Are Bio Pellets becoming a thing of the past?

[Dennis Cartier]

Methanol, acetic acid

As Randy mentioned, NOPOX is Ethanol and Acetic Acid with trace amounts of Methanol and Isopropanol. The Methanol and Isopropanol are not needed and are only impurities. In the original thread on RC, I worked out my own recipe that used stove alcohol, as vodka (ethanol) locally costs as much as NOPOX to buy. The stove alcohol I used had a bit more methanol than in the NOPOX recipe (90% ethanol, 10% methanol), but I used it for a year or so and had no issues with it.

Dennis

 

[redfishbluefish]

Correct me if I’m wrong sir but isn’t NOPOX basically Vodka and Vinegar?

Methanol, acetic acid

NOPOX is "basically" Vodka (Ethanol) and Vinegar (Acetic Acid)......with a pinch of methanol and isopropanol to keep folks from drinking it (actually being taxed as drinkable booze).

 

[gobeach]

I used bio pellets with great success, but kept getting frustrated with the reactors. Once the pellets get smaller, the reactors get clogged and I was annoyed with the increased maintenance. I switched to dosing vinegar with a dosing pump, I dose in small amounts once an hour so there is no significant affect on my pH. Several times my Vinegar ran empty and I can see the difference with some crud on my sand - so I keep filling it up. I've also added a Marine Pure block into my sump, I've been a student for the past several years and at times have gone over a month with no water change - the tank, and it's inhabitants are doing remarkably well given my lack of attention. It's been a great lesson in recognizing that stability in my tank is more important than anything else.

 

[Bug235]

I been using ECOBAK PLUS pellets in my 150 mixed Reef with great results. Took about two months to see my nitrates under great control and I have 14 fish and feed 3 times a days. I also use purigen? In my sump and chemipure Blue. NO3 around 5-10 usually towards the lower end and the reactor exhaust hose I have going into my skimmer intake.

 

[Bug235]

I have no issues with reactor clogging up these pellets just dissolve. I’ll try the find reactor name but it was a Asian brand

 

[Bug235]

Here is a picture of it the best I can do

 

[pa30crewchief]

There are many other carbon additions into the tank from the food pellets and frozen shrimp I feed my 450l reef aquarium.

I do not dose NOPOX (Carbon) on a schedule. Rather when I seen some bacteria(?) on the sand bed I dose 4ml NOPOX and within a day the sandbed surface clears up. This is maybe once a week.

Sump has an oversized skimmer, carbon reactor and a fluidized reactor with biopellets plumbed into the skimmer. I do a partial biopellet replacement approx 3-4 months. This seems to work fine for me although I have no evidence the biopellets are actually contributing to the metabolism of nutrients. A refugeum with Chaeto is super productive with clumps being removed weekly. Netween the filter socks, skimmer (fed by fluidized reactor with biopellets) and chaeto there is effective nutrient export.

I dose (using Apex DOS) Sodium Bicarbonate and Alk is maintained at 9 - 10 dKh, Calcium Chloride is dosed and is steady around 430ppm. Mg issteady at 1350ppm with very rare additions (once a year maybe). PH (as per Apex) varies from 8.1 (morning) to 8.4 (late afternoon). I use soda lime on the skimmer air intake to help drive up pH. These days I find I am adding RO water to maintain Salinity so it may be time for a water change.

 

[Shigshwa]

I carbon dosed with biopellets for about half a year. At that time, I did not know that running the reactor without controlling the flow would strip my tank too clean of nitrates. While I had awesome nitrate and phosphate numbers for what was trendy at the time (0 across the board), I did not feed enough to make up for it, and my corals paled out and did not even encrust their plugs for most of that time. After rebuilding my reactor to recirculate, I was fighting with tuning the flow rate to stabilize my nutrient levels, and got tired of it, so I decided to rebuild the sump and run chaeto instead.

As others have said, carbon dosing will lower pH. I maxed out at 8.1 during the peak of the photoperiod. With chaeto, I can still maintain about 5 NO3 and 0.4 PO4, and I now peak out at nearly 8.4 for pH.

I think biopellets and other methods of carbon dosing are legitimate methods still, but especially with biopellets, you must have a way to limit the effluent to prevent stripping the water out. It would help to dose kalk to give a pH boost too, if it drops to the low side. The popularity of biopellets may have fallen because of people running their reactors unrestricted, only to face problems down the road, and then they label it as a bad method of carbon dosing.

