Quote:
Originally Posted by kien
Are you just starting up the biopellets now or have you been running them for a while? If you are just starting them up then they will not filter your tank quickly. It can take weeks for the pellets to seed and do there thing. So just plopping new biopellets in today or tomorrow or even this weekend won't "filter/clean" your tank immediately. You can put the biopellets in a different reactor like a TLF 150 or some other media reactor that you might be able to find at your LFS.
If your phosphates are high you can throw some GFO in a filter bag and let it sit in your sump. You will have to aggitate the bag often though. This isn't the ideal approach but will work in a pinch if you're desperate and having phosphate issues. Ideally they should be fluidized in a reactor though.
Bio pellets are marketed with the ability to strip your tank of Nitrates and Phosphates so in theory you don't need to run GFO. However, that has not been my experience with them. I have to run GFO and biopellets together in order to eliminate phosphates in my tank. I know of people who are successfully using biopellets to strip phosphates and nitrates from their tanks though.
Biopellets are not a replacement for carbon. They are both used for two different purposes. Again, in a pinch you can always put carbon in a bag and dunk it in your sump if you don't have a fluidized reactor on hand.
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Hi Kien! I actually do not have biopellets or a biopellet reactor - I have the BRS dual Carbon and GFO reactor that is not running properly. I have the cobalt maxi jet pump that BRS sells with the dual reactor as a whole unit. They think there is a faulty canister and are sending me a new one to see if that solves the problem - the water is simply not moving through the unit.
So if I could put filter socks in my sump let me ask you this: Instead, I have a tetra filter (this one to be exact
http://www.aquariumguys.com/whisperpower2.html)
And I have the bulk containers of GFO & Carbon. Could I take the gfo and carbon and stuff some in a pair of pantyhose, one "sock" for carbon and one "sock" for GFO and stick them in either side of this tetra filter and turn it on until I can buy a proper filtration system? This way water is running through the bags rather than them just floatin around in the sump... If you think it makes no difference can I still stick the carbon and GFO in pantyhose and stick them in my sump? Or do I have to go out and actually buy little filter socks? Can you tell I'm new at this?!