Bio-pellets I quit you!

[Dyspnea]

After 6 months of running bio pellets I will stop using them, I probably would have had better luck using marbles in my reactor. Over the last six months my tank has slowly deteriorated, algea out breaks are the man concern, but also the stunned/lack of coral growth. some frags appear very healthy, but on the flip side healthy frags die for no apparent reason, even after coming from FTOTM.

I suspected the bio-pellets were not working rather early, I've tried everything I can think of too turn things around.*

-30% water changes per month
-I've dosed zeobak, in the event I had "monoculture"
-I started only with 250mls of pellets, two weeks later I had a total of 500mls, now at the six month point I have 1 litre, but it makes little sense to buy more to replace them, for something that doesn't work.
-I've had the slowest tumble possible before my reactor will clump.
-More feedings and decreased feedings

I fell I'm at the point I may need to tear down the tank and rebuild. Hopefully not I plan to bring my refuge back online (I've alway had good results with a fuge) and possibly run GFO.

I bought into the bio pellet concept, and thought it would be better then Zeovit, based on my life style (no daily dosing,shaking). Also what sold me was the positive result the majority of user were reporting. *And when I started I was excited and positive about what was too come.

But I'm frustrated and tired and will go back to what I know.

Sorry for the long post but I needed to rant/vent

[Milad]

I've been running biopellets for about 6 months now. filled a vertex reactor with I believe 500mL

I dose zeobak, spongepower and CV weekly. I use to have cayno and its all gone, I have no other algae except the film stuff on the glass which is mainly because my lights are 2 years old and Im just about to upgrade them to LEDs.

I have had two very large corals die on me, one day they are great, next day, boom white. Not sure how that happened. The weird part is that their frags that are near by the mother colony survived fine. All the other corals seem to be growing very well.

[GMGQ]

I started biopellets in January 2011, when I had lots of hair algae issues. I originally had 250mL in a TLF150 reactor, now I have 2 reactors and just over 500mL of biopellets. Back then my Nitrates were around 25ppm.

I now have just a little bit of hair algae (probably from overfeeding, as I've added a few fish). I tested my Nitrates and Phosphates a few weeks ago, and both are at 0.

Since January, I was just 'restarting' my reef tank, so conditions were not optimal. Now just past the 4 month stage, things are slowly getting back on the right track. I know I have to change all my bulbs (but I'm saving that money to do a big DIY LED build). So I can't claim that everything started to colour up right away.

Having said that, there could have been other factors with your system, besides the biopellets. Did you test your Nitrates and Phosphates before and after the biopellets?

Regarding the tumbling, you need to have good tumbling for the whole stack. Mine clumped too, but after a week or two, the clumps finally broke down. The main thing about biopellets is patience to let them work, without changing a whole lot.

[Dyspnea]

Tumbling of my pellet has never being a issue, is has alway been gentle,in fact I haven't adjusted my reactor flow in never 3 months since I last added pellets.

As for nitrate/phos testing my test kits show 0ppm for both, but I'm highly suspicious as byopsis is coming back, hair algea, cyano and calerpa have reared the heads, prior to bio pellets all of them were absent and never a problem.

My lighting is strong and the bulbs are only 5 months old.
Skimming is strong and I empty/clean the collection cup every 2-3 days.

[christyf5]

I had problems as well. Everything turned around as soon as I took the reactor offline. They just weren't the be-all-end-all for me :neutral:

[Milad]

so interesting, some people have problems with them, some don't. Maybe its a brand issue? which brand did you guys purchase?

[GMGQ]

I'm using Two Little Fishes NPX Biopelllets.

[therealshark]

i had the same problems, algae and die off of corals. i had far better results with vodka dosing. i have since taken the pellets off line and things are turning around and colors are coming back.
i did some reading on reefcentral and found that alk plays a factor when using pellets. most are saying to keep your alk on the low side (around 7.0 to 7.5). to me its not worth the risk to try them again.
the same was said on RC, worked great for some people and poorly for others.

