Adding biopellets for first time

R

reefanonymous12

Member
Hey CR,

I am thinking about adding biopellets to my system. I am looking to reduce the frequency of water changes due to high nitrates. I have a 45 gallon cube, eshopps r-100 sump with a Seaclone 100 skimmer and chaeto in the refugium. I just bought the Reef Octopus classic 110 space saver protein skimmer because the seaclone 100 is awful at its job and am looking forward to its arrival.

I am planning on getting the BRS bp reactor and plan to run 1/4 to 1/3 the recommended amount as I have read on other threads.

Let me know what you think, any success/failure stories with bp, or if you think I am missing something.
 
Personally, I do not know anyone who has had long term success with biopellets. Every person that has had them has had complete tank meltdowns, including myself.
 
I've been using biopellets for about 15 months and can't imagine running my tank without them. I say go for it. Just use about 1/4 of the recommended amount. They keep my nitrates at zero and I have some pretty large fish. They don't do much for phosphate though. I still have to run gfo to keep it low. I use a modifies tfl 150 reactor and it is set-it-and-forget-it.
 
BigKev23 said:
Personally, I do not know anyone who has had long term success with biopellets. Every person that has had them has had complete tank meltdowns, including myself.
Click to expand...

Exlain please Kev .. what do you think is the cause of tank crash ?? did you start with too high or did you remove them all of a sudden ? ....
 
i just started using biopellets and using a cpr nano tumbler .. i can't comment on how they are working cause its only been a couple of weeks i only started with 25 ml on a 60 gallon system, thinking about adding another 25 ml after a 6 week period and leave it alone.

key to biopellets is starting with low amounts and seeing how much of the recommended dosage you really need.
 
Last edited:
tinman said:
Exlain please Kev .. what do you think is the cause of tank crash ?? did you start with too high or did you remove them all of a sudden ? ....
Click to expand...

Neither Tin... started at half the recommended amount and worked my way up. Also, when things went bad, I still stepped my system down. I am not exactly sure of the cause, but it resulted in the loss of several SPS colonies. I have multiple well seasoned friends who followed similiar procedures and had total losses of their tank. One friend had a 240g SPS dominated reef that had been setup for many years and was 90% wiped out.

Also, my tank did great for a period of time with the biopellets. Was crystal clear and had excellent growth and coloration on my corals. Then after about 9-10 months, it went downhill.

It's been a few years since then, so maybe the biopellet technology has become better. I personally recommend vinegar or vodka dosing as a much safer alternative.
 
Last edited:
just trying to understand ..

so you started with half of recommended dose which is about 100ml per 50 gallons and went up to 200ml per 50gallons which is actual dosage ?

were you testing nitrates and phosphates during that time ? also i heard feeding heavy is a good idea when using bp cause tank goes into starving mode with 0 and 0 on phos and nitrates . .
do you think 0 nutrients might be the cause ?

BigKev23 said:
Neither Tin... started at half the recommended amount and worked my way up. Also, when things went bad, I still stepped my system down. I am not exactly sure of the cause, but it resulted in the loss of several SPS colonies. I have multiple well seasoned friends who followed similiar procedures and had total losses of their tank. One friend had a 240g SPS dominated reef that had been setup for many years and was 90% wiped out.

It's been a few years since then, so maybe the biopellet technology has become better. I personally recommend vinegar or vodka dosing as a much safer alternative.
Click to expand...
 
It should be noted that the recommended amounts of biopellets are insane! Brs recommends 236 ml per 50 gallons. I have about 275 gallons of water in my system and run less than 300ml of pellets, and my nitrates are pegged at zero-2ish. According to brs, I should run 1,298 ml. So basically, I run 1/5 of the recommended amount and still accomplish the goal. They should seriously consider rewriting the instructions.
 
I've been running BPs in my system since the beginning of the year to fight a massive HA breakout.
Other than a negative affect on my Blastos and a single Rhodactis shroom, I have nothing but a good experience to report. I have a 50-60 gallon total system and run approximately a single tablespoon of BPs in an IM MiniMax Desktop Reactor...Tank looks the best it's ever looked and I will continue to run them until they prove otherwise. To me, the "trick" with BPs is to use significantly less than they recommend. I started with 1/4 % dosage and have never increased it. I run a SWC 120 cone skimmer and have a very heavy bioload that consists mostly of softies and BTAs, a couple large SPS colonies, a few LPS and 7 fish...

It is set it and forget it...no dosing and no concern of overdosing. I just add a small amount to the reactor every few months as the pellets are consumed...

Fwiw however, I would not consider this a replacement for water changes. I would still maintain a proper regularly scheduled water change regiment...I buddy Joe has one of the best tanks in this community and his WC regiment is undeniably the reason his tank looks so good and healthy.
 
Last edited:
tinman said:
just trying to understand ..

so you started with half of recommended dose which is about 100ml per 50 gallons and went up to 200ml per 50gallons which is actual dosage ?

were you testing nitrates and phosphates during that time ? also i heard feeding heavy is a good idea when using bp cause tank goes into starving mode with 0 and 0 on phos and nitrates . .
do you think 0 nutrients might be the cause ?
Click to expand...

