Biopellet Reactor - Who Would Have Known

[Lostinthedark]

So everybody else, if you use biopellets, briefly explain your system and the amount of pellets you go through. I'm curious.

I have about 250 total gallons with 5 angels and 3 tangs making up the bulk of my bio load(poop). There's also about 20 smaller fish along with mixed corals and anemones. I ran the Warner Eco-Bak+ for for about 2 1/2 years and only used up a total of maybe 1250ml in that time. I also run a well lit fuge that I toss a basketball size of cheato once a month.I took the reactor off line because my sps started to fade and die off because of 0 nitrates. Even without the reactor I still struggle to show a minimal reading on nitrates.

 

[redfishbluefish]

As I explained above, I cleaned my biopellet reactor for the first time after 3 1/2 + years and now it's spinning pellets like a top. This was about two weeks ago. At first my skimmer was spewing out the skimmate, but that recently slowed. At first I thought it was that it had now gotten most of the schmutz out...but I was wrong. I pulled my skimmer out and both the inside and outside (below the water line) was covered in a mucusy snot. Upon opening it up, this included the bubble plate as well.




I can only assume this was the bacteria kicking out of the biopellet reactor and now coating the skimmer. A quick cleaning of the skimmer and pump and it went back into the tank. Here it is cleaned up.




Now I'm back in business!!

 

[lefkonj]

When I ran biopellets my skimmer maintenance was definitely increased. I did read in several places that the ideal thing was to take the output of the biopellet reactor and feed it directly into the skimmer, not sure how true that is though.

 

[redfishbluefish]

My output doesn't connect directly into the skimmer but darn close. In this picture, the clear pipe at the top of the picture is the output pipe of the reactor, with the pickup for the skimmer right there.

 

[Jeremy Brito]

Vodka doseing? I know I'm late to this thread but what is vodka dosing is that we're I drink a bottle of vodka while I try to figure complex water Chem math

 

[redfishbluefish]

Vodka doseing? I know I'm late to this thread but what is vodka dosing is that we're I drink a bottle of vodka while I try to figure complex water Chem math

Vodka dosing, which falls under what is collectively termed "carbon dosing," is where you dose vodka to your tank as a food source for bacteria. The bacteria "eat" the vodka, grow and multiply, and in the process consume nitrates and phosphates. These fat bacteria then get removed from your tank by the skimmer, thereby reducing the amount of nitrates and phosphates in your tank.

Other forms of carbon dosing include vinegar, sugar, vodka, which was mentioned, and combinations of these three as well. Biopellets are similar, as a food source for bacteria, but is contained in a reactor. Again, any form of carbon dosing requires a skimmer to remove the excess bacteria.

 

[Dave]

I know this is a bit off topic, but I have always felt stability comes from finding that sweet spot of the right mix of fish, inverts, lights etc. that keeps the tank working in harmony. When a big event happens like cucumber going nuclear...it throws off the stability. This can then have the effect of other negative events...like hair algae. However, the approach we seem to often take...myself included...is to then try to address the symptom first (hair algae and ways to solve it) vs trying to get back to that right balance we once had. I went through this myself..and was unhappy with the tank for a long time..and frustrated. If it was to happen again...I think I would work more on getting back to the balance that worked for me. Just some food for thought.


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[Trio91]

Vodka doseing? I know I'm late to this thread but what is vodka dosing is that we're I drink a bottle of vodka while I try to figure complex water Chem math

make sure you buy the good stuff, in case you need a shot for yourself

 

[Ls2Goat]

This is in a moderately stocked tank with 3 anthrax that are feed multiple times a day.

I used bio pellets from 2013- fall 2015 then switched to marinepure spheres and so far I've had much better results.

Before the pellets my nitrates always hung around 20, the pellets dropped it down to 10 and that's where they stayed. When the pellets ran out they would creep back up until I added more, if routinely forget to do this in a timely manner. So last fall when the reactor was empty and after reading and hearing about marine pure decided to give it a shot, I used 2 boxes of the spheres in place of the reactor and within a week my nitrates where halved a month later they where on the low end under 5 and that's where they have stayed.