NP pellets and bleaching events

Delphinus · #1 11-11-2011, 02:47 AM

Ugh .. this has not been my couple of weeks lately.

I added biopellets to my tank a couple weeks ago. Today I notice my mini-maxi carpet is bleaching. When I tried pellets (in fact, it may be the same batch of pellets now that I think of it) on my carpet tank a while back (summer 2010) I noticed my carpets bleached then too. They eventually recovered, although it was months later.

That's far too coincidental. I think that I was using "NPX extreme" or something - not the typical pellets which had worked well for me prior, but some kind of smaller-but-more-surface-area variety.

Obviously the stuff is going to go into the trash can.

I seem to recall that others had reported inexplicable bleaching in LPS with pellets. Does anyone else have any stories to relate? Personally I am suspecting the smaller pellets but thinking that the regular pellets, given their widespread adoption out there (I think?? anyhow? Seems to me people are using them with success) that this is not a typical problem with the regular pellets.

Interestingly I would suggest it doesn't seem to be that it has reduced nutrients too aggressively. I'm not sure what's all going on lately but one problem I'm tracking is that nitrates are suddenly climbing aggressively (one of the reasons I added the pellets .. I thought maybe I was overfeeding a bit but there seems to be a bit of a disconnect there). But.. I guess that's getting off topic. I'm more curious about who's noticed bleaching in anemones and/or LPS with pellets and if they remember specifically what brand or type of pellet they were using at the time..

Wayne · #2 11-11-2011, 02:54 AM

My kenya tree bleached when I started NP pellets and now that you mention it my maxi mini might be bleached from NP pellets... I am now trying Prodibio (started today)

Parker · #3 11-11-2011, 03:13 AM

I did notice some bleaching in my tank awhile ago while using NP Biopellets, but I believe that was due to my feeding levels. BP can and will strip your tank pretty clean. I now feed heavier, I don't rinse my food and I dose a few zeo products (some AA,s) and things are starting looking good again.

It also might be worth mentioning I transitioned from NP Pellets to the Vertex pellets.

Delphinus · #4 11-11-2011, 03:23 AM

I thought at first it was about stripping the tank too clean too, but basically it just hasn't had a chance to happen yet. Nitrates are >25ppm. Tank is a mess of hair algae, I put the pellets on in an effort TO help reduce nitrates.

I ran biopellets on my old 110g cube and never had a problem, but I used the regular pellets there.

Casey8 · #5 11-11-2011, 03:32 AM

I was using Vertex bio pellets for about 6 months. I lost more than 2/3 of my sps corals, thay were bleaching so fast that I couldn't save any frag from all my colonies. I didn't have any clue why my corals got bleached untill I decided to shut down those pellets, whatever sps corals I have left, they had turned back to their true color in just a couple weeks. Big lesson, I won't use them anymore in the future to control nitrate. I'd rather do water change more often.

Wayne · #6 11-11-2011, 03:34 AM

Hum maybe these pellets are better suited to FOWLR tanks

Parker · #7 11-11-2011, 03:57 AM

If I remember correctly, the instructions say to us 1000 ml per 200 gallons and I'm using 1000ml for 350 gallons split between two reactors. One tumbling fast and one slow.

The Grizz · #8 11-11-2011, 04:23 AM

I have never had any thing bleach in my tank & I am using 1000 ml for appox. 225 gal total volume, one reactor feed by a 2500 gph pump.

Also on the package it states not recommended to use in conjunction with Phosphate removers, ozone injection or UV.

Rogue951 · #9 11-11-2011, 06:45 PM

I'm using about a cup in my 60 gallon (by volume, 40 display) and the only coral that I've had bleach, though not confirmed from pellets, is my duncan colony. turned white then a while later back to it's peachy skin and green mouths.

Also have noticed while Algae isn't dying, it is not spreading on my rocks, just where it's already growing.

Delphinus · #10 11-11-2011, 06:52 PM

That is interesting .. Now that you mention it, I seem to recall that in 2010 when my carpets bleached, so too did my Duncan and a bunch of my Acans. The bubble coral and a plate coral however were fine the whole time