Breakthecycle2
2500 Club Member
What's everyone's opinion?
Biopellets or Chaeto reactor?
- Thread starter Breakthecycle2
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kacrocorals581
Gotta have that acro
I'd say the chaeto since it can help stabilize ph and help get everything the pellets can reduce in the water and more.
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Breakthecycle2
2500 Club Member
DIY or it doesn't matter?
Don Lidtke
Some Old Guy
Planning on going with a chaeto reactor instead of biopellets based on everything I have been reading.
Forsaken77
Valuable Member
Yea, since I started that thread about Algae Reactors and if they're worth it, I'm definitely setting one up soon. It's natural, not messy like a refugium, and it's basically an all in one solution. Just make sure your reactor has foam pads to keep the clippings in. I learned a lot in that thread.
Joeganja
2500 Club Member
Here's the thing. You want to keep the redundancies as limited as possible. You want there to be the least amount of room for error that's possible. Chaeto reactor there's nothing that can go wrong. Unless your media leaks or the lights you use go out but that's all on the equipment. The benefits are amazing. Stabilize pH, a room for pods to thrive, nutrient export. Biopellets you can have bacterial blooms if not set up or maintained properly as well as other horror stories others have experienced. Always go the route that can give you less of a headache.
Whether you DIY or get a kit like the one Marine Depot sells they all work the same. The algae reactor also manages phosphates much better than biopellets or even carbon dosing for that matter. If you are on a budget you can usually find a used reactor. The pump you need doesn't have to be that much, I had 2 mj1200s laying around, one I even had to dial back half way. LEDs in the 6500k range work best for me, and there are plenty of cheap choices on amazon, make sure they are waterproof. The kit at Marine Depot I think is around $150.
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Breakthecycle2
2500 Club Member
Does seem like that Marine Depot kit is big enough for my tank.
I would consider these two devices as apples and oranges. The biopellets in my experience were very good at reducing nitrates, but I don't think they perform nutrient export like the algae would. Both would be ideal for heavy stocked tank to keep nitrates and nutrients down. I used to run biopellets but no longer. They work really well, but once you get it tweaked a little out of wack the are a PITA. That and I got rid of my pig fish (emporer angel)
reefs+waves
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Cheato reactor, more stability In my opinion
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Breakthecycle2
2500 Club Member
I ordered the LED's and Im about to order the Phosban 550. Is this one OK? Once I set one up, is it safe to take my biopellet reactor offline?
I think you should go with a little more higher quality reactor. I've read on some forums on people's TLF reactors cracking due to the heat from the leds, just something to think of to prevent any water leaks.
I'm in the same boat as you with removing my biopellets while adding a algae reactor, I just created a thread on it with lots of info if you wanna read up on it too.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/switching-from-biopellets-to-chaeto.316974/#post-3923520
schooncw
Well-Known Member
I have a heavily stocked 120 and not that much space left in my sump or the stand. I would appreciate any suggestions of specific models of a cheato reactor, as I think that it would be a huge benefit to my reef. To be honest, I was thinking of just adding a fine mesh basket to one section of my sump and adding cheato and a decent clip on LED.
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Breakthecycle2
2500 Club Member
Basically exactly what I'm doing. Should be here tomorrow
