them, bacteria colonize them, and eat them slowly. So after about a 6 month period you add more to reactor to replace what has been eaten.

I just noticed this after posting my answer and we said basically the exact same thing LOL .

 

[GuyWalker1219]

Great article! One question I have for all currently running, is how did you start them? ...I've heard of soaking the pellets in tank water the day before with some bacteria from a bottle...or just wetting them down before putting them in the reactor...any tips on what worked best and didn't cause the hideous first cyano bloom?

I soak mine in RO water 24 hours then in the reactor they go both for startup and topoff it helps to keep them from sticking.

Great article, and have question,
Im running bp niw for 6 weeks and doesn't notice till now any drop for nitrate , im dosing also weekly mb7 to ride off the cyano bacteria and its working amazing with bp ,
How long its need to start kicking nitrate ftom 20 ppm ?
And is it good to keep water change 20% weekly ?

Every tank is different I have noticed that there are things that can slow down the process like running a refugium while introducing pellets and it has also been debated that a UV sterilizers with stop or slow bacterial colonization as well this is why most manufacterers state to halt use of uv while pellets are breaking in. In my opinion it is not good to do 20% weekly water changes when running Bio-Pellets

Good article. I recently ordered a Reactor and some pellets and have a question. It's recommended to keep your alkalinity between 7 and 8 dkh when running biopellets.

My Alk runs about 9 dkh and I have adjusted my dosing to lower it in anticipation of starting the pellets next week. You state that the use of biopellets in themselves will lower your Alk.

How much will it lower it? Is it best to leave my alkalinity where it's at and see how it goes after getting the Reactor going?

Bio Pellets can lower alk but it is not a definate that it will for me it always has at least a little I personally would not be concerned about an alk of 9.

 

[Volpone]

Thx guy walker 1219
What the point of refugium to slow the effective of bio pellets ?
I have refugium with cheato algea .

 

[GuyWalker1219]

Thx guy walker 1219
What the point of refugium to slow the effective of bio pellets ?
I have refugium with cheato algea .

It has been reported by many reefers myself included that colonization of the biopellets take longer when starting them on a tank with a fuge. This is only observation and may not happen on all tanks my thoughts are the fuge is taking up nutrients needed by the bacteria to colonize the pellets. It is my opinion that running a refugia and bio-pellets together is counter productive but I have seen people who claim to run both successfully.

 

[Volpone]

It has been reported by many reefers myself included that colonization of the biopellets take longer when starting them on a tank with a fuge. This is only observation and may not happen on all tanks my thoughts are the fuge is taking up nutrients needed by the bacteria to colonize the pellets. It is my opinion that running a refugia and bio-pellets together is counter productive but I have seen people who claim to run both successfully.

+1
Thx for explain

 

[jt17]

I would just like to know brand that everyone uses. I want to put one in my sump and would like to use the pellets that have the polymer that do a better job reducing phosphates, like the write-up described. Also how many gal/hr pump would tumble the material the best but also wouldn't heat up the water to much.

+1. I've been running BP for a year now and have good nitrate removal with the brand I'm using but I still have phosphates in the point teens.

 

[Trigger9]

Great topic

 

[Greenstreet.1]

It has been reported by many reefers myself included that colonization of the biopellets take longer when starting them on a tank with a fuge. This is only observation and may not happen on all tanks my thoughts are the fuge is taking up nutrients needed by the bacteria to colonize the pellets. It is my opinion that running a refugia and bio-pellets together is counter productive but I have seen people who claim to run both successfully.

I have been running npx in a smr1 reactor feed by a manifold since I started my setup I also run a refug the line for the npx feeds into the refug then both goes to the skimmer never had a problem nitrates are at zero and phos at 0.08. Tank is a 75g DT 30g sump/refug skimmer RO1000sss also run carbon in a tlf150 reactor.

 

[blakedeffenbaugh]

Great read thank you. I just recently started using these and this clears a lot up.