Biopellet reactor - Yes or NO???

[NC2WA]

good discussion..let's keep it going.

I have a biopellet reactor for the sole purpose of all the fish that I have (or will have-some are still in QT) in my tank..it is used to control PO4..period..
I also have a UV sterilizer along with ozone...for the angelfish I have, I need top water quality..it is a tradeoff I am willing to do...once I get my UV up and running again, I will be using the ozone not as much, but will be on.

 

[Ichthys]

I guess if you want to spend your time in the hobby looking for problems or looking for a excuse to buy another piece of equipment, then more power to you.
The op said he was not having issues, but was wondering if he should add another piece of equipment.
IMO, the less moving parts, the less chance of problems.

Marty, you have one of the most beautiful tanks on this board. Your 240 is truly stunning. Your 180 and then your 240 have long been acknowledged as one of the best softie tanks in the area. You once said "It's just a plain old softy tank. Seems to run itself. In fact it's a basic berlin tank". I love that, and keeping it simple has worked well for you, but even you have made improvements in equipment over time. You started with the ASM G4, you upgraded or modded the pumps, upgraded again to a BM250 and then to a OBD Skimmer. You upgraded your lighting from mh and vho to the Radions, but through all your upgrades, your driving theory has seemed to be keeping it simple and low maintenance so you don't have to be tied to it everyday. That approach works well with a softie tank. I suppose before offering the advice I did to the OP, i should have asked what he was planning on keeping. If he was upgrading to a 125 with predominant softies, then I would agree that the less "moving parts" the better. If he intends on going with thousands of dollars in SPS, then it may be wise to "buy another piece of equipment".

 

[mfinn]

Marty, you have one of the most beautiful tanks on this board. Your 240 is truly stunning. Your 180 and then your 240 have long been acknowledged as one of the best softie tanks in the area. You once said "It's just a plain old softy tank. Seems to run itself. In fact it's a basic berlin tank". I love that, and keeping it simple has worked well for you, but even you have made improvements in equipment over time. You started with the ASM G4, you upgraded or modded the pumps, upgraded again to a BM250 and then to a OBD Skimmer. You upgraded your lighting from mh and vho to the Radions, but through all your upgrades, your driving theory has seemed to be keeping it simple and low maintenance so you don't have to be tied to it everyday. That approach works well with a softie tank. I suppose before offering the advice I did to the OP, i should have asked what he was planning on keeping. If he was upgrading to a 125 with predominant softies, then I would agree that the less "moving parts" the better. If he intends on going with thousands of dollars in SPS, then it may be wise to "buy another piece of equipment".

First, thank-you for the compliments.
Second you are right about the end goal.
I suppose my drive to keep it simple sometimes ( always?) clouds my advice.

 

[Ichthys]

lol, no, i think we all just naturally speak from our own perspective. Its normal. I read your thread, something i truly appreciate is how you talked about having to be away for work sometimes for weeks, and you have designed things to make it easy and less time intensive for your wife to care for while you are away. Thats smart, and considerate, and ends up making for an awesome softie display.
Heres an interesting twist to all this.. Guerry had a predominant SPS tank with LOTS of gadgets, and here is a comment from him made earlier today

.... I pulled the plug on all cabon dosing removed as many as 5 diffent reactors leaving only my SRO6000 skimmer for filtation and the funny thing is tank started looking better after a few months of no water changes or me doing anything for that matter. So now days it's just simple and no more trick of the week reef keeping for me, ..... thanks Guerry

 

[mfinn]

I saw that post as well this morning.

I had to smile a little.

I still think husbandry and water changes are the most important resource for maintaining any kind of tank.

 

[Maxx]

I've been running an Avast Marine Bio Pellet reactor for almost two years. I've seen no measurable benefit.
The bio pellets have not visibly decreased in size since being introduced when the reactor was first started.

I've been leaning towards removing the bio pellets and using it to run either GAC or phosban or the generic equivalent.

 

[1guydude]

I took a bio pellet reactor off line and saw a decent amount of algae growth lol. I'm now trying and playing around with diff.brands.
D

 

[itche_scratche]

I ran biopellet, GFO, Macro, and skimmer. Just because i have a very high bio-load. Lot of fish.
If you decide to use biopellet, start very slow. I started mine with 1/5 of recommended and increase slowly.