 

[maxwell]

Hi
I have used pellets for the past 3 years in a circulating reactor and can adjust the o/p here's a pic of the tank with good growth and colour.
Bill

 

[wackyreefer]

Hi
I have used pellets for the past 3 years in a circulating reactor and can adjust the o/p here's a pic of the tank with good growth and colour.
Bill

results speak for themselves. Thanks for sharing bill

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, my aged brain must be failing me.....I thought Sherminator (sp??) from that other site, stated no methanol....but you certainly know better than I. Thanks for clarifying.

He mentions it here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2408985&page=6

 

[Luno]

Tried biopellet reactor didn't go well. Moved to a recirculating reactor worked better but still was a little bit not right. Back to dosing vinegar all is good

 

[HiddenUser]

Do you have your bio-pellet reactor's output going into a protein skimmer?

Kind of...The newer reactors from Reef Octopus overflow out the top. I have it placed into the chamber of my sump that precedes the chamber where my skimmer is located. I'm running the BioReact 150 w/ Varios 2 pump. I previously used the BR3000SS reactor and it would never keep a decent tumble for me. I'm pretty pleased with the redesign thus far.

 

[JasPR]

welcome to the hobby! there is no doubt that the hobby has evolved 3000% since I bought my first trigger fish in 1977! But what I have also witnessed is an avalanche of products being sold to newbies in order to address three things-- poor perspective, bad husbandry and weak maintenance technique. " additives" are real and in come cases necessary. But the popular media, chemical or technique of the month is consumer driven and a commercial for profit. Only time and experience vet out the miracle of the day from the valuable addition to the hobby. IMHO of course.

 

[Servillius]

Correct me if I’m wrong sir but isn’t NOPOX basically Vodka and Vinegar?

I think they say it’s a blend of methanol, arctic acid and ethanol or some such.

 

[jasonrusso]

I've never been a fan of biopellets for several reasons, most apparent of which is that it is harder to control the "dose" and very difficult to control the timing of its consumption (and the follow on effects of lower pH).

Don't biopellets kind of self regulate? The pellets are a food source for bacteria, so if there is no available food (nitrates) then wouldn't the bacteria population die off. The pellets would then just tumble until the bacteria feeds off of them.

When my nitrates were high the pellets seemed to be consumed faster, now they last a long time.

 

[HiddenUser]

Don't biopellets kind of self regulate? The pellets are a food source for bacteria, so if there is no available food (nitrates) then wouldn't the bacteria population die off. The pellets would then just tumble until the bacteria feeds off of them.

When my nitrates were high the pellets seemed to be consumed faster, now they last a long time.

That was somewhat of my understanding as well. I also thought I had read some information that those who started out with lower or near 0 levels of nitrates and phosphates would notice that it would take significantly longer before the pellets became 'seeded' and did anything in terms of further reducing nitrate and phosphate levels.

Same type of concept of adding food to our tanks if we're running fallow or cycling in that the beneficial bacteria still have a food source.

 

[Shigshwa]

Don't biopellets kind of self regulate? The pellets are a food source for bacteria, so if there is no available food (nitrates) then wouldn't the bacteria population die off. The pellets would then just tumble until the bacteria feeds off of them.

When my nitrates were high the pellets seemed to be consumed faster, now they last a long time.

I think they still decompose regardless, releasing excess carbon in the water. I had no issues with a non-recirculating reactor until the half year mark, when my tank exploded with dinos and had a hard white film on the glass, possibly a sign of the biopellets finally releasing more than what the bacteria needs.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Don't biopellets kind of self regulate? The pellets are a food source for bacteria, so if there is no available food (nitrates) then wouldn't the bacteria population die off. The pellets would then just tumble until the bacteria feeds off of them.

When my nitrates were high the pellets seemed to be consumed faster, now they last a long time.

Yes, but that stopping point may well be below a desirable level of nitrate (or above it if you are not using enough). The same could be said for nearly any export method, but in reality, the stopping point is rarely exactly where we want it.

 

[Hitman]

Hi
I have used pellets for the past 3 years in a circulating reactor and can adjust the o/p here's a pic of the tank with good growth and colour.
Bill

Wow that looks great!