two little fishes NPX bioplastic pellets
- Thread starter pringles
- Start date
Pufferpunk
New member
I'd rather dose my vitamin C & do water changes, personally.
BlueToothTusk
Banned
They do exactly what they say, however some have noticed that they do their job too well. Many have experienced coral bleaching due to the use of any bio-pellett product since you can not control the dose.
One remedy is to point the outlet of your bio-pellet reactor directly to the input of your skimmer. This allows the skimmer to remove some of the bacteria produced in the reactor before it gets a chance to consume all the nutrients in the water column.
Bio-pellets will certainly do their job properly along with other proven forms of carbon dosing.
According to a previous post by PufferPunk even with the Vit C she has issues with Dino, Macroalgae, and Phosphates:
http://www.chicagoreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=405
One remedy is to point the outlet of your bio-pellet reactor directly to the input of your skimmer. This allows the skimmer to remove some of the bacteria produced in the reactor before it gets a chance to consume all the nutrients in the water column.
Bio-pellets will certainly do their job properly along with other proven forms of carbon dosing.
According to a previous post by PufferPunk even with the Vit C she has issues with Dino, Macroalgae, and Phosphates:
http://www.chicagoreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=405
BlueToothTusk
Banned
If you are interested in carbon dosing look into Vodka. It is a tried and true proven source and you can meter the dosage. You can also get a dosing pump so the entire process is automated. You would just have to dilute the vodka with RODI water so that .1ml of vodka = 1ml of solution. This is also not an option with Vit C.
Excellent article:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php
Scarlett778
New member
Hey pringles, have you tried purigen? We stick it in a bag and leave it in the sump and perform 10% water changes every week. We also have carbon and change it every other week. This is within our 150 gallon. Unfortunately I have not used those bio pellets but the nice thing with purigen is that it's reusable. Just an alternative 
Pufferpunk
New member
Purigen does nothing for what the OP is looking to do.
BlueToothTusk
Banned
<<<MOD EDIT: No need for snippy remarks>>> Purigen will reduce Nitrate by absorbing the organic matter which would otherwise decompose and enter into the nitrogen cycle. Nitrate is one of the OPs specified nutrients they would like reduced.
jcarlilesiu
Active member
Carbon as well as purigen is chemical filtration and will help in removing all types of elements from the water including; foreign elements like soaps/detergents, odor causing elements, medication, etc.
What bluetoothtusk described as it catching organic matter changes the principle function from chemical filtration to mechanical.
Being that carbon also acts as a mechanical filter since it catch debris and decomposing material which can then be physically removed from the tank, it is a nitrate reducer. However; it is not a nitrate reducer as its primary role as a chemical filtration method.
A better tool to use for catching and disposing of organic matter is a filter component designed for mechanical filtration.
To answer the Original Post, though you aren't going to like my suggestion, the best way to remove the build up of nitrates and phosphates from the tank is through manual removal via water changes and mechanical filtration component cleaning.
What bluetoothtusk described as it catching organic matter changes the principle function from chemical filtration to mechanical.
Being that carbon also acts as a mechanical filter since it catch debris and decomposing material which can then be physically removed from the tank, it is a nitrate reducer. However; it is not a nitrate reducer as its primary role as a chemical filtration method.
A better tool to use for catching and disposing of organic matter is a filter component designed for mechanical filtration.
To answer the Original Post, though you aren't going to like my suggestion, the best way to remove the build up of nitrates and phosphates from the tank is through manual removal via water changes and mechanical filtration component cleaning.
MMreef
Active member
Well,I have been using bio pellets for over a year now ,so I do have some first hand experience in this matter.First of all they do as they advertised.They reduce NO3 and PO4 very effectively.Just like Jeff said ,pellets do their job too well.The key is to start with small amount,about third of recommended dose.You need to monitor your nitrates and phosphates at this stage.About two weeks in,if your NO3 and PO4 still showing, add more pellets.Again monitor your parameters.If they go down to acceptable level do not add more pellets. If still have some PO4 and NO3 add the rest of recommended dose and wait another two weeks.This should do the trick.Doing this slowly like this ,allows your corals to acclimate to changing parameters.If you do it too fast ,you will bleach your corals.Very important is to have very efficient skimmer to remove excess bacteria the reactor produces.Just put the outlet of reactor in front of your skimmer pump inlet.Make sure pellets do not tumble too much in reactor.Need slow flow through the reactor.You might have to start feeding your corals and fish more.I feed 2-3 times daily now,but pellets let me keep demanding SPS corals with healthy amount of fish in my tank.I used to dose vodka ,but it was too much work to dose every day.You could set up a dosing system just like Jeff suggested ,but with pellets is just set it and forget it.A year later I lost about third of pellets,so I will have to replace some soon.Hope this helps.If you have any more questions regarding my set up ,shoot me a PM.You can find my tank on members tank forums,if you want to see how well they work for me.Good Luck.
ColaAddict
New member
What's the difference between a biopellet and a GFO reactor? I have a GFO reactor right now, can I ditch the GFO and run bio pellets using the GFO reactor? since bio pellets reduce both nitrates and phophates, I would rather use that than GFO. Right now I'm dosing Vinegar and GFO, I'm thinking of simplifying.
EricTheRed
No, I'm not a communist..
They sell more expensive biopellet reactors, but i found my 2LF phosban reactor worked just fine. I removed the foam filter pads and replaced them with mesh to allow more flow. (these are sold by 2 little Fishes and cost a few bucks.) Been doing it for 1+ yers and had zero nitrates (down from 15ppm) in about 2 days. The pellets are slower to reduce phosphates and I still run a little GFO and GAC mixed in another reactor. Pellets need a lot more flow than you do for GFO or GAC. I'm running a 300 gph Marineland pump and they tumble like crazy (which is what you want.)
I also dose a little Micorbactor 7 to avoid mono-culturing of the bacteria on the pellets. (Not sure if it's needed, but have been doing it anyway.)
MMreef
Active member
I do run my biopellets in TLF 550 reactor,and it is just fine,but opposite to Eric I have low flow,just enough to slowly tumble my pellets.I use MJ1200 pump. I used to dose MB7 but found out that I was getting some cyano.I switched to Special Blend by Microbe-lift and no more cyano.I dose about 20 ml. every month.
ColaAddict
New member
What's MB7 and what's Special Blend?
EricTheRed
No, I'm not a communist..
Ahaaaaaaa! My trates and phosphates have been ZERO for over a year and I can't figure out why I get a bit of cyano. I'll stop the MB7 and see what happens.
BTW, don't your pellets clump with low flow in the reactor?