Biopellet ?

Steve1986

Steve1986

Active member
So I've been reading up a lot on biopellet reactors to lower my nitrates. It's seems there's a lot of mixed reviews but it seems that the people it didn't work for , weren't following the right steps. My question is it worth the extra money to get a recirculating reactor or will regular biopellet reactor work as well , following the "guidelines" to setup a reactor? Biopellet experts please chime in, thanks
 
maidia

maidia

Team CR
CPR tumbler is way to go Steve. It's easy to add the pellet and cleanning. It comes with small pump but you have to change to MJ900 for better tumbling. I running one right now and nitrate always from 0 to 0.10.
 
Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
I'm no expert, but I'm running biopellets. This is more of an experiment for me, but it seems to be working. I've got some big dirty fish and had a hard time getting my nitrates below 10. I've been running these for about two months now, and my nitrates are undetectable.

I had some cyano issues at first, but I had these with other carbon sources I tried too (vodka and vinegar). I ran some chemiclean about a week after starting the pellets, and cyano is gone. I added about a quarter of the recommended dose for a few weeks, then doubled it to about half of the dose, which I'm still running today.

I just modified a TFL 150 reactor to handle pellets. They roll nicely, but I'm not sure I could add many more pellets and get a good tumble. It works for now though. This reactor goes directly into another TFL 150 with carbon. Then the hose goes directly into my skimmer intake. I know one thing for sure......my skimmer stinks twice as bad as it did before running the pellets!
 
Steve1986

Steve1986

Active member
maidia said:
CPR tumbler is way to go Steve. It's easy to add the pellet and cleanning. It comes with small pump but you have to change to MJ900 for better tumbling. I running one right now and nitrate always from 0 to 0.10.
Click to expand...
Thanks Mai , when i saw you were running biopellets to lower your biopellets on that beautiful tank, I knew then that is what I needed to do. Are you running all of the biopellets needed for the size of your tank or are you using less than the recommended amount? How long have you been running biopellets? I ask because I keep hearing from other reefers that without a recirculating reactor like the one you are using , once you have lowered your nitrates down ,you will strip the tank out of everything and end up killing your corals. Thanks for the input
 
Jason R

Jason R

New member
I currently have a Reef Octopus BRH100 external Bio Pellet Reactor and I've learned the hard way that it's design sucks.

View attachment 18357

It is a pain in the butt to put pellets in. You have to unscrew the top and pull out the whole internal structure to add pellets. The problem is when you go to stick the tube back in to reconnect the top it tends to jam Bio Pellets in to a part of the bottom where they will rot. The only way to get around this is to turn it on its side so the way is clean but that ends up making some pellets spill out. If you have water already in the tube it becomes a mess.

It also tends to clump a lot so I end up having to shake it fairly regularly to keep the flow. I have a Mag 7 pump attached so the problem isn't a weak pump. Its because the disintegrating pellets plug up the tube entrance. I am looking at replacing it with a BioChurn 90 since there is no tube to worry about and with the 90 model the Bio Pellets can't plug up the pump. Matt at Sho Tank talked to the manufacturer and there are some issues with the larger models that Coral Vue is in the process of fixing. I confirmed that with Coral Vue. Coral Vue said the problem doesn't affect the 90 units but I am waiting to see if that pans out.

You also need to remember that the recommended amount of Bio-Pellets for any tank is usually too much. Matt said the best thing to do is use 1/4th of what is recommended for your tank.
 
G

goat585

Administrator
I just got a Next Reef biopellet reactor and it tumbles the pellets nicely, was easy to hook up, has nice build quality and the lid is pretty easy to get on and off. I have only been running it for a couple of days so I am not sure how well the biopellets work.
 
Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
Jason R said:
I currently have a Reef Octopus BRH100 external Bio Pellet Reactor and I've learned the hard way that it's design sucks.

View attachment 18357

It is a pain in the butt to put pellets in. You have to unscrew the top and pull out the whole internal structure to add pellets. The problem is when you go to stick the tube back in to reconnect the top it tends to jam Bio Pellets in to a part of the bottom where they will rot. The only way to get around this is to turn it on its side so the way is clean but that ends up making some pellets spill out. If you have water already in the tube it becomes a mess.
Click to expand...
I have this exact problem with my modded TFL reactor. At least I just had it laying around. I'll upgrade to a better reactor if I think I'll be running pellets long-term.....and it's looking that way.
 
maidia

maidia

Team CR
Steve1986 said:
Thanks Mai , when i saw you were running biopellets to lower your biopellets on that beautiful tank, I knew then that is what I needed to do. Are you running all of the biopellets needed for the size of your tank or are you using less than the recommended amount? How long have you been running biopellets? I ask because I keep hearing from other reefers that without a recirculating reactor like the one you are using , once you have lowered your nitrates down ,you will strip the tank out of everything and end up killing your corals. Thanks for the input
Click to expand...
I run 1/2 of the recommended amount. When the N and P too low then I feed more with reef chili, reef fantacy, Oyster feast and Amino Acid to keep balancing the tank. The amount of pellet will be less and less but I don't add more until it almost gone (when I see little in the tumbler). The only important thing, you have to check and clean the pump more often.

