N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[TheFishMan65]

I would not replace any of the old. Only add some new. Can you tell if (or how much) has been used up?

[tmz]

I would not use them or any other organic carbon source unless there was a need to reduce NO3 or PO4. I wouldn't use gfo either if it wasn't needed. Folks should start by monitoring NO3 and PO4 levels to determine need, in my opinion.

There is no free lunch in a reef tank. Adding organic carbon sources has a cost and potential downside.

The pellets contain polymers(carbohaydrates which break down to (monomers) including glucose. These organics can be harmful . Oxygen depleting bacterial blooms are also a frequent side effect. Overall increases in bacteria colonies can also be troublesome since the nature of the bacteria produced as benign, beneficial or pathogenic is unknown and unpredicatable Even if the pellets localize the the breakdown of the polymers , it is still likely the bacteria or by products of there activity will flow into the system along with the organics they have consumed.

This can all work out in many systems but is not without risk to the animals in the system.So if NO3 and PO4 are not a problem ,why use them?

[tntneon]

Originally Posted by tmz

...So if NO3 and PO4 are not a problem ,why use them?...

-Like in my case , before i got into vodka dosing and BP , i had low NO3=0.5 ~1 ppm and Po4 =0.03~0.05 .
This was what i measured but i had GHa , bryopsis and caulerpa growing in there , so probably those values where higher .
When using BP caulerpa/gha and bryopsis went away eventualy ( 5 month's) .
so even when you measure nothing you still can have some trouble's.

-Now that algea and no3/ po4 are gone , would you suggest to decrease the BP's , Tom ?
i'm sccarred that i remove them , that all the old problems will again occur ?

@thefishman : The volume of the pellets have shrinked to about half the size


greetingzz tntneon

[TheFishMan65]

Well I admit I am not using them. But if I were you tntneon I would add enough to get about 3/4 of where you were and see if that cuts down on the class cleaning. They say you can't overdose, but I wonder somtimes.

[bluereefs]

I took some top down pictures yesterday to show the corals under the bio pellets, more or less things are stabilizied now, nitrates are 1-2,5 mg/lit ,reactor again start to produce more bacteria and my filter sock get cloged again in 24-48 hours. It look that there are some kind of rythm in bacteria production after I lower the nitrates, week ago bacteria production was low what was visible with almost non existent bacterial slime at filter sock, skimmer was also acting weird with sudden overflowing and similar action from time to time, then again yesterday bacteria slime get visible on filter sock and skimming get more consistent and stronger.

Polyps expansion on my corals are again very good ( I am probably the only one who get less PE with bio pellets ) so more or less my aquarium start to look like it was looked before bp but this time he dont have 100 mg/lit nitrates. Is also weird IMO that my aquarium and corals look almost the same with 100 mg/lit nitrates and with 1 mg/lit, only diference what I can see are colour on salifert nitrate test kit. Maybe some corals grow faster but I am not so sure about, can be subjective view.

top down picture
















I am not so much in SPS corals, lps are what I like.

[drummereef]

Beautiful pics bluereefs!

[DJREEF]

Outstanding bluereefs.

DJ

[bluereefs]

Thank you Drummereef and DJREEF

Euphyllia glabescrens from this picture, located right on tridacna


grow from tiny polyp in 14 months, it was even smaller when I notice her for first time but she was to small to take the picture, now he have aprox 10 inches long tentacle


Maybe someone find this interesting.

[drummereef]

Wow, wouldn't have guessed the Euphyllia was attached to the clam! Too funny.

[goochesfish]

That's really cool bluereef that the coral grows right off the clam. How long have you had your flower pots ad do you feed them?

