Well, the tank looks good and a lot of people say if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but I took the plunge and am now running BRS Bio Pellets. I do have some small cyano patches and a few tufts of hair algae in lower flow spots (if that is possible in my tank, it's like a Jacuzzi in there - 4 MP40s and 9 Tunzes across the back wall, plus the sea swirls). Today, I did a little pre-pellet testing, and my nitrates were between 10 - 15 and my phosphates were .13 on the meter. Not great numbers, but the corals for the most part are looking nice and colorful. I also have 2 "two little fishies" GFO reactors running as well w/ BRS high capacity GFO.
I picked up a Reef Octopus pellet reactor from BRS, along w/ a "liter" of pellets. I am running the reactor w/ a Mag 5 pump that has a ball valve on it so I can throttle the reactor flow down if I need to. I put about 3 cups of pellets into the reactor, which should be good for my 180. I ran the setup in a bucket of tank water for about an hour before putting the rig into the sump. I also put a few squirts of Zeo Bak into the bucket setup just to get the pellets juiced up w/ bacteria. Not sure how fast to run the pellet reactor, but I decided to turn down the flow because I had a layer of pellets along the top of the reactor, so full blast must have been too fast.
Looking for some input/advice from any pellet gurus out there. I hear enough horror stories, so lets see if anyone has had good results w/ these babies. Hopefully, I will not experience a "pre-meeting" crash, as the September meeting will be at my house.
Herb
I picked up a Reef Octopus pellet reactor from BRS, along w/ a "liter" of pellets. I am running the reactor w/ a Mag 5 pump that has a ball valve on it so I can throttle the reactor flow down if I need to. I put about 3 cups of pellets into the reactor, which should be good for my 180. I ran the setup in a bucket of tank water for about an hour before putting the rig into the sump. I also put a few squirts of Zeo Bak into the bucket setup just to get the pellets juiced up w/ bacteria. Not sure how fast to run the pellet reactor, but I decided to turn down the flow because I had a layer of pellets along the top of the reactor, so full blast must have been too fast.
Looking for some input/advice from any pellet gurus out there. I hear enough horror stories, so lets see if anyone has had good results w/ these babies. Hopefully, I will not experience a "pre-meeting" crash, as the September meeting will be at my house.
Herb