I like this and run it about 3 months now.

http://www.aquacave.com/CPR-Aquatic-MINI-Tumbler-Media-Reactor-P3840.aspx?gclid=CMKNqeXRt7kCFe1AMgodlTwAMA

Mai
 
Steve1986

Steve1986

Active member
I was also looking at the reef octopus recirculating bio churn but I heard the same thing that they were having problems with the churning part getting jammed with the biopellets .
Jason R said:
I currently have a Reef Octopus BRH100 external Bio Pellet Reactor and I've learned the hard way that it's design sucks.

View attachment 18357

It is a pain in the butt to put pellets in. You have to unscrew the top and pull out the whole internal structure to add pellets. The problem is when you go to stick the tube back in to reconnect the top it tends to jam Bio Pellets in to a part of the bottom where they will rot. The only way to get around this is to turn it on its side so the way is clean but that ends up making some pellets spill out. If you have water already in the tube it becomes a mess.

It also tends to clump a lot so I end up having to shake it fairly regularly to keep the flow. I have a Mag 7 pump attached so the problem isn't a weak pump. Its because the disintegrating pellets plug up the tube entrance. I am looking at replacing it with a BioChurn 90 since there is no tube to worry about and with the 90 model the Bio Pellets can't plug up the pump. Matt at Sho Tank talked to the manufacturer and there are some issues with the larger models that Coral Vue is in the process of fixing. I confirmed that with Coral Vue. Coral Vue said the problem doesn't affect the 90 units but I am waiting to see if that pans out.

You also need to remember that the recommended amount of Bio-Pellets for any tank is usually too much. Matt said the best thing to do is use 1/4th of what is recommended for your tank.
Click to expand...
 
bryman

bryman

New member
Jason R said:
I currently have a Reef Octopus BRH100 external Bio Pellet Reactor and I've learned the hard way that it's design sucks.

View attachment 18357

It is a pain in the butt to put pellets in. You have to unscrew the top and pull out the whole internal structure to add pellets. The problem is when you go to stick the tube back in to reconnect the top it tends to jam Bio Pellets in to a part of the bottom where they will rot. The only way to get around this is to turn it on its side so the way is clean but that ends up making some pellets spill out. If you have water already in the tube it becomes a mess.

It also tends to clump a lot so I end up having to shake it fairly regularly to keep the flow. I have a Mag 7 pump attached so the problem isn't a weak pump. Its because the disintegrating pellets plug up the tube entrance. I am looking at replacing it with a BioChurn 90 since there is no tube to worry about and with the 90 model the Bio Pellets can't plug up the pump. Matt at Sho Tank talked to the manufacturer and there are some issues with the larger models that Coral Vue is in the process of fixing. I confirmed that with Coral Vue. Coral Vue said the problem doesn't affect the 90 units but I am waiting to see if that pans out.

You also need to remember that the recommended amount of Bio-Pellets for any tank is usually too much. Matt said the best thing to do is use 1/4th of what is recommended for your tank.
Click to expand...
+ 1 on this reactor for being a PITA to setup and maintain. I have one and wouldn't recommend it.

- Bryman
 
Lil BamBam

Lil BamBam

Premium member
BP is no joke!!! It does its job to well and needs to be measured with good tests.. My results were better with vingar!!! Was easy to control IMO

Talk to Bryman and Mai as they some how have the math down and have very beautiful tanks.. Pay real close attention to them and the key is to go "SLOW"

Worst case!! Start over and redo.. This gives you time to fix those errors as a noob ;)

GL buddy
 
Steve1986

Steve1986

Active member
Thanks for the advice bro , I will do just that.
Lil BamBam said:
BP is no joke!!! It does its job to well and needs to be measured with good tests.. My results were better with vingar!!! Was easy to control IMO

Talk to Bryman and Mai as they some how have the math down and have very beautiful tanks.. Pay real close attention to them and the key is to go "SLOW"

Worst case!! Start over and redo.. This gives you time to fix those errors as a noob ;)

GL buddy
Click to expand...
 
Jason R

Jason R

New member
Steve1986 said:
I was also looking at the reef octopus recirculating bio churn but I heard the same thing that they were having problems with the churning part getting jammed with the biopellets .
Click to expand...
CoralVue said that problem only affects the 150, 170, and 200 models.
 
Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
Since this thread has been dormant for a while, I'll ask my biopellet question here. I've been running pellets for a couple of months now and my tank has never looked better. I got some cyano at first but it's completely gone now. Nitrates are zero, which is something I could never accomplish without the pellets.

My concern is that my alk is at 9.0-9.5 and I've read that you'll get tissue necrosis on SPS above 8 when running pellets? Does anyone have any experience with this? Is this something I should address and how should I go about it? The only thing I put in my tank is Kalk in my top-off, Fuel every few days, and I feed my rather large fish pretty heavily. I've never tested Mag. Is this something I should start doing? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I hope this isn't considered a thread highjack since this has been dead for a while.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top