[bluereefs]

Green flowerpot and alveopora are in my aquarium around 2,5-3 years, red goniopora around 9 months, I have few more frags/colony of diferent goniopora species, from long to short polyps (also around 2,5-3 years in aquarium), I feed heavy last few months but to tell you the truth they was in same shape when I was feed sparingly, just artifical dry food few times a day (flake, granules), there are many anecdotal stories how to keep gonioporas/alveoporas (from specific aditives to nutrient rich aquarium) but IMO and IME they are just like all other corals, need proper position and good aquarium. I do not have refugium or dsb or anything similar either, actualy this particular aquarium are started sterile as much was posible, dry sand, dry reef ceramick, no live rock at all, all frags was dipped in dips to remove hitchikers and micro life... (just another experiment I made to test some of my theories )

Green goniopora I just frag/cut few days ago and made 1 frag from her.

[izzy123]

bluereefs...... I have just one word for you.......

WOW

[Plato]

Excited, I have a custom biopellit reactor on order from Next Reef. 6" diameter by 24" tall, to be able to hold 4 to 6 liters of media. It is going on a 525 gallon heavily stocked tank. I should have it two weeks, I'll get some pics up for eye candy.

[zoolan70]

bluereefs...those shots are awesome!

[tntneon]

-cool pictures bleureefs !

coloration looks very natural and IMO very good ,
I think if you want more color , you have to wait now and try to keep your system as stable as possible (also meaning temprature / s.g. CA and alk).
Your system is just recovering from much higher NO3 numbers the longer they live in that stable low nutrient enviroment the better they look and grow .
Also dosing some trace elements can give you that ZEO-color-look , but my experience with those products (jodine ,potasium,iron...) is that i have to clean the glass more often , but coloration of corals is also more intense...

greetingzz tntneon

[Rwpdunne]

Very nice bluereefs

[ari5736]

Originally Posted by bluereefs

I took some top down pictures yesterday to show the corals under the bio pellets, more or less things are stabilizied now, nitrates are 1-2,5 mg/lit ,reactor again start to produce more bacteria and my filter sock get cloged again in 24-48 hours. It look that there are some kind of rythm in bacteria production after I lower the nitrates, week ago bacteria production was low what was visible with almost non existent bacterial slime at filter sock, skimmer was also acting weird with sudden overflowing and similar action from time to time, then again yesterday bacteria slime get visible on filter sock and skimming get more consistent and stronger.

I think I may experiencing same phenomenon. After being reduce to 0 nitrates and .17 phosphates, I am now up to 5 nitrates and .21 phosphates.

[izzy123]

Originally Posted by ari5736

I think I may experiencing same phenomenon. After being reduce to 0 nitrates and .17 phosphates, I am now up to 5 nitrates and .21 phosphates.

Do you think it poses a problem, or are those numbers good enough for a healthy tank..... I mean, do you see this having negative effects onyour corals?

Thanks

[holdyourlight]

My skimmer was working overtime during the bacterial bloom, now 3 weeks later, the skimmer cannot even produce a foam head. Anyone else experience this? If i turn off the pump that feeds the biopellets the foam head comes back so obviously there is an issue.

I am running about 200ml on my 120g. i started off with 500 but i could not get the 2nd bacterial cloud to go away so i reduced the amount and the cloud went away but the skimmer is still not producing anythign

[daveonbass]

I don't even know how long it's been anymore. But....no change...the BP still don't work in my tank. I'm at a point of just calling them a failure. Oh well, maybe the NEXT big gimmick will work for me.

[anen]

I wanted to share my experiences with the biopellets. I started these off on a new tank, and in the beginning dosed mb7. The tank has been running six months or so now.

In the beginning I started getting a hair algae bloom, which eventually went away. Then I got a cyano attack which also faded away. While my nitrates have read 0 from the beginning, I was still getting phosphates showing up on my test kit, and decided to add GFO/chaeto to my system. Also my water looks a little bit cloudy even to this day when my lights are on.

The pellets look like they haven't reduced in size at all, and I get no sort of oatmeal or anything else that might suggest there is bacteria slinging off these things.

Also my corals don't look so great. My zoas only open halfway, the skirts never fully extend. For acros everything I put in the tank browns, and I get little to no polyp extension. Colors look muted...

Any advice?

