Questions about Bio-pellets
 

I have been trying to use bio-pellets for a bit now and have had nothing but problems. I was hoping someone wiser than me could give me some pointers.

I am using a Innovative Marine MiniMax All-In-One Media Reactor - Mid Size and NPX Bioplastics for bio-pellets.

The main problem I'm having is that some of the pellets seem way lighter than the others and stick to the top of the reactor as soon as there is any flow through it. It is really finicky to adjust and I can't seem to find a right amount of flow that tumbles the pellets and also doesn't stick a ton of them to the top. I ended up taking the reactor offline after I was getting a ton of algae from the pellets clumping a ton. I can't remember what it's called when the pellets don't tumble and go bad but as soon as I took it offline all my problems went away. I tried soaking the pellets in water for awhile before adding them but that didn't help either.

I have restarted the reactor with only about a teaspoon of pellets but it's still happening. I really wanted something little that I could set and forget to help keep down nitrates but so far it hasn't turned out that way. I use Rowaphos in a phosban reactor as well for phosphates and it's working great.

Do I need a bio-pellet reactor? Is it worth the effort? Should I be using something else?

Thanks.

Check your kH first. If it's not in between 7.0-8.5, you're going to have problems including an even formation of bacterial films on each pellet.

Interesting. I don't test my KH at all. Not something I thought about. Do I need a test kit for that? I might have one kicking around from my fresh water days.

How long did you soak them for? Should be at least a day or two in water before using in the reactor. Be sure to get them tumbling immediately after pouring into the reactor, or they may start clumping. Once they are tumbling, they should be good for a long time.

And yes, should check your kH.

I definitely didn't soak them long enough. I only soaked them for an hour or so. What controls KH and what do I need to do to maintain it? I feel silly... another parameter that I wasn't checking.

Those MiniMax reactors don't do biopellets very well. I imagine it will be very finicky to get them tumbling right.

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KH is probably the single most important ion to monitor in SW aquariums. Let's put it this way, Ca, Mg, K+ too low/high? Animals become unhappy. kH out of whack? Everything dies.

Pick up a test kit for kH; I'm partial to the Salifert one. Easy to use, relatively inexpensive. You'll want a firm grip on what kH is and how it interacts with other major ions. Here is an article to get your started:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

Depending on your system you might not have to dose kh/alk as long as you change you water once a month or every few weeks. If you are considering on have a sps tank you will have to add a dosser to keep you alk stable or all you sps will not be happy. When carbon dossing / bio pellets you need to keep you parameters close to NSW If your alk gets over 9 you risk burnt tips of your sps.

Just curious, if you don't test anything in the tank, how do you know you need to use biopellets? You do know that biopellets are used to reduce nitrate and phosphate, and you don't want either one to be zero, so you could cause more trouble than good by adding biopellets if they aren't needed.

If you want SPS, you'll definitely need to buy test kits for calcium and alkalinity, and should also get magnesium. Nitrate and phosphate are also important to monitor for SPS. As already mentioned, keeping a very close eye on alkalinity is the most important parameter for SPS (aside from the tank getting too hot or something haha). I also like Salifert test kits. They are easy to use, accurate, and reasonably priced. Don't bother with kits like Nutrafin or API.

SPS are high-demand corals, some less so than others (like birdnest, poccilopora, stylopora, montipora). In order to be successful you either need horseshoes up your butt or you need to watch the water parameters. :D

Sorry for not providing all the information. This is all making me more confused.

I am dosing Calcium, Alk and Magnesium with a 2 part dosing system and an automated doser. I am testing for the above as well as phosphates (which are not measurable in my system anymore) and occasionally nitrates. My controller also measures PH. I do have pretty low nitrates but am getting some algae growth so I added bio-pellets. All other parameters are right in the range of the above mentioned article which I often consult.

What is KH and how does it interact with Alk and PH? I am having a hard time finding any info on KH specifically.