Biopellets: What you need to know 

lol!

Dr. Loaf's Salty Box how??? I don't know why everyone loves this dude...u don't need constant bacteria dosing to successfully reactor

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

I'm going to be trying that one next month. :)

*alk of 12.6*

The reason I included the fact that lower alkalinity is recommended was because overall most people seem to agree on that point That being said, my own reef had a huge alkalinity spike, and even with biopellets I didn't see corals with burnt tips... sometimes my tank tends to be the exception. Thanks for adding your input about 12.6 dKH. Feed moar! :D

Good luck with your aquarium. Thanks for watching all the way from Poland! :)

Actually I am watching from California, here is my home now :)

That's the spirit! And thanks.

Awesome, see you there. :)

11 fish in a 65g tank, and you're changing 60g a month. Nitrates should be coming down. You probably know this, but even though you are putting in food 4x or 5x a day, you can put in smallish portions. Think of snacks versus dinner. At night I put in quite a bit of food, but during the daytime it's less fare. Phosphates: Be sure to test your tank and find out the value. If the tank measures .5ppm, use 39 drops that night after lights out. The next day test again and it should read near zero. Phosphate Rx isn't designed as a daily regimen the way you described, adding another drop each day (10 today, 11 tomorrow, 12 the next, 13 after that...) If you can determine that perfect amount needed, I'd suggest you drip it in once a week. I *only* use it when my tank needs it, it's not a regular maintenance item in my daily/weekly routine. I dose about 5x a year, or every 10 weeks. When the test kit indicates I need to dose, that's when I dose. When it has removed PO4, I don't need to dose.

Sounds good.. I'm going to be doing my second 15g water change in two week.. I'm not at 60 yet, but will be in two more weeks.. And thank you for the advice on the Rx, I didn't think I was meant to be used be way I was utilizing it. I'm switching from ai sol's to hydra 52's not the hd's and I'm nervous lol, not to mention it's not to user friendly on the apex fusion app.

Question, I'm not sure if you know about green spotted mandarins, but here's my question.. I've had one know in my tank for two months.. I've seen him everyday since I've added him to the tank. It's going on two days know that I haven't seen him.. Is it normal for for the green spotted mandarin to hide for periods of time? Or should I been concern and assumed he died and start looking for him? And help would be appreciated, thanks again.. Glad you got your small flood taken care of.

While they can be shy, the only way to say for sure would be based on how it looked in recent weeks. If it looked thinner, it could have been starving. If it was fat, maybe it's just reclusive. Or it jumped. Or it was eaten. It's all guesswork at the moment. They do need lots of live rock (not dry rock that has begun to become live) to forage upon. Adding pods to your tank after lights out would be helpful. Here's my article: www.melevsreef.com/node/719

Thank you so much... I do have established live rock in the tank, and he did look skinner in the last few weeks. I don't think he jump, I have a canopy on my tank, but I guess anythings possible..

Thanks for sharing your experience as well. Sounds like things are going really well.

It was the overabundance of bacteria for sure. Getting it back to its normal volume allowed the coral to recover.

I had the same thought.

I advice against that in my case anyway, my reactor wasn't that big, and for some reason or the other when the level of water in my sump went down while I was away for 3 days, the pellets just got shoot out into the sump!! I blame my reactor for that: :D but hope it works with you, and if it did, I'll try a taller reactor, even my stand is very short! :/ ps: I like your channel, and the way you give information with ease and via experience with your own tank! :thmbsup: mate

So it siphoned them out? Crazy. I just checked on them last night, tumbling fine and probably 15" of water above them. My tubing goes into the bubble tower, so in theory it can't siphon down far enough because my tubing isn't underwater. I'll have to test that and see what happens, to check if you are right in my configuration. Thanks!

How has the reactor, without the top plate, worked thus far?

I just checked it last night, since it just runs on autopilot. I tested the nitrate level of the 400g + 60g since they both share the same sump and biopellet reactor. Nitrate measured 1 ppm with an Elos test kit, which I tested twice. When I looked in the reactor, it was essentially empty. Time to refill it with more media. :)

Thanks for sharing your personal experience, Greg.

what is your current Flow Through rate on BP reactor (measuring say ml/min on reactor effluent)?

I couldn't say but I'd guess it's probably close to 500gph.

It would be really nice if we had a hard fast rule of absolutes. Everyone has a different method that works for them. That's hard on those with experience, imagine being a newbie trying to sort out all these opinions we offer.

Sure, tell me what your routine is.

