Bio pellets or denitrater!!!!?

[lsingh]

Wanted to get thoughts on using bio pellet reactor or denitrater...
I was advised to use this on my new 300 gln setup...
I hve seen out here a lot of guys using bio pellet reactors and few out here out here uses that koralin denitrater...
Need thoughts on this please????


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[kkiel02]

I'm going biopellets and gfo reactors in my tank. I wish reef octopus made a bigger reactor so I wouldn't have to use two. The reason I like the biopellets is they are fairly easy to run. Just make sure you have a nice tumble in the pellets and clean the reactor every so often.

 

[Glenn]

I'm new to media reactors but I bought, built (Avast Build-It-Yourself), and installed the reactor approx. one month ago. The normal time for it to begin working is 2-4 weeks (per online reviews) and I would say that mine is definitely working. My aquarium glass is staying very clean and the protein skimmer is producing lots more gunk. In general, I can't really say that my corals look any different except for the purple goniopora - it's still living after 4wks !!! (I've never had a goniopora or cyphastrea survive.)

 

[tapout]

I have had experience with the brs biopellet reactor and recently I just purchased a reef octopus biopellet reactor so I can give my opinion on those. While the brs reactor was in use I did see better coloration and growth in corals but after awhile the pellets clumped and started producing hydrogen sulfide. That in turn caused some issues and I stopped using biopellets. The reef octopus reactor is really well designed and gives a very nice tumble to the pellets and I don't see any clumping issues arising. I am using biospheres in the reactor. I just added it last week so the pellets haven't seeded so I cant give you any more info if they work or not. In the previous coral magazine issue there was a really nice article on the use of biopellets and Sunnyx's tank of Procorals tank uses biopellets as well.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

I have been saving to get a reef dynamics biopellet reactor. I don't really know much about denitrators other than they use sulfur rock. IMO biopellets are just easier. But like I said don't know much about the other.

 

[phil519]

i use a octopus biopellet reactor...works great so far...seems very straightforward, establish it, add some more pellets, done. I like it more than running carbon/gfo since I never have to get rid of the "old" media as it dissolves. I do continue to run a refugium/chaetomorphia with the biopellets.

 

[kkiel02]

Hey phil you don't see a rise in phosphates? I read that the reactors use nitrate and phosphate at different rates(of course lol) so most people get a rise in phosphates. This is why I was thinking about keeping my gfo reactor going. Then again maybe your cheato is absorbing up the phosphates?

 

[JackoChang]

I have been saving to get a reef dynamics biopellet reactor. I don't really know much about denitrators other than they use sulfur rock. IMO biopellets are just easier. But like I said don't know much about the other.

Me too! Not to many reviews though.

To the OP, a local reefer used the nitrate reactor and hasn't done a w/c in almost 2 years(he uses various reactors and doses various things). He has an amazing SPS tank. I think I saw a sweet thread on here about DIY no3 reactors.

From the BP threads across the interwebz I've read that; you need a great skimmer and feed heavy to keep the bacterial population up. It's when the bacteria starts dying and bp clumping that I've read about tank crashes. No personal experience, so as of right now this is just word vomit.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

We have a LFS here that carries them but as far as bacteria it is probably the same as any other biopellet reactor. The bacteria grow and die with the food but I would have some fat fish feeding the same amount everyday. As long as my tank is happy my wife want be. Oh well

 

[robert]

I have ~180 g display/sump/frag total volume, with a very high fish/coral load. I've tried bio-pellets, vodka dosing and sulphur based denitrater systems at one point or another. I'm sure I didn't implement any of then perfectly, and I found that all carry their own issues. I finally settled on a DIY sulphur based mixotrophic system. I know the heterotrophic systems work and the that the koralin is a purely autotrophic design, but if it were either bio-pellets or the koralin, I'd take the koralin.

I prefer an autotrophic based sulphur system with hetertropic augmentation for stability and capacity. Nobody said you can't do both.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

People have been running reefs without either for years with good results. IMO I think if you have nitrate and phosphate problems and you have a refigium the these are the way to go but if you don't then start with a refigium with some cheato. It is really better to see how your tank acts before getting into biopellets or denitrators. I run a two little fishes phosban reactor with 200 mls of biopellets and other than it killing the algae in my refugium have had no issues. Is it right for you I don't know but it works for me. I would do all the research you can then make a choice on what you think is best for your tank. If you want lots of fish and to feed heavily then I would recommend either of these. With a low bioload and small feedings you could do without. But you might know this stuff already. I hope this helps if not then I just waisted five minute of your time and I'm sorry. Lol