[ScubaSteve]

I am not a fan of biopellets. In principle they should work fantastic. Practice is a different story. Knowing the compounds used in the biopellets I am not surprised that people have issues with them, plus it is possible you create monocultures, and, ultimately, the effect you are trying to achieve with biopellets isn't good for your corals. What you are creating is a nutrient starved system with limited bacterial biodiversity and foreign chemicals... not exactly the most stable environment.

Normally I can explain this much better but it's the end of the day and I'm fried. In short, biopellets will never touch my tank. Try VSV+MB7 dosing. Works like a charm.

[therealshark]

What is the VSV?

[Dyspnea]

I used vertex pellets, I never heard about keeping alk low, but I usually keep it around 7-8.

Like I said before a fuge is so simple and low maintaince. I never had any problems and have had good results.

Oh bad part was the investment in the reactors and pellets, but I'll still make use of them, with carbon or gfo.

[ScubaSteve]

What is the VSV?

Vodka, sugar, vinegar. Helps prevent bacterial monocultures that arise out of carbon dosing. The theory goes that certain bacterial strains utilize different carbon sources. If You dose only one carbon source (like biopellets) then the bacterial strain that specializes or is more dominant in utilizing that source dominates and a monoculture arises. By adding fresh bacteria regularly and dosing multiple carbon sources you avoid this issue. By preventing monocultures you, in theory, won't need to dose bacteria (such as zeobak or MB7) as regularly to keep bacterial biodiversity.

[therealshark]

Interesting, I have alays had good luck with just vodka.
What ratio do you mix the VSV? Or do you dose them individually?
I think I may try this in my new system once it is going for awhile.

[ScubaSteve]

Interesting, I have alays had good luck with just vodka.
What ratio do you mix the VSV? Or do you dose them individually?
I think I may try this in my new system once it is going for awhile.

Sorry, I don't want to detract from the original thread. I'll gladly have a discussion if you start another thread on this topic. I've been learning quite a bit about this method recently as I'll be switching to VSV shortly. Start with the ratios published here (http://glassbox-design.com/2008/achieved-through-observation-and-experimentation/). The easiest answer is: it depends. It seems that everyone who is using this system gets slightly different results and needs to adjust the ratios accordingly. Read Sonny's site on MB& and vodka dosing. This will give you an idea where to start. There is no research saying what source does what. It will have to be through personal experimentation.

Previously I was using vodka and Vitamin C and was getting very good and interesting results but stopped that due to time commitments.

[nlreefguy]

Me neither. Although I have heard of a great many of positive results, running biopellets in my system caused more problems than it cured. I tried several different brands. Seems like they only work on certain systems. I wonder what the common thread is?

[Maverick00]

Ive been running vertex biopellets in a TLF reactor for about 5-6 months. I cant say ive seen a positive or negative change.

[wingedfish]

awesome, thanks guys. just switched to vertex-w-TLF over vodka 2 weeks ago.

In the short term it is looking promising, never have had the PE I'm getting now, color is intensifying, and glass cleaning has been cut in half. I'll stay on the positive side of the fence, but time will tell.

[vaporize]

I have the same feelings too

[RuGlu6]

Took my bio-pellets of line few eeks ago as well, did not work at all.
Had it in huge 6" wide reactor powered by main pump, so lots of tumbling lol.
But at any rate this was a total waste just like ZEO method.
So after a year and a half pellets are out of my system for good.

[globaldesigns]

The biggest problem with using them is that they are NOT used properly. Most reefers are tumbling them too aggressively.

Here is an old link to Grumpy Old Reefer, who explains things well:

http://grumpyreefer.net/2010/02/08/np-biopellets-the-story-so-far/

I myself now use a water tank water bottle modified with a 700GPH pump that slightly tumbles them in the middle, while the surrounding pellets are slightly suspended with good water flow through them without tumbling. Every few days I do tumble all the pellets with my hand, and in doing this I can tell you that the mulm production is there and wow is it ever, even better than before when I ran a reactor (Vertex & Deltec). So this DIY reactor is the best.

