Cheato vs. Reactor

Smitty

Smitty

Premium member
Hello everyone...I need you guys opinion...I've been seriously thinking about getting rid of all my cheato and getting an in sump reactor to either run po4 media or bio pellets. What do you all suggest?
 
if ur just gunna run gfo or = i would run both and if ur gunna bp i would look into vsv dosing all the cool kids r doin it
 
gmguy496 said:
if ur just gunna run gfo or = i would run both and if ur gunna bp i would look into vsv dosing all the cool kids r doin it
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I'm not sure which one I'd run, I'm pretty much trying to keep it simple. And not have to dose and stuff. Thanks. :)
 
I have been battling nitrates and phosphates for years on my tanks. They have been running for 10+ years so nitrate and phosphates have been leaching out of the rocks from time to time. I vodka dosed and used macro algaes for 4+ years and I always struggled with my phosphates. My nitrates always checked okay. Those methods could never keep up with the amount of phosphate being produced(I feed really heavy). I am now running GFO and macro algaes (about a 90 gallon tank full). The phosphates are starting to come down and the nitrates are staying down too. My recommendation is in order to control phosphate over the long term I would use some form of macro algae as well as a phosphate reducing media. I am intrigued by the new product listed above as that could be as good solution. In my experience macros and carbon dosing do a great job of removing nitrates but remove phosphate at a slower rate.
 
goat585 said:
I have been battling nitrates and phosphates for years on my tanks. They have been running for 10+ years so nitrate and phosphates have been leaching out of the rocks from time to time. I vodka dosed and used macro algaes for 4+ years and I always struggled with my phosphates. My nitrates always checked okay. Those methods could never keep up with the amount of phosphate being produced(I feed really heavy). I am now running GFO and macro algaes (about a 90 gallon tank full). The phosphates are starting to come down and the nitrates are staying down too. My recommendation is in order to control phosphate over the long term I would use some form of macro algae as well as a phosphate reducing media. I am intrigued by the new product listed above as that could be as good solution. In my experience macros and carbon dosing do a great job of removing nitrates but remove phosphate at a slower rate.
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So your gfo isn't killing off your micro algaes? I thought when you're running gfo/po4 media, it'll eventually starve out all your algae?
 
Lotta good comments in here already, in the big picture, what are you trying to reduce or keep low. If you run pellets, your cheato will end up dying. Nitrates will stay low but they don't do much for phosphates. So if you're battling high phos, you'll have to run gfo as well.
 
In order to effectively carbon dose you have to have both no3 and p04. Traditional Carbon dosing will remove nitrates at a much higher. Once those nitrates are gone it will no longer attack po4. I've gotten to the point where I only use a product to remove phosphate (lc) as my fuge does well enough to consume my nitrates.

Pellets work well almost too well. If you decide to run pellets b prepared for a long process. I always tell folks to start with a querter of the recommended dose and work your way up slowly. If you have too much you'll strip the collom and be left with dead corals. It happens fast. Again be patient and f manufactors recommendations

I ran pellets successfully for over a year. Never liked the idea of not knowing exactly how much I need.
 
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Smitty said:
So your gfo isn't killing off your micro algaes? I thought when you're running gfo/po4 media, it'll eventually starve out all your algae?
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It has not been an issue so far. I also feed my tanks 4 times a day so my circumstances are a little different then others.I have much more phosphate to consume then most others.
 
My nitrates are always low, pretty much undetectable...but my phosphates are the issue. I haven't checked them yet, but I can look at my tank and corals and tell that they're creeping up. I'm starting to see more algae growth in my dt, although my cheato is growing well in the fuge. All I'm thinking of buying a reactor and running gfo, and if possible (according to y'all testimony), leave my cheato in there as well. I thought if bio pellets, but they sound like to much of a p.i.t.a. I'm sure it's from me feeding heavy. But even before I fed heavy, I thought of running a reactor. Now, I have a brs dual reactor, but I felt it was too bulky/big for under my cabinet, which is why I took it offline, but to save money, I'll probably reconnect it.
 
