Bio pellets and Acropora

[MattL22]

So cyano passed after a few weeks I decided to add more pellets I was running about 400 ml I decided too add the full 1000 ml on top of it I guess I over did it because for the past week my water has been really cloudy I figured it would clear up but so far no I added the extra pellets on fri or sat so going on almost a week and cot clearing up! I'm gonna clean my reactor out today because its not tumbling too good when I looked this morning should I remove a third of the pellets???

 

[Diesel]

What kind reactor you have running?

My bad, kinda lazy this morning and didn't go back to the beginning to refresh my mind on your reactor, LOL.
I see you running the http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/space-saving-reef-octopus-biopellet-reactor.html
There should be valve on there to reduce or increase the flow.
I have running in a grow out system the same reactor with only 2 cups of pellets in there for now 4 months with now issues.
Yes the water got a bit cloudy in the first two/three weeks but that cleared up almost over night after the break in period.
Valve is open for about 35% I guess, give and take but so far so good.
Maybe you got to much pellets in there if you used to whole bag.
Reduce the amount of pellets maybe.
What is your PO4 #?
Never ran pellets before as just these 4 months.
Keeping the PO4 at 0.12 in the grow out.

 

[Rockhead]

More info , size of tank ect , going by what I see 1000ml is overkill. IM running 200ml on a 175 gal system. Need to take it slow and let the tank adjust to the change , and cloudy water sounds like a algae bloom.

 

[MattL22]

It's a 220 gal tank with 40 gal sump
I've read this can happen but it's making me nervous I think ill remove half the pellets tonight!
Should I stop running altogether let this pass?

Where r the biopellet guys who used them successfully for long period time is love to hear from them

 

[NeverlosT]

Or a bacterial bloom.

 

[MattL22]

I'm definitely gonna pull 1/2 the pellets out! Should I stop them for few days?

 

[MattL22]

Oh po4 was high b4 I began had huge hair algae out break!

 

[MattL22]

Just did 35 gal waterchange took out 1/3 of biopellets water still cloudy hoping to hear from pellet gurus

 

[Eckolancer]

I'm using 500ml on about 105 gallons of actual water in tank and sump. Using a reef octopus 150 reactor fed from my return line with a valve to give it a nice steady tumble. It drains close to my skimmer intake. Started using it from day one after tank switch from about same size tank. During tank switch on had a small rise of ammonia no nitrite or nitrates. Week 2 no traces of ammonia or nitrite nitrates, but slight cloudiness from algae bloom. That went away after a week now 2 months in with heavy feeding and bio load phosphates sit below .08 no nitrate nitrite ammonia. Working on dialing in my dosing still as alk and cal are a little higher then I like. Before old tank I could never get po4 below .15 . Loving the growth rates I'm seeing so far from all acros as well as coloration. Hope my results continue to be this good.

 

[Eckolancer]

Here is a pic of mine in the sump.

 

[MattL22]

Seems like my reactor needs to be cleaned every week to keep pellets tumbling well maybe that's was part of issue waters clearer ....

 

[jt17]

I'm currently weening my system off of bio pellets after a year and a half. I have a next reef pellet reactor and I think the people who've had success are using reactors where you control the tumble separate from the amount of water flowing in and out of the reactor. To get pellets to tumble in my reactor I had to run as much flow as I could through the reactor which led to nitrates being removed more rapidly than than phosphates. I've read threads where others report phosphates going up during pellet use and that's what happened to my system. They do a better job at removing nitrates than phosphates so I'm still battling phosphates. I've been told the reason I had cyano bloom was the imbalance of nitrates and phosphates led to a nitrogen deprived system where cyano can outcompete other algae as its a bacteria that uses the phosphate and gaseous nitrogen where other algaes don't have any nitrogen. My SPS survive but don't thrive and I've had problems with LPS too so I'm bailing on the pellets and if need to carbon dose I'll go with vodka or vinegar where I have more precise control.
Another concern I've always had with the pellets is if there's a power outage and the pellets go anaerobic then your bacteria on the pellets is toast and your system may cycle. The more pellets you use the more dependant your system is those bacteria so the greater the cycle. That's why I'm considering liquid carbon because then the majority of the bacteria is in the tank where I have battery backup on the mp40s and not in a vulnerably remote reactor.
I know your excited to try the pellets so I'm sorry bring on such negativity but I think you learn as much from others failures as you can from others successes. people have had success with pellets and just because I didn't doesn't mean you won't. Just take it slow.

 

[mtnrunner]

Why would you want your Alk so low?

 

[Dashiki]

With low nutrients you will burn the tips of acros with high alk so keeping it close to natural seawater fixes that issue.

 

[MattL22]

Water much clearer today !
The few sps I have r not doing that great yet still have a good amount of hair algae I'm sucking out alot of dead ha with every water change this tank cycled really bad I will never use dead rock again .....