With the research I have done, most that are very successful, DO NOT use the common reactors like all of us are doing. They do what I now have.... A DIY Project, A Bucket with a pump and so forth.

The KEY to all pellets is having substantial surface area for them and not going crazy on the tumbling. I myself now run about 5L of pellets in my DIY.

[ALang]

Could you maybe show us exactly what you have done??
Really would like to know.
Lenny.

[Lampshade]

The KEY to all pellets is having substantial surface area for them and not going crazy on the tumbling. I myself now run about 5L of pellets in my DIY.

I'll agree with this, i had my pellets hooked up to a maxi 1200, and recently changed them over to a Tee off the main pump. I have less flow through there now, enough to keep them tumbling, but not flying around like the MJ was. This seems to work better, i also changed the outlet from my skimmer intake to my refugium at the same time, that may be the reason also, but my HA outbreak's stopped and is slowly getting under control now.

[Matman]

Maybe the biopellets consume too much potassium like in a zeo system. What salt are you using? Potassium level seems to vary a lot from one brand to the other. It might be one of the reason why some people experience degradation after a while.

I use the royal nature salt which have a 400 ppm potassium concentration which is a bit higher than NSW. Some brand have concentrations closer to 200! Other brands that have high potassium cocentration are aquavitro, brightwell and KV reef best I think.

I recentrly started to put SPS in my LPS dominated nano tank. I was planning to start the biopellets while keeping the heavy feeding of the tank in hope of keeping nice colors and growth. My nitrates are now at about 10 and phosphates at 0.15 with the use of a small refugium and GFO.

I was also thinking about trying mb7 and biofuel as an alternative. Is it really important to dose everyday for those? I'm not always at home!

[whatcaneyedo]

Same here. I keep quite a diversity of coral in a heavily fed, aggressively skimmed system. I was just hoping that I could use them instead of GFO to keep the phosphate in my system undetectable. So I tried the minimum recommended amount and then even less a second time and each time many of my soft coral began to bleach within a few weeks and my sandbed started to get covered with cyano. I can think of two things that I may have done wrong that might at least in part explain why they didn't work for me. The first was that the reactor output probably wasn't aimed well enough towards my skimmer's intake. The second was that I have not had detectable nitrate in several years. From what I've read they consume 4:1 nitrate to phosphate. But to me this still doesn't explain why 100ml of Vertex pellets would begin to kill off some of the coral in my +200gal system.

[Matman]

In fact they consume 16:1 nitrates to phosphates I think. I guess you got very limited on nitrates. In my case I would hit 0 on phosphates before. Maybe I shouldn't clean the frozen mysis shrimp before dropping them to keep some phosphates.

[Aquaria]

Same here. I keep quite a diversity of coral in a heavily fed, aggressively skimmed system. I was just hoping that I could use them instead of GFO to keep the phosphate in my system undetectable. So I tried the minimum recommended amount and then even less a second time and each time many of my soft coral began to bleach within a few weeks and my sandbed started to get covered with cyano. I can think of two things that I may have done wrong that might at least in part explain why they didn't work for me. The first was that the reactor output probably wasn't aimed well enough towards my skimmer's intake. The second was that I have not had detectable nitrate in several years. From what I've read they consume 4:1 nitrate to phosphate. But to me this still doesn't explain why 100ml of Vertex pellets would begin to kill off some of the coral in my +200gal system.

I'm pretty sure the vertex pellets say that happens because of a lack of something in the tank and it should stabilize out once it's been running for a while the instructions claim that it's old established tanks that it happens with

[Dyspnea]

I took my reactors off online last night and cleaned my sump. Today I'll be adding chateo and trying out a couple mangroves. And maybe later I'll run some GFO after my tank settles a bit. hopefully thing will turn around

The output of my bio pellet reactor was aimed towards my skimmer. I have a dark brown skimmate which needs to be empty and cleaned at least every three days.

