Biopellets still being used?

[goody]

I used ecobak pellets on my 90g sps dominant tank for close to a year. Never had any issues. In fact, I started a poll on here to see what others thought about them after Troylee went through a tank crash. Many said they would never use them, some blamed their tank crashes on them, and others said they were great.

I broke down that 90g and have recently set up a 150g. I'm undecided on whether to run pellets on this tank. These things were all the talk in 2010, so I just wanted to see if these are still being used by a lot of members. If so, how long have you been using them?

 

[pumarjr]

I had started to run them about 2 months ago to present, lately i've been having some issues with some of my corals just not acting right, I decided to take a look today at my reactor and noticed that the pellets were not moving so freely, only part of the very top layer was tumbling, where the rest of the pellets were a mass and stagnant. I'm now wondering if they have been the cause of the tank's weirdness.

 

[droblack]

I still use them. No noticeable problems related to biopellets, but have noticed a decline since the reactor went off line.

 

[Dowtish]

I have had ecobak running for the life of my tank. Going on 15 months now. I couldn't be happier with them. I think people that put them on an existing system is when they run into problems. It strips the system so fast that the tank reacts in a bad way. You have to remember to feed your tank as well.

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[slapshot]

I still use them and wouldn't run a tank without them. I use vertex. I feed every hour 24 hours a day and my nitrates are 0. I have to run phosban to keep it there.

 

[goody]

Thanks for the replies. Since I started with all new sand and live rock, for this upgrade, I bought some MB7 to seed the tank. I had also purchased 1000ml of ecobak thinking I was going to continue to use them. Tank has been up and running since February. All sps are currently happy and doing very well. I would just like to start running either GFO or pellets so wanted to hear some thoughts on pellets since I don't see them much as a topic anymore.

 

[phil519]

i use biopellets also...not sure but there are threads about type/brand of pellets too...i just went with the NPX brand. But others swear by a different one.

I also use a reef octopus reactor...i like it so much more than the modified TLF reactors.

 

[Dowtish]

I think GFO is great, but it is also expensive compared to biopellets. If you decide to add yours to your tank, only add a quarter of the recommended amount and after 3 weeks, add another quarter and so on. This way you can gauge how fast it is removing nitrates and phosphates through testing in those first 4-6 weeks. I hate when I hear folks blaming bio-pellets for their tank crashing. It wasnt the pellets, it was not understanding what they do, and how quickly they can.

 

[swannyson7]

I've been using EcoBak since August 2010 and I've had no problems whatsoever. They don't seem to be quite as effective on PO4 as other forms of carbon dosing, but I love them for the lack of maintenance involved. I still run Rowaphos & have a fuge with chaeto, but I haven't seen a spike in NO3 since I started running them despite my heavy handed feeding and relatively high bioload.

 

[Cubbies]

I recently took them off line. Not because they weren't doing the job but because the reactor I am using with them is a pain in the butt! I am currently looking to get a much better one. Have to do maintenance on it so often that it's not even funny. I noticed my tank acting funny as well and went to check on the pellets and water just running through them and not much pellet movement. Imo I am very happy with them just make sure you get a good reactor. Just for everyone's info it is a BRS BP reactor and trust me I ain't the only one with this issue.