I would fill the tank up with saltwater (mixed up using RO/DI). There's never a good reason to use tap water. I know it takes longer, but this is a hobby about patience. :)

You don't need to keep nitrates that low on purpose. 1.5 is great, our corals do need a bit of PO4 and No3. I saw a thread were people were adding nitrate to their too-clean tanks, and couldn't believe it. Add food, let that stuff rise a bit. Use biopellets and/or Phosphate Rx to keep it from getting out of control.

Yup I've been adding Spectracide Stump Remover to try to keep my Nitrates to even 1.5 ppm. ~ 60mL/week in a 400 gallon system

Sounds like we read the same thread. lol I'd feed more and not worry about it.

They aren't cycled at all; this isn't the A-N-N thing. Just get them tied into the system, and add bacteria weekly to populate them and in about four weeks they will begin to kick in. I explained the process in the video. :)

Make sure they are tumbling, that the top plate isn't clogged, and dose bacteria weekly. What is the current nitrate level in your tank? Besides measureable lower nitrate, you should see a gradual depletion of pellets over time. If they are the exact same as when you set them up, they've done nothing.

The nitrates are sitting at 8 with the red sea kit. They are tumbling good no clogs plus its a recirculating reactor I was under the assumption that I didn't have to dose bacteria it would just take longer to populate now seeing that hasn't work I try dosing.

Stripping the system to 0 nitrate would be a problem. That's why we should use the proper amount of media, to avoid that excess. Read this please: melevsreef.com/articles/biopellets-use

As close to the skimmer is my suggestion. Or have it flow info a 10 micron sock to catch the waste at least.

@@melevsreef Thank you for the response!

I don’t believe so.

Yes, I feel it is very important to dose some type of bacteria regularly. Primarily, because the majority of people that told me it didn't work never dosed any (or they quit too soon expecting faster results). I've been using them with bacteria for years and not once did it not work - heck I have a video where it worked way too well. hehe Prodibio has a line of products that include additional elements to replenish what your reef has consumed. And it's dosed every 15 days, which seems pretty easy to remember.

Very low flow is still better than stagnant water. But if it is excessively slow, it may still end up outputting smelly effluent. You will have to decide what is best for your tank.

Probably easier to just change it out and avoid any potential problems. Thanks for your input

I don’t know if these would work in freshwater. Mine are in a saltwater reef setup.

What's the current NO3 level?

80 :(

Been there, done that. It'll come down again.

I think you need to buy some Microbacter 7.

How long have they been running?

I used Vertex biopellets for quite some time. Easily over a year. They worked, but the brown dusting was a nuisance. I'd kick it up intentionally and added more flow to help sweep that stuff into a filtersock. Haven't seen any of that in a long time though, and that probably is because I switched to Biospheres. I was actually told by a Coralvue rep that the mulm thing wouldn't happen and that proved to be true.

I do have flow may need to make sure exit of pellet reactor hasn't moved from skimmer input I tend to forget to check that :)

Good idea. :) Maybe ziptie it into place perhaps.

I don't know, but I think not.

You've been running the same batch for three years? That's surprising. And they are tumbling? Regarding Prodibio, turning off the skimmer for a couple of hours is a good idea so you don't export what you just added.

+Bosco C I haven't seen the need. The AIO pellets might grind the gfo right off and send fines into the display, perhaps. These work great for nitrate control.

It's not all shiny corals all the time. Real things happen that cause issues, and it's how you deal with them that determines the outcome. I try to never overreact, even when my brain is screaming OMG at me. :)

You could definitely give that a try.

Zeovit is entirely different. It uses a series of different additives and zeo rocks in a mulm reactor. Be sure to google that topic to get very familiar with it. I think their website is zeovit.com

Alkalinity may not be a factor after all. My water's alkalinity shot up out of control and it took months to bring it back to where I have it now and my corals didn't get burned either. Maybe it was light intensity as the water clarity improved.

Thanks for responding back! I forgot to ask you. Is it true that the biopellet reactor should be placed in a low light area? They say it affects the bacteria when it is exposed to light. I keep mine underneath my tank and I have to keep my door opened since my calcium reactor takes too much space. It makes something grow inside the calcium reactor only on the light side and it exposes my biopellet reactor to light also. I have a small setup (24 gallon display tank and a 20 gallon sump). Should i be concerned of the light issue in the long run?

I've never heard anything about light before, but you can create shade to block light from casting upon the reactor. Here's something I use: melevsreef.com/node/2000

I heard that in one of Bulkreefsupply.com's videos...the 50 weeks of reefing series. True or not? It's debatable I guess. Thanks Ill check out your link!

+Chris I don't think the Phosban 550 reactor is suited for biopellets. It's originally intended for GFO media, not solid media like biopellets.

Reef Dynamics is the same company Euroreef was previously, same owner. Very good skimmer. Man, that sucks about the chiller, and another thing to warn people to avoid thanks to your message. It's so important no stagnant water enters the system, and there are several places where this can happen.

