Vmacisback
Vern McCalla
Will stopping the use of Bio pellets cause an ALK swing?
SPS and Biopellets
- Thread starter Vmacisback
- Start date
- Tagged users None
robf
Active Member
I recently stopped using biopellets and did indeed notice a swing of about 2 pts over two weeks. In retrospect I can't say for certain the change was the reason as I used the reactor for GFO and don't know what caused the swing. I also have made dosing adjustments and been doing many water changes to fight an algae outbreak. When you change this many variables its very hard to say. My tank is a 48 gal bowfront w/ a 15 gal sump. Now running GFO and carbon only. Going back to the basics. My tap water has tons of PO4 and even after running through 7 stage RO/DI still read .03 using hanna colorometer.
OP
OP
Vmacisback
Vern McCalla
Hmm, did you notice a change in your SPS? I am thinking of doing the same thing, i have more of an issue with phosphate than I do nitrate and seems like the bio pellets only eat up the nitrate. I could combat the nitrate on my own with water changes etc. It seems like when I add GFO to the tank with the bio pellets i burn my SPS. but i have no other way of controlling phospahtes. So i guess its one or the other. Have you had success with running both at the same time?
icycoral
Active Member
Shutting down your bio-pellet reactor shouldn't cause any swing in your alk. You will def see an increase in your nutrients however.
The bacteria that reduce your nitrate phosphate while feeding on organic carbon sources consume nitrates and phosphates at about a 16:1 ratio perspectivly. They will reproduce until all of the nitrates are consumed and leave a level of phosphate in the water column. You should try running a small amount of gfo along with your reactor to lower your phosphates and color up your sps. Personally I dont think bio pellets really cut it and dose nopox as a carbon source. I also grow macro to absorb the phosphates that are left over.
The bacteria that reduce your nitrate phosphate while feeding on organic carbon sources consume nitrates and phosphates at about a 16:1 ratio perspectivly. They will reproduce until all of the nitrates are consumed and leave a level of phosphate in the water column. You should try running a small amount of gfo along with your reactor to lower your phosphates and color up your sps. Personally I dont think bio pellets really cut it and dose nopox as a carbon source. I also grow macro to absorb the phosphates that are left over.
Troylee
all about the diy!!!!!
Great post!!!! 1smile1
swannyson7
Moderator/Acro Aficianado
Excellence Award
Reef Of The Month
Photo of the Month
CTARS Member
Moderator Emeritus
Welcome to the party, Eric!
robf
Active Member
Well stated. Biopellet usage is poorly understood by most (you are the exception). In fact after I quit your point came to me albiet a bit too late. Being new to the hobby, biopellets seemed magically simple and a no brainer but after having seen nitrates at zero with phosphates hanging around I became suspicious of them. I now understand that they can indeed be benificial however the directions on my biopellets state that a GFO reactor is not advised. ???? This shocks me. These products need to be better explained to the average reefer like myself. You on the other hand seem to grasp these matters.
OP
OP
Vmacisback
Vern McCalla
You are right. I am not at concerned with the nitrates as i truly am the phosphates. The times that I have run GFO it seemed to aggressive for my tank and stripped some of the color from my SPS. The last time I tried I started with a 1/3 of a cup for a week and got the phos down to .08. Then a week later I went up to a cup and immediately stopped within 24hrs after i started noticing loss of color rapidly in my SPS. Any suggestions? I think I just need to start really slow with the GFO.
Dowtish
5000 Club Member
I use bio pellets, and after about 2 years, the phosphates creeped up on me. I added a few more pellets and increased the tumble, and it brought it down from 0.26 to 0.08 in 3 days. I use 10 tablespoons of GFO to keep them at 0.03. So yes, use less GFO and change it out every 3-4 weeks.
icycoral
Active Member
Thank you very much for the kudos guys 
I myself switched from a VSV (vodka sugar vingar) blend to bio-pellets last summer as the craze took off. I too was looking for a cure all to my daily dosing routine as I traveled quite a bit for work and worried my tank sitter would be over burdened with a daily dosing routine. Bio-pellets alone however did not give me the results I was looking for. Maybe I need a larger reactor or more flow though the pelletes etc. I did notice some reduction in nutrients but not to the level I was looking for or had seen with VSV. So to pick up the slack the pellets left I decided to reinstate my small fuge area in my sump. Nothing to large, about half of the return area in my esshops rs-75. I grow a small clump of cheato w a small led fuge light and keep it in place w a piece of egg crate. I haven't had any problems with it clogging a pump even though I have multiple pumps in the section of my sump. To insure proper flow over the macro I have the return on my two little fishes reactor pore over the top of the algea. After a about six months of the bio-pellets and the macro I received a bottle of nopox from a club raffle and thought maybe it was time to go back to liquid dosing again. Instead of taking down the bio-pellet reactor I simply added a dosing regimen to the existing nutrient removal of the pellets and fuge. The combination of all three seems to be very very effective. I could remove the reactor to see if there is any change in nutrient removal but hey if it isn't broke why fix it? So that's my expierence with pellets dosing and nutrient romoval.
