Bio pellets ?

me & my baby · Feb 9, 2016

are bio pellets really worth it

Joeganja · Feb 13, 2016

They can be a hit and miss. They didn't do any justice for me but I was lucky I didn't mess up that bad because if done wrong they can really ruin your tank. I'm also commenting so that this bumps up your post.

me & my baby · Feb 13, 2016

I had read a lot of good reviews about them but my experience with them has been horrible . I saw no changes in nothing except the massive algae outbreak . That has caused me to tear my tank down and restart the whole thing

LostInTheDark · Feb 13, 2016

Bio pellets are one of those things that take a lot of patience if you even need them in the first place. They are excellent at reducing nitrates and also help with phosphates. My experience is that you have to add them very slowly to your system. I'm not talking weeks but months to hit your sweet spot. I have run them for a few years and they keep my heavily fed, heavily stocked mixed reek right where I need it. I've reduced the amount recommended over time to about a 1/4 of the full amount called for and it keeps nitrates at about 1. I very rarely need to run GFO but do so if I see the Po4 start to rise. I do run a fuge also where I toss a soccer ball size of cheato every month or so.
I would wait and see how your tank handles nitrates before using them as 0 nitrates in a reef seem to do as much harm as too high of a level.

sawdonkey · Feb 13, 2016

I swear by them but they aren't for everyone. I have an SPS tank with much larger fish than you typically see in an SPS tank, so I need a little boost to export nutrients. I run about 1/3 to 1/2 of the recommended amount of pellets. I still have more nitrates than I would like, but without them, I probably wouldn't be able to keep SPS at all. Biopellets don't do much for PO4, so I also run GFO. I've been on pellets for more than two years. I just run them in a modded TFL reactor off of my return, and the tumble is about right.

Salty1962 · Feb 13, 2016

I started using them from the start of my tank. I have a fairly heavy stock and my nitrates and phosphate are at 0. They are working to we'll now. I guess I'm fortunate.