I've alway used instant ocean, cause I can always find it. Potassium depletion may have been an issue, but I considered the possibly a supplement of some nature was lacking, and that's why I changed to 40% water changes monthly with no effect.

And I don't think tumbling was ever an issue. The first few days I ran the reactor faster than I should have, so the clumping would resolve. When clumping wasn't an issue, I decreased the flow and the pellets would rise and fall gently.

[asylumdown]

I started using biopellets after 1.5 years of running my tank and within a month my sand, rocks and glass were covered in cyano. Output was aimed directly at the skimmer, but maybe I had them tumbling too fast in the reactor. It's kind of hard to tell what 'too fast' is without physically watching the reactor of someone who is using them successfully.

I probably would have stuck it out and tried tweaking things if I hadn't needed to break down my tank, but it's food for thought for the next build.

[acropora1981]

After 6 months of running bio pellets I will stop using them, I probably would have had better luck using marbles in my reactor. Over the last six months my tank has slowly deteriorated, algea out breaks are the man concern, but also the stunned/lack of coral growth. some frags appear very healthy, but on the flip side healthy frags die for no apparent reason, even after coming from FTOTM.

I suspected the bio-pellets were not working rather early, I've tried everything I can think of too turn things around.*

-30% water changes per month
-I've dosed zeobak, in the event I had "monoculture"
-I started only with 250mls of pellets, two weeks later I had a total of 500mls, now at the six month point I have 1 litre, but it makes little sense to buy more to replace them, for something that doesn't work.
-I've had the slowest tumble possible before my reactor will clump.
-More feedings and decreased feedings

I fell I'm at the point I may need to tear down the tank and rebuild. Hopefully not I plan to bring my refuge back online (I've alway had good results with a fuge) and possibly run GFO.

I bought into the bio pellet concept, and thought it would be better then Zeovit, based on my life style (no daily dosing,shaking). Also what sold me was the positive result the majority of user were reporting. *And when I started I was excited and positive about what was too come.

But I'm frustrated and tired and will go back to what I know.

Sorry for the long post but I needed to rant/vent

I had the exact same issues, and discontinued usage about 3 months ago. Tank is still recovering. I found at least the partial cause; biopellets were contributing to extremely low pH of 7.5-7.6 at night.

I've gone back to basically just skimmer/frequent floss changes/25% water change ever other week, and corals are much happier. Also the MOUTAIN of cotton candy algae that had developed dissapeared. Too bad the feather caulerpa is now firmly anchored to my live rock.... it too is weakening though :)

[bryceschutte]

I started using biopellets after 1.5 years of running my tank and within a month my sand, rocks and glass were covered in cyano. Output was aimed directly at the skimmer, but maybe I had them tumbling too fast in the reactor. It's kind of hard to tell what 'too fast' is without physically watching the reactor of someone who is using them successfully.

I probably would have stuck it out and tried tweaking things if I hadn't needed to break down my tank, but it's food for thought for the next build.

I have had a large cyano outbreak also. GOOD BYE bio pellets!

[imcosmokramer]

wow....I was ready to start using them....now I'm having second thoughts...argh!

[GMGQ]

A bacterial bloom is normal during the initial stages of running biopellets. You should have just been patient, sucked out the cyano and ride it through.

And yes, if the tumble was too fast, the bacterial mulm wont be able to hang onto the pellets.


I started using biopellets after 1.5 years of running my tank and within a month my sand, rocks and glass were covered in cyano. Output was aimed directly at the skimmer, but maybe I had them tumbling too fast in the reactor. It's kind of hard to tell what 'too fast' is without physically watching the reactor of someone who is using them successfully.

I probably would have stuck it out and tried tweaking things if I hadn't needed to break down my tank, but it's food for thought for the next build.

[blacknife]

getting really ****ed off at the constant clumping in TLF 150 with a 550 gph powerhead pushing it.

regular cyano outbreaks. but hey i had cyano before i had pellets.

