Recommended amount of bio-pellets wrong?

[Bosco]

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that most of the manufacturer's recommended amounts of bio-pellets are wrong? I use about 250 ml of them for my 125 gal tank (plus a 55 gal sump) and they are keeping my nitrates at 0. This amount is about one third of what the manufacturer recommends. I had very bad nitrates (50 ppm) but a small amount of pellets is all I needed. To me using more than is needed just increases the risk of problems, like clumping.

 

[tat2z_21]

Do you have a small bio load? If so this would be why. I do not understand why they rate it only based upon gallon size, though this is important I believe that it should state:

250ml bio pellet =
125 gallon light bio load,
80 gallon moderate bio load
55 gallon heavy bio load

Somebody correct me if I am wrong.

 

[1guydude]

I was using two lil fishies pellets i think till i broke down recently. I didnt look at the ratings, only prices lol.
Anyways i think bio pellets are still new and many hobbyist dont even know if they work. I think they do. I was using 250ml in a 4" dia reactor.
I was about 2/3 the reccomended dosage i think. I read some tanks do better and others see no improvement.
I like tatz idea!
D

 

[Bosco]

I have a heavy bio load. 12 fish and three of them are quite big. (foxface rabbitfish , hippo tank and a chocolate tang, 3 anthias, one mandarin, two clowns, a coral beauty , a flame angel and a wrasse but the 250 ml of bio-pellets does the job in my 125 gal. I am diligent with water changes which obviously helps. (At least 30% every week.)

 

[tat2z_21]

That is diligent with the water changing. The way I understand a bio pellet reactor, is that the pellets are a food source for the bacteria, in which the bacteria rapidly reproduce. If there is not some kind of external nitrates coming into the reactor you will get bacteria bloom, then rapid die off. Which will leave you with unwanted cyano, and other negative side effects. Have you noticed any Cyano outbreaks, or other nuissance algaes, if you have it is because your reactor is a bacteria making machine, and the tank does not have enough nutrients to sustain them. So then it becomes a cycle, the bacteria in the reactor reproduce, then die off, then they have food again so they reproduce some more, and then die off again, and again. I know you say you have a large bio load, but remember that your rock does esssentially the same thing as far as bacterial breakdown of nutrients, so your reactor and your live rock are competing. I hope someone out there has a better explanation, and can correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Bosco]

I am not sure if you are right about live rock and bio-pellets competing. I understood that the pellets provide an organic carbon source like vodka dosing does. Live Rock does not provide such a source. Without a carbon source like vodka or pellets the nitrogen cycle is incomplete, no matter how much live rock you have. The cycle converts ammonia to nitrites, then to nitrates but the final step to nitrogen (gas or solid) doesn't happen because the bacteria that do this need a carbon source, which is missing in most acquariums. The carbon source (pellets or vodka or vinegar etc) just enable denitrifying bacteria to get established. That is why it is important to "seed" the pellets with Microbacter 7 or like products because if you don't introduce the bacteria you want, the ones you don't want (like cyano) will flourish with the new carbon source. I have never had a cyano breakout using pellets and I think it is because I seed them with the bacteria I want.

 

[tat2z_21]

I do see what you are saying, but I believe I may have put it wrong. Your live rock bacteria does infact break down nitrites, because of the anaerobic and aerobic bacteria through out your system. And from what I understood, which it could be wrong, but the reactor will out compete the live rock for organic nutrients and therefore the bacteria on the rocks may suffer. If the food source in the display is minimized then couldn't there be die off. The carbon source that the live rock bacteria gets comes from undesolved organics, proteins, or amino acids, produced by your livestock. All of which is taken by the reactor because of the efficiency of the reactor. I do understand that seeding your reactor is good, but in the end it is the strain that reproduces the fastest that is going to take over.

 

[Bosco]

Tat, I still don't get the problem you raised. Yes, Live Rock does break down nitrites because bacteria forms on it that does this. This bacteria uses nitrites and oxygen to to do this. The end product of these bacteria is nitrates. The bacteria we try to establish using bio pellets (or vodka) don't use these nutrients at all. They use the nitrates (produced by the live rock as above) some phosphates (always present in tanks) and organic carbon (which comes from the pellets) to finish the nitrogen cycle and produce nitrogen. Therefore the bacteria that arise from using bio-pellets don't "compete" with the bacteria in live rock at all, as they use different nutrients. In fact bio-pellets (or vodka etc) help complete the cycle that the live rock starts but can't finish.

 

[Solov]

Cyano doesn't need extra carbon source it primarily uses CO2 for it. I am not sure whether it's benefited by bio-pellet carbon source. If it is I would assume you'd get a ton of cyano in reactor itself, which I've never heard of.

 

[1guydude]

I know starting bio pellets will get a cycle going... u r supposed to add slowly over time. Also the outport should b at a skimmer for good export of nitrates and gunk. The reduction in phosphates and nitrates should show water clarity and algae eventual loss imo. Also the pellets work like the bubbles in a skimer chamber kinda .... stuff sticks to it and the pellets disolve over time. Basically more.room for the bacteria to grow. Note* not technical terms.

 

[1guydude]

I think u could run as much pellets as ur reactor and pump could handle with no ill effects. Like using to much LR or a giant fuge on a tank.
-d

 

[senji]

no you cant devin too much will crash you tank as it is exactly like vodka doseing. why u start with verry little then work up and will thow ur tank into a mini cycle. normally sand turns brown for 2-3 weeks and have to scrape glass. but i wun a gfo reactor as well and still seen a mini cycle that lasted a month. our tanks live in perfect harmony. as soon as we change a variable on anything. the tank has to balance out the harmony. sometimes with ill effects. MOTHER NATURE!!.

 

[senji]

also bio pellots are super concentrated carbon that slowly breaks down and doses the tank. nuthing like a skimmer. man this is all stuff mojo taught me. figured hed teach u that too devin??

 

[kpiotrowski]

ohhhhh....bother!