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by anen

I wanted to share my experiences with the biopellets. I started these off on a new tank, and in the beginning dosed mb7. The tank has been running six months or so now.

In the beginning I started getting a hair algae bloom, which eventually went away. Then I got a cyano attack which also faded away. While my nitrates have read 0 from the beginning, I was still getting phosphates showing up on my test kit, and decided to add GFO/chaeto to my system. Also my water looks a little bit cloudy even to this day when my lights are on.

The pellets look like they haven't reduced in size at all, and I get no sort of oatmeal or anything else that might suggest there is bacteria slinging off these things.

Also my corals don't look so great. My zoas only open halfway, the skirts never fully extend. For acros everything I put in the tank browns, and I get little to no polyp extension. Colors look muted...

Any advice?

What test kits are you using to test NO3 and PO4, and what exactly is the PO4 test reading?

Also, what's the water volume of the system and how many pellets are you running? What reactor, flow rate, etc...?

Other system info would be helpful too such as what light you run, and what alk/ca/mag dosing you are performing?

[holdyourlight]

Originally Posted by holdyourlight

My skimmer was working overtime during the bacterial bloom, now 3 weeks later, the skimmer cannot even produce a foam head. Anyone else experience this? If i turn off the pump that feeds the biopellets the foam head comes back so obviously there is an issue.

I am running about 200ml on my 120g. i started off with 500 but i could not get the 2nd bacterial cloud to go away so i reduced the amount and the cloud went away but the skimmer is still not producing anythign

I think i am going to pull them off of the system for now. I started using them on a brand new tank with 100% new sand and rock that was bleached and given an acid bath and then cycled with pure ammonia so i just dont think there is enough "crap" for them to work at this point. I got the bacteria bloom, but now my skimmer will not produce foam and i am tired of changing the sock every single day. Maybe will start them up again once the tank gets more established and i add more livestock. maybe

[anen]

I have a 40 breeeder with 29g sump. I am running 250ml of pellets in a TLF reactor with a mj1200 with some tumble. I ran with no gfo or chaeto for a couple months and was still getting phosphate readings so I added the chaeto which grew explosively. It now fills the entire 10g fuge area in my sump.

I have an ATI sunpower 4x39 2 month old ATI bulbs

Testing nitrates with an elos kit and salifert as a double check. Phosphates are being checked with an elos kit.

Right now because of problems with my controller power strips (got 2 defective ones in a row been trying to get it resolved for months now) I'm dosing by hand with BRS 2 part. Admittedly, I haven't really been measuring out my doses, I just add a splash of alk and cal every night.

But my parameterse have been reasonably stable at:
cal 400
dkh 7.5-9
mag 1300-1400
ph 8.0-8.3 (daily range)
nitrates 0
phosphates 0

Originally Posted by drummereef

What test kits are you using to test NO3 and PO4, and what exactly is the PO4 test reading?

Also, what's the water volume of the system and how many pellets are you running? What reactor, flow rate, etc...?

Other system info would be helpful too such as what light you run, and what alk/ca/mag dosing you are performing?

[hammmerhead]

I have been running the pellets for about 3 months now and I am experiencing Algae blooms and what appears to be a dark green cyano carpet on the bottom of the front of the tank. I think the pellets are beneficial to an extent, but I think there should be more info on the proper introduction of them and the flow rates, etc.

I have 150 gal. tank and 30 gal. sump. Mixed Reef that has been set up for 7 years. I prob have 130 gallons total water. I am running around 700 ml-750 ml of pellets. I have run them slow at 250 gph pump and tried them with 600 gph pump. My corals look very good and have seen a faster growth rate, but colors are unchanged. I never got the cloudy water in the beginning like others have. I just shut the pellets off last night just to see if I get a reduction on the blooms and the other algae. I never had a Nitrate issue, but I am sure I had a little P04, not enough to cause alarm though. Im just scratching my head over these pellets, maybe my flow is too much with the larger pump. I have noticed the pellets are smaller now and some look to be half eaten. Guess I will wait it out and see how the corals react.