I am sure if the dammed things would just keep tumbling they would work great but every day i have to take the thing apart and stir all the white grossness up to get them tumbling again only to have them all mostly stuck again in an hour.

any ideas how to make a tlf reactor work better?
bah probably just scrap the thing and run the tank without for a bit. considering zeo but buying anything for the tank lately falls into spousal fury territory.

[apexifd]

I think the problem with clumping is due to the fact that we all use the retro fit reactor.

my nexreef reactor will clog us every few days, and pellets start to clump together.

untill I decided to remove the bottom mesh, I now have some dead spot that won't get any flow, but, beats having to clean the mesh every few days.

However I do think pellets works, I have no cyano anymore little to no hair algae. polyp extension looks really good. and I only change 30% of water every month.

At this point I am thinking of ordering a purpose build pellet reactor, like JNS pellet reactor, which create a turbulence in the chamber rather than an constant up flow current.

although, there's no local dealer here. and I may have to order it from oversea. But it might worth it.

[Wanderer]

Bio pellets are a viable method of nutrient control / elimination. The largest oversight most people have with this approach is proper … fertilization for lack of a better word. All animals require Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) in given ratios aka the Redfield ratio. potassium in a reef system is frequently overlooked as it generally is in low demand in your average system. When you look at a pro biotic system (zeovit, pellets, vsv or whatever) where you are culturing bacteria in large quantities typically potassium will run out. so that would be point number 1.

other nutrients can be in improper ratios as well too much phosphate for example will usually persist in most tanks as it is much higher in concentration in wastes than nitrate is. so in such a case, running gfo would be necessary or perhaps it might be interesting to DOSE KNO3. I'm not advocating this, simply stating that in principle it would work.


The issue of pellets clumping versus aggressive tumbling is an interesting one. I actually did a fair bit of research in university regarding the productivity and health of streams based on water velocity, substrate size and shape. This is essentially the same principle. what research has found is that in streams where the gravel beds have rounded or slightly rounded particles regardless of size, the water can actively tumble the substrate and the flow through of water is not restricted. This allows for optimal generation of micro flora and fauna which forms the basis of the trophic web.

In slow moving / borderline stagnant bodies of water the production is limited by lower levels of nutrients and oxygen or CO2 being delivered to colonies of micro fauna / flora. These areas actually aid in proliferating larger organisms which feed on the animals / plants produced in the more excited bodies of water. Additionally the slower waters tend to accumulate more detritus and nutrients via decomposition and therefore can lead to larger colonies of plants and decomposers.

Aggressively flowing water with high levels of agitation between substrate particles slough off colonies of micro organisms, sometimes prematurely. this is not necessarily beneficial to productivity. and usually results in high turbidity and low productivity in a river or stream.

so what does all this ecological mumbo jumbo mean for the reef keeper using bio pellets?

that the differentiation between given microhabitats is the key. a good flow - through of water to provide oxygen and nutrients with lower flow areas for the maturation or microorganisms and biofilms that will be sloughed off in higher flow areas. bacteria proliferate more effectively in slightly thicker bioflms, so encouraging there development to a point is beneficial. This translates to a PROPER reactor that moves the pellets around enough to prevent clumping but not so much as to retard the development of biofilms.

Its all about finding that sweet spot of flow through (proper reactor, flow rate) and nourishing the bacteria properly. Keeping your KH at the Proper levels is also necessary.

Dosing a bacterial supplement also insures the correct species of bacteria is at work on the pellets. While other methods may promote a myriad of bacterial species feeding on various carbon sources the biopellet method relies on a few bacteria species. Most of these bacteria will be removed via your skimmer when the methods are used properly. Dosing multiple carbon sources seems more complicated than it has to be. if you were to culture these many species of bacteria for feeding purposes for filter feeders, then it makes sense. For crude nutrient export, giving a limited number of bacterial species the advantage over many makes more sense, and greatly simplifies the delivery of carbon for the bacteria to consume. not to mention the benefit of having the carbon in an inert pellet confined in a reactor instead of freely available to anything within the water column.

just my two cents, as i have noticed the benefit of bio pellets myself and for once, my supremely nerdy tendencies came in useful.