Do you know what the proper way of cleaning the chillers are? Maybe running some water and vinegar through it?

That's a good idea. And maybe see if there are any tweaks for that particular skimmer to make it more efficient. Be sure to clean the cup and neck of the skimmer frequently as well, so it isn't hindered with build up within. Anything you can do to get the most out of your skimmer is a good goal.

I don't know if they are the same, but if they are then yes. You would dose the tank with the proper amount that matches your water volume.

A very small one could work. I saw that Two Little Fishies just released a tiny version of their Phosban Reactor, and named it Little Reactor.

I would use one or the other, not both. What is your current nitrate level?

I run Bioptim and Biodigest like normal. Since they work hand in hand, I never even considered stopping one or the other.

Yes, anaerobic bacteria too, but this is a different kind of bacteria. The anaerobic bacteria split the nitrate to recover the oxygen, that is why they release nitrogen gas. These bacteria instead consume the nitrate to grow like plants do. Basically they also use the same ratio of nutrients that plants do: 1 part of phosphate, 16 parts of nitrate and 108 parts of carbon. The phosphate and nitrogen they get from the water, and the carbon from the polymers that the pellets are made of. It's the same principle as dosing vinegar, vodka or sugar, they are simply different sources of carbon,with the convenience of not having to dose every day.

Let me bring you up to speed. I set up the 400g in 2011 with a DSB. I also set up the refugium then with a DSB as well. I added over 80lbs of livesand during that setup. 13 months later, zero nitrates registering, the tank sprung a leak. All the livestock was moved to a 215g tank, and the DSB from the reef was pulled and left in a rubbermaid outside. The sump & refugium continued to run, providing life support for the 215g temporary tank, which ended up being temporary for 18 months until I got the 400g replaced. When I set up the 400g anew, I washed all the sand and cycled the tank, then about a month later the livestock was transferred back into it. The refugium and sump were connected to the 400g and shortly thereafter the 215g was removed. The 400g 2.0 is coming up on its third year anniversary this November. I still don't know why the nitrate spiked between Dec & January, but I decided the refugium definitely needed to be cleaned out after four years of continuous use. The 400g's DSB was only about 26 months old. Finally, I feed heavily, and that of course can lead to rising nitrate, but with my system it just doesn't happen. The point of this video was to allow me to state categorically how biopellets could drop nitrate, especially in light of the fact I've not done a water change since February. I have every intention to get back to doing those, I just need to get this plumbing changed out. It will have to wait until after MACNA.

Thanks for the detailed response. Have fun at MACNA!

That brand always used blue tubing. And if the pellets look normal (you see that near the end of the video), you would immediately tell if they were like the dead ones I shared earlier in the video. The mass will be clumpy, gooey, and even through the blue wall would look wrong. A clear reactor would show it better, obviously. If the flow stopped in the reactor for at least a day, I'd collect a sample of the output water in a cup and give it the sniff test. If it smells sour, it's ruined.

Nitrate

If the output of the tubing is pointed toward the suction of the skimmer, that should work. I modded a PVC fitting for the Euroreef skimmer to assure it stayed in place. melevsreef.com/pics/11/05/biopellet_skimmer_mod-4.jpg More pictures here: melevsreef.com/articles/biopellets-use But with the Nyos, the output is in front of the skimmer's twin pumps.

Yes, I run them in separate reactors myself. I run biopellets all the time, and GAC for a few days each month.

melevsreef. thank you.

All my recommendations are in this video. Alkalinity is too high though, I'd bring that to 9dKH, dose bacteria regularly, and lower calcium to 425ppm.

Thanks!

I've heard about them, I've seen a couple, but I've never used one and thus don't have any input one way or another. Single-pass reactors have worked well for me.

Hmmm. I'm not positive about that one. I've seen some Tunze skimmers in the past, but nothing really impressed me about them - I just felt like they didn't match the rating. Keep in mind I'm comparing their design to bigger bulkier skimmers. Sorry I can't be more helpful about this one.

I don't think the foam pad does you any favors.

Yes, that is correct. I haven't used GFO in a decade.

Did you happen to see the links in the video's description area? I put a few in there to give you some additional reading info.

Not necessarily. The equipment I use makes the hobby easier for me, but you can keep it very simple and focus on water changes and have a very nice aquarium too. The more stable your water parameters, the better your success rate.

Thank you!

+melevsreef That's ok. Check out my vids is you have time and give me some feedback please

I'll do that later today. :)

I agree.. RU-vid needs to give him an Award....

Why should they give him a award I don't understand that

I don’t have any idea

Yes, you need to add more on a regular basis as discussed in the video.