I think I started at 75ml and bumped up to 150ml. I fed very heavy and like I said, things were great for several months.

I am certainly not telling anyone that they shouldn't try biopellets. Just sharing the experiences from myself and other reefers that I know.
 
Curious if anyone can elaborate on "crashing"...what were the water parameters and how did the corals begin to fail? How fast? Thanks!
 
I started using Biopellets almost 2 months ago and finally seeing a drop in my nitrates.. I started with 1/4 the amount and last week added some more. Using the TLF 150 with the bottom plate removed, so basically have the tube going to the bottom and screens at the top. I think I had a Cyano bloom cause of it but its all gone now and the tank looks better then ever. Also make sure you run the output from the biopellets to the skimmer.
 
ultimatemj said:
Curious if anyone can elaborate on "crashing"...what were the water parameters and how did the corals begin to fail? How fast? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm not one of the people that had a crash, but generally, the water becomes too clean and corals starve. Again, I believe the main issue with pellets is that the manufacturers recommend using way too much.
 
ultimatemj said:
Curious if anyone can elaborate on "crashing"...what were the water parameters and how did the corals begin to fail? How fast? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I won't speak for others but the few people I know that had issues would term they're bad experiences as "stripped" as opposed to crashed....BPs are such an effect food source for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria that I think people underestimate how quickly they can consume...This is why I chose to start, and maintain, a very small dosage...it is recommended that you start small and wait upto 8 weeks before increasing the dosage amount, but found my initial dosage amount to be more than adequate and have never changed it in the 9 months I've been running them...
I will add that I had to remove all of my Macroalgae from my fuge as it started to thin out as my nitrates started to decrease...and the few corals I had issues with have subsequently started to recover and adjust...
 
cet98 said:
I've been running BPs in my system since the beginning of the year to fight a massive HA breakout.
Other than a negative affect on my Blastos and a single Rhodactis shroom, I have nothing but a good experience to report. I have a 50-60 gallon total system and run approximately a single tablespoon of BPs in an IM MiniMax Desktop Reactor...Tank looks the best it's ever looked and I will continue to run them until they prove otherwise. To me, the "trick" with BPs is to use significantly less than they recommend. I started with 1/4 % dosage and have never increased it. I run a SWC 120 cone skimmer and have a very heavy bioload that consists mostly of softies and BTAs, a couple large SPS colonies, a few LPS and 7 fish...

It is set it and forget it...no dosing and no concern of overdosing. I just add a small amount to the reactor every few months as the pellets are consumed...

Fwiw however, I would not consider this a replacement for water changes. I would still maintain a proper regularly scheduled water change regiment...I buddy Joe has one of the best tanks in this community and his WC regiment is undeniably the reason his tank looks so good and healthy.
Click to expand...

Craig is exactly right. I say take the "recommended dose" suggestion and toss it out the window.
 
Sawdonkey said:
I'm not one of the people that had a crash, but generally, the water becomes too clean and corals starve. Again, I believe the main issue with pellets is that the manufacturers recommend using way too much.
Click to expand...

cet98 said:
I won't speak for others but the few people I know that had issues would term they're bad experiences as "stripped" as opposed to crashed....BPs are such an effect food source for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria that I think people underestimate how quickly they can consume...This is why I chose to start, and maintain, a very small dosage...it is recommended that you start small and wait upto 8 weeks before increasing the dosage amount, but found my initial dosage amount to be more than adequate and have never changed it in the 9 months I've been running them...
I will add that I had to remove all of my Macroalgae from my fuge as it started to thin out as my nitrates started to decrease...and the few corals I had issues with have subsequently started to recover and adjust...
Click to expand...

+1 +1 ... i think so too.. i added about 1/8th of the dosage and will add a little more after 6-8 weeks ...

so what is you guy's take on bp being effective against phosphates or they dont consume as much as advertised ?
\
 
tinman said:
+1 +1 ... i think so too.. i added about 1/8th of the dosage and will add a little more after 6-8 weeks ...

so what is you guy's take on bp being effective against phosphates or they dont consume as much as advertised ?
\
Click to expand...

Biopellets may have reduced phosphates, but not enough for me. I still run gfo. I think of biopellets as a nitrate reducer only.

As Craig said, my chaeto began to die too. I has to remove it because it got brittle and was falling apart. Not sure if it was from the pellets or gfo, but I assume it had more to do with the gfo.
 
I have been running pellets for about 5 months now. only 1/4 of recommend amount. I was not shooting for 0 nitrates and phosphates so, po4 stays about .06 and nitrates stay just detectable. So far so good.
 
I'm not sure to what degree BP has an affect on phosphates but TLF claims that is does "aid" in their reduction but makes no claims as to how much or how little...I do not seem to have any issue with phosphate levels so, in my case, GFO is unnecessary...
but like Gunner, others with larger systems tend to benefit from the addition of running a GFO reactor...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top