[Milad]

+1 I was going to say the same thing but you beat me to it.... mmmhmm

Bio pellets are a viable method of nutrient control / elimination. The largest oversight most people have with this approach is proper … fertilization for lack of a better word. All animals require Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) in given ratios aka the Redfield ratio. potassium in a reef system is frequently overlooked as it generally is in low demand in your average system. When you look at a pro biotic system (zeovit, pellets, vsv or whatever) where you are culturing bacteria in large quantities typically potassium will run out. so that would be point number 1.

other nutrients can be in improper ratios as well too much phosphate for example will usually persist in most tanks as it is much higher in concentration in wastes than nitrate is. so in such a case, running gfo would be necessary or perhaps it might be interesting to DOSE KNO3. I'm not advocating this, simply stating that in principle it would work.


The issue of pellets clumping versus aggressive tumbling is an interesting one. I actually did a fair bit of research in university regarding the productivity and health of streams based on water velocity, substrate size and shape. This is essentially the same principle. what research has found is that in streams where the gravel beds have rounded or slightly rounded particles regardless of size, the water can actively tumble the substrate and the flow through of water is not restricted. This allows for optimal generation of micro flora and fauna which forms the basis of the trophic web.

In slow moving / borderline stagnant bodies of water the production is limited by lower levels of nutrients and oxygen or CO2 being delivered to colonies of micro fauna / flora. These areas actually aid in proliferating larger organisms which feed on the animals / plants produced in the more excited bodies of water. Additionally the slower waters tend to accumulate more detritus and nutrients via decomposition and therefore can lead to larger colonies of plants and decomposers.

Aggressively flowing water with high levels of agitation between substrate particles slough off colonies of micro organisms, sometimes prematurely. this is not necessarily beneficial to productivity. and usually results in high turbidity and low productivity in a river or stream.

so what does all this ecological mumbo jumbo mean for the reef keeper using bio pellets?

that the differentiation between given microhabitats is the key. a good flow - through of water to provide oxygen and nutrients with lower flow areas for the maturation or microorganisms and biofilms that will be sloughed off in higher flow areas. bacteria proliferate more effectively in slightly thicker bioflms, so encouraging there development to a point is beneficial. This translates to a PROPER reactor that moves the pellets around enough to prevent clumping but not so much as to retard the development of biofilms.

Its all about finding that sweet spot of flow through (proper reactor, flow rate) and nourishing the bacteria properly. Keeping your KH at the Proper levels is also necessary.

Dosing a bacterial supplement also insures the correct species of bacteria is at work on the pellets. While other methods may promote a myriad of bacterial species feeding on various carbon sources the biopellet method relies on a few bacteria species. Most of these bacteria will be removed via your skimmer when the methods are used properly. Dosing multiple carbon sources seems more complicated than it has to be. if you were to culture these many species of bacteria for feeding purposes for filter feeders, then it makes sense. For crude nutrient export, giving a limited number of bacterial species the advantage over many makes more sense, and greatly simplifies the delivery of carbon for the bacteria to consume. not to mention the benefit of having the carbon in an inert pellet confined in a reactor instead of freely available to anything within the water column.

just my two cents, as i have noticed the benefit of bio pellets myself and for once, my supremely nerdy tendencies came in useful.

[GMGQ]

I did this mod to both of my TLF150 reactors and the difference has been NIGHT AND DAY:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=505128&postcount=24

You can just gently twist off the bottom red plate, then glue the rest of the tubing together into the lid. Be sure to put a knitting mesh above the top red plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnFvIzGzxE&feature=player_embedded

(i've put in more pellets since then, the reactors are 3/4 full now).