Some suggestions for you guys may be:
-Consider cornering off a small section of your sump for a small fuge to help soak up anything the pellets don't take care of. It doesn't have to be large as hopefully the pellets will do most of the work. Mine isn't very large and is in my return section fed by the return line of my carbon reactor.
-Try using small amounts of gfo with low though put in a reactor. Too much gfo will most likely interfere with the bacterial colonies need for phosphate and cause a rise in No3. A low flow through the reactor will also keep too much Po4 from being absorbed by the gfo and again keep the bacteria from reproducing.
-Experiment with multiple methods of nutrient removal. I have found that multiple methods work best for me and add redundantcy. If one fails the others will help keep things together until you fix what went wrong.
Hope his is helpful to anyone and my apologies for spelling mistakes, I'm typing on my iPhone and don't always catch them. As always happy reefing...
I myself switched from a VSV (vodka sugar vingar) blend to bio-pellets last summer as the craze took off. I too was looking for a cure all to my daily dosing routine as I traveled quite a bit for work and worried my tank sitter would be over burdened with a daily dosing routine. Bio-pellets alone however did not give me the results I was looking for. Maybe I need a larger reactor or more flow though the pelletes etc. I did notice some reduction in nutrients but not to the level I was looking for or had seen with VSV. So to pick up the slack the pellets left I decided to reinstate my small fuge area in my sump. Nothing to large, about half of the return area in my esshops rs-75. I grow a small clump of cheato w a small led fuge light and keep it in place w a piece of egg crate. I haven't had any problems with it clogging a pump even though I have multiple pumps in the section of my sump. To insure proper flow over the macro I have the return on my two little fishes reactor pore over the top of the algea. After a about six months of the bio-pellets and the macro I received a bottle of nopox from a club raffle and thought maybe it was time to go back to liquid dosing again. Instead of taking down the bio-pellet reactor I simply added a dosing regimen to the existing nutrient removal of the pellets and fuge. The combination of all three seems to be very very effective. I could remove the reactor to see if there is any change in nutrient removal but hey if it isn't broke why fix it? So that's my expierence with pellets dosing and nutrient romoval.
Some suggestions for you guys may be:
-Consider cornering off a small section of your sump for a small fuge to help soak up anything the pellets don't take care of. It doesn't have to be large as hopefully the pellets will do most of the work. Mine isn't very large and is in my return section fed by the return line of my carbon reactor.
-Try using small amounts of gfo with low though put in a reactor. Too much gfo will most likely interfere with the bacterial colonies need for phosphate and cause a rise in No3. A low flow through the reactor will also keep too much Po4 from being absorbed by the gfo and again keep the bacteria from reproducing.
-Experiment with multiple methods of nutrient removal. I have found that multiple methods work best for me and add redundantcy. If one fails the others will help keep things together until you fix what went wrong.
Hope his is helpful to anyone and my apologies for spelling mistakes, I'm typing on my iPhone and don't always catch them. As always happy reefing...
Andrew9307
Active Member
i had a similar problem try using chemipure elite it helpped with my tap water and cleared up my tank almost over night and droppped phosphate down enough to not see any bad algae growth
OP
OP
Vmacisback
Vern McCalla
Were you using pellets and then added Chemipure?
creefer
Valuable Member
Great thread. Thanks for the information, icy. I've been considering a solution very similar to what you have done as I agree that some redunancy is beneficial. Are you also dosing any kind of bacterial supplement?
icycoral
Active Member
About once a month I dose a small amount of mb7, about half the recommended dose. For a little while I used prodibio but didn't see a significant difference. One of my buddies like the korallin zucht bacterial product, says its awesome, but I haven't tried it myself.
creefer
Valuable Member
Thanks for the response. I have both MB7 and KZ and have been curious about supplementing the biopellets program with a bacterial additive. I'm planning to get my biopellet reactor going in the next week or so.
creefer
Valuable Member
Nice man you should def post up your results and whether you have a preferance on bacterial suppliment
I'll do that. I've been testing and currently running Rowaphos. I'm getting 0 phosphates using Salifert kits (yes, I know I need a hanna checker) and very low levels of nitrates but I'm getting some light dusting of algae on the glass and sand bed so I'm confident that I have excess nutrients that are simply being consumed. Chaeto is growing well, too so that's another testament to there being excessive nutrients in the system. Colors are all good, lights (T5) are only 4 months old, so I don't think that's a contributor.
Is it advisable to soak the bio pellets in RODI prior to use? If so, how long? I plan to run them in a TLF 150 reactor for the time being and will run carbon passively suspended in a higher flow area of the sump. I'm not currently doing so now though.
creefer
Valuable Member
Well......
I started the BP journey. I put about 25% of the recommended volume of pellets in a TLF 150 reactor and have them tumbling nicely. We shall see what happens.......
Stay tuned.
I started the BP journey. I put about 25% of the recommended volume of pellets in a TLF 150 reactor and have them tumbling nicely. We shall see what happens.......
Stay tuned.