Biopellets really arent that hard at all, but they're more for nitrates. Little more work when you first start, but for me right now, they run 24/7 and i just refill when they get low. Never have to worry about anything with them. I'd keep the cheato in there, its not going to hurt anything. Grab some gfo, reconnect the reactor and you're good to go. I'd definitely grab a phosphate meter as well, Hanna makes a very good one, digital, easy to read
 
MikeyB said:
Biopellets really arent that hard at all, but they're more for nitrates. Little more work when you first start, but for me right now, they run 24/7 and i just refill when they get low. Never have to worry about anything with them. I'd keep the cheato in there, its not going to hurt anything. Grab some gfo, reconnect the reactor and you're good to go. I'd definitely grab a phosphate meter as well, Hanna makes a very good one, digital, easy to read
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Ok cool...thanks for the info and advice.
 
Markemark said:
I just did the same got rid of all my cheato been running reef interest po4x4 and just started couple weeks ago with there brand bio pellets reef interest did just come out with a combo go bio pellets so you only need 1 reactor

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/reef-interests-all-in-one-biopellets
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Is there another link to when this was broken down on how it will work? This seems a little overkill adding GFO to the mix. Just wondering how the GFO that's mixed in would dissolve overtime wouldn't that cause issues in the long run??
 
I've been running pellets for over a year and they keep my nitrates pegged to zero. I'm sure they have helped to keep my phosphates lower, but not low enough. Therefore, I've been running BRS High Capacity GFO for a while now and my phosphates are near zero. I only have to change the GFO once every two or three months. Since I put the GFO online, my chaeto has pretty much stopped growing and now I'm considering removing it. I think it is actually receding and therefore, putting phosphates back into the water.
 
Sawdonkey said:
Since I put the GFO online, my chaeto has pretty much stopped growing and now I'm considering removing it. I think it is actually receding and therefore, putting phosphates back into the water.
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And that's exactly what I thought would happen eventually. That's why I was thinking of removing the cheato once I put the reactor online.
 
I think its a balance between gfo and bio pellets. If i use to much gfo and my phosphates get too low, my bio pellets reduce in effectiveness for nitrate reduction.
Start slow with bio pellets and it will take time got them to become colonized and work effectively. Don't remove your cheato right away.
 
Irsug1 said:
I think its a balance between gfo and bio pellets. If i use to much gfo and my phosphates get too low, my bio pellets reduce in effectiveness for nitrate reduction.
Start slow with bio pellets and it will take time got them to become colonized and work effectively. Don't remove your cheato right away.
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Thanks for that advice....I think I'll leave the cheato in there and monitor it. I'm probably gonna skip the bio pellets and just go with gfo. One for nitrates and one for phosphates.
 
I struggled with this question for a while about 6 months ago or so. I had a crazy algae bloom and everyone told me it was dino. I did my research and talked to a few people and decided to run a reactor to lower the phosphates. I picked up the Minimax reactor from Innovative Marine. I have a nanocube so it fit right in one of the columns.

I went with biopellets in it. I can tell you in my experience, I absolutely love the pellets. I run the NPX Bioplastics from two little fishes. I read all the instructions and it really is not that hard. You use a much smaller dose at first, then after time you can just add more. When they need a refill, just pull the reactor out and fill it back up. I run it 24/7.

I can tell you after a week of running it, my coral was happy as hell and my tank looked much better than it ever did before. I have a 29 gal tank so that probably makes a huge difference in my experience. My phosphates and nitrates for my first year in the hobby never fell to zero. I always had a trace of them. Ever since running the pellets, both are at 0 consistently and the only change was the reactor with pellets.

I was going to run cheato also but Mario at aquatica spent some time explaining to me that it would be pointless. He said i should run one or the other. After researching more, I decided on the pellets and couldn't be happier.

I did use different pellets at first, can't remember which ones, but they only reduced nitrates. The NPX ones work very well and I never experienced the bad bloom from pellets. Just follow the directions and you are good. If a noob like me could do it properly, I think anybody else could too.
 
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