I'm only running a MJ1200 and MJ900, and they're both choked back with 1/2" valves. 550gph sounds like major overkill!


Also regarding your clumping, it's probably due to air bubbles stuck against the pellets. My reactors are hanging on the side of the sump, so I just lift out the bottom half of the reactor, let go, and let it bang against the sump. This shakes up the reactor and releases a bunch of the micro bubbles, and reduces clumping. Short of that, you have to give it more time! If you're only waiting an hour before cracking it open and stirring it, you're just injecting more bubbles when the pump starts up again. Shake up the reactor to loosen up the bubbles, and let it tumble for 1-2 weeks. If you have enough flow (which you must, with 550gph), then the clumps will slowly disappear. PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER.


getting really ****ed off at the constant clumping in TLF 150 with a 550 gph powerhead pushing it.

regular cyano outbreaks. but hey i had cyano before i had pellets.

I am sure if the dammed things would just keep tumbling they would work great but every day i have to take the thing apart and stir all the white grossness up to get them tumbling again only to have them all mostly stuck again in an hour.

any ideas how to make a tlf reactor work better?
bah probably just scrap the thing and run the tank without for a bit. considering zeo but buying anything for the tank lately falls into spousal fury territory.

[Wanderer]

I did this mod to both of my TLF150 reactors and the difference has been NIGHT AND DAY:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=505128&postcount=24

You can just gently twist off the bottom red plate, then glue the rest of the tubing together into the lid. Be sure to put a knitting mesh above the top red plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnFvIzGzxE&feature=player_embedded

(i've put in more pellets since then, the reactors are 3/4 full now).

I'm only running a MJ1200 and MJ900, and they're both choked back with 1/2" valves. 550gph sounds like major overkill!

see that flow rate looks perfect to me.

[GMGQ]

see that flow rate looks perfect to me.

Thanks.

The other important note is to direct the output from the reactor to the intake of your protein skimmer pump. I used zip ties to hold up the tubing so that it's about an inch away from the skimmer intake, so that the output will get sucked into the skimmer.

Too much excess bacteria floating into your tank can lead to the bacteria lingering in low flow areas of your tank.

[cwatkins]

I'm going to have to do that extra mod to my TLF150 now! Never thought of removing the bottom red part. It should help my tumbling a lot!

Just going to mention that last time I tested my Po4 (w/ Hanna Checker) was at 0.09ppm and my polyp extension is super crazy!

[GMGQ]

Tip: When inserting the new modded middle tube into the reactor chamber with biopellets inside already, shove it in, screw the lid back on, hold the reactor sideways, then take a rigid tube and poke down into the middle tube to clear out the pellets stuck inside. If you dont, then when you hook up the pump, it will be totally blocked and nothing will come out of the tube. Maybe even squirt some water into it to clear the blockage.

I'm going to have to do that extra mod to my TLF150 now! Never thought of removing the bottom red part. It should help my tumbling a lot!

Just going to mention that last time I tested my Po4 (w/ Hanna Checker) was at 0.09ppm and my polyp extension is super crazy!

[blacknife]

I pulled the knitting mesh out that was The top and now everything is going fast again. I will try the glue together mod later to try to dial back to the mj1200.

[blacknife]

bottom piece removed and the other pieces glued together.

everything was flying around so much i had to tune it down to the 1200.

now to give it a few weeks to stabilize and perhaps put a bit more pellets in at some point.

[asylumdown]

A bacterial bloom is normal during the initial stages of running biopellets. You should have just been patient, sucked out the cyano and ride it through.

And yes, if the tumble was too fast, the bacterial mulm wont be able to hang onto the pellets.

Thanks, they're not totally off the list for the next build. I've got space in my future sump for the TLF 550 and an almost full bag of vertex biopellets, so there's a really solid chance they're on the menu. I would for sure have kept them running in my 90 if I hadn't needed to have broken it down.

I will hopefully have years of tweaking in the next tank ;)