Biopellets and GFO--is GFO useless?

[Paolissimo]

I feel like I am asking a stupid question but my understanding is Bio Pellets will remove phosphates and nitrates, GFO only removes phosphates. I don't have neither, but i was searching the forum to learn a bit about the two methods, and it seems that Bio Pellets is the way to go. For the people that use Bio Pellets, what is your set up, do you have a GFO reactor or did you get rid of it?
Thank you

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Theres never such a stu*** question. We always learn something new everyday. Maybe the question you have is something new to everyone.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

It really depends on the tank. Some might need both while others may need one or the other.

 

[LatinP]

Bio pellets are relatively new and when used properly in the right reactor it can be a good replacement for GFO, BUT there is a science to getting to right and something as simple as using the wrong reactor could have negative results. Unless your experienced or really don't care if you wipe a tank I would recommend starting with gfo and carbon which is much easier to setup and get going.

Edit: Here is a good read if you're going to give the biopellets a try:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/chemistry/87051-bio-pellet-update.html

 

[Alex]

Bio pellets are relatively new and when used properly in the right reactor it can be a good replacement for GFO, BUT there is a science to getting to right and something as simple as using the wrong reactor could have negative results. Unless your experienced or really don't care if you wipe a tank I would recommend starting with gfo and carbon which is much easier to setup and get going.

Edit: Here is a good read if you're going to give the biopellets a try:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/chemistry/87051-bio-pellet-update.html

Post your question on that thread, Also do a search for bio pellets and take a look. You will get many different answers.

 

[Paolissimo]

Thanks guys, definitely not experienced with reactors. Alex I will read that post, and post my questions there.
Thank you.

 

[batt600]

Bio pellets are good at removing N03 but not good a removing P04 thats why thay came out with there own P04 remover thats rechargable . So if your going to us Pellets run GFO with it.

 

[James]

Paolissimo, I would suggest doing serious research before you decide to use biopellets. I personally think they often do much more harm than good. GFO and carbon are all a lot of people run in reactors and those people often have nice tanks.

 

[Paolissimo]

my tank doesn't really have any nitrate or phosphate issues, just the usual diatom that I have to scrape, it has a very light bioload, which probably explains why the low reading. Right now I am just trying to learn the pro and cons between the two. From what I gather so far, is that if I have a good skimmer, they are not that complicated to operate, and they are not that expensive. The media seems to last for a long time and the reactor it self is around $50 (of course there are more expensive one).
James I saw your tank, and it was beautitul (the frags you gave are growing, didn't even lose the frags that broke off, birdnest is branching out, didn't think it would but it's growing)do you use a GFO reactor? What was under your tank?
Thanks again

 

[charliethetuna88]

I run both and I feel like the bio pellets are a gimmick gf Def works for phos .

 

[Widdy]

Don't know about it being a gimmick. Been running NPX for about 6 months now, and undetectable N&P. Salifert Nitrate and Hanna Phosphate Colorimeter (cheap, green egg one). I think Biopellets strips the water way too efficiently. Would work incredibly for a FOWLR system, but for a reef quite a bit of fine tuning is required. Personally, I don't think the amount recommended on the container is remotely the amount needed. I would say 1/4 - 1/2 the recommended amount to start for at least 2-3 months and tweak as needed. But we all have different tanks, nor do I benefit financially by suggesting a lower recommended amount. YMMV.

I've read the reason that GFO is suggested to run in parallel to BPs is because No3 uptake occurs much faster than PO4. In reading, quite a few times people reference the Redfield Ratio of an estimate of 16:1 (N) but that's for phytoplankton. In a bacterial sense, I've seen it mentioned as 10:1. Without the presence of nitrates, the remainder PO4 will not be consumed. There's how I interpret it, perhaps someone that's more qualified can shed more light on this.

 

[ming]

Without the presence of nitrates, the remainder PO4 will not be consumed.

That's exactly how I interpreted it.

 

[batt600]

Pellets work thats a fact.. But if you use it wrong it will cause problems, That alot of reefers that used it and almost crashed there tank happened . You have to read up on it and take it slow , Slow amounts of pellets first and added bac dosing will help seed the pellets like MB7 and add new pellets every 2 week will be the safe way of introducing pellets to your system.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

+1 Widdy that's pretty much my understanding of it.

It depends on the tank. Some people may need to supplement the pellets with phosphate media in order to bring those levels down while others will not. The big problem I see with pellets is that while they do work, there's really no actual dose for tanks as each one will require a different amount to function properly. The pellets are a food source so regardless of what your levels actually are a certain amount of bacteria will populate and if it isn't on par with the needs of the tank the results will be less than desirable, you just have to experiment and start with less than what you think you'll need. That's my understanding of it.

 

[NYreefNoob]

im over a year into using pellets, i do not run carbon or phosban, there is no gimmick to them, and as widdy stated they consume no3 faster then po4, i use to dose vodka before going to the pellets and my system was use to a carbon source, for me i use the vertex pf15 reactor, and the vertex pellets, i do have a decent amount of fish and feed 3 cubes a night to my tank as well as i have a oversized skimmer

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Happy with the NPX pellets myself but it does state that you may have to use a separate Reactor to get your PO4 down only if you're over feeding and such.

 

[James]

James I saw your tank, and it was beautitul (the frags you gave are growing, didn't even lose the frags that broke off, birdnest is branching out, didn't think it would but it's growing)do you use a GFO reactor? What was under your tank?
Thanks again

Great to hear about your frags
I run Gfo, carbon and a cone skimmer. I do 15%ish weekly water changes with esv salt. For me, that works and is easy. I'm not saying biopellets dont work, but I know people who definitely know what they are doing and still almost crashed their tanks...do your research is all I can advise, I have 0 first hand experience with biopellets so take my comments with caution but do your due diligence before jumping in.

 

[charliethetuna88]

I have 200 gallon total water volume in my system I'm running one bag of pellets in my 550 tlf reactor maybe I'm not using enough pellets ? My nitrates are 15 since I've been running them about a year ago .what can I be doing wrong if after a year no change ? I hsve perfect tumbling

 

[Wesley]

Sounds like you don't have enough bacteria in the reactor. Need to add more pellets.

 

[NYreefNoob]

charlie if you would like to talk about the pellets shoot me ur number, much easier then writing a essay on here