Adding biopellets for first time

jrpark22000 said:
Have you looked into carbon dosing vinegar, sugar or vodka as an alternative to BP?
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I have read up on it and am sometimes away from my tank for a day or so and am trying to limit the amount of daily maintenance that needs to occur. BP would offer carbon dosing without the daily addition of carbon such as vodka. This is at least as I understand the process with vodka.
 
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.
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Thanks for the info, I definitely intend to do regular water changes I am just hoping to reduce the amount that I have to keep changing solely due to nitrates. I bought this system off a fellow reefer who was using a canister filter and did not maintain the sand bed or live rock. When I got the tank the nitrates were at 80 and they have been coming down with continuous water changes, higher flow to clean the rocks (which were filthy when I got them), some basic sad bed maintenance, and the addition of a sump/refugium. The system was running for 2 year before I purchased it a little over a month ago.
 
reefanonymous12 said:
I have read up on it and am sometimes away from my tank for a day or so and am trying to limit the amount of daily maintenance that needs to occur. BP would offer carbon dosing without the daily addition of carbon such as vodka. This is at least as I understand the process with vodka.
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A BRS 1.1ml dosing pump and a timer can automate the process for you. Pain free other than to check the vodka supply.
 
I've been running BP's from back when they were hard to find. I would be very reluctant to run them on an SPS tank again because you can burn acros if your alk goes over 8dkh and crash and kill all of them if goes higher (10+ range). If you decide to run them with SPS in your tank then you should be vigilant in keeping your alk in the low 7dkh range. Now, that being said, some people run BP's and do not experience burnt tips at higher alk levels. The last time I researched this phenomenon it was still unclear with the scientists in the greater community what causes this to happen and why it doesn't happen to every SPS tank. I'm fairly sure that this is the most common reason why many incredible SPS tanks have crashed running pellets.

As far as other tanks go, they are an absolute Godsend on a FOWLR. I'm running BP's on my 75G BTA & softie tank and wouldn't have it any other way. I do need to run GFO every other month but not regularly.
 
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Hey guys I figure I would give an update on this post, I have been running bio pellets for about three weeks now and it seems to be going pretty well. My nitrates are already lowering with zero water changes and my skimmer has been going crazy since adding BP. All corals seem to be doing better except my mushrooms. The mushrooms are shriveled up and don't seem to be liking the lower nutrients at all. I did dose Zeovit bacteria to speed up the BP process. I'll update every once in awhile if anything changes
 
reefanonymous12 said:
Hey guys I figure I would give an update on this post, I have been running bio pellets for about three weeks now and it seems to be going pretty well. My nitrates are already lowering with zero water changes and my skimmer has been going crazy since adding BP. All corals seem to be doing better except my mushrooms. The mushrooms are shriveled up and don't seem to be liking the lower nutrients at all. I did dose Zeovit bacteria to speed up the BP process. I'll update every once in awhile if anything changes
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Make sure to keep feeding your tank. My shrooms always look terrible in my tank top. Just don't like the clean water.
 
Please consider doing a water change....
It will help replenish valuable trace elements and may very well save your shrooms... Otherwise give them to me and I'll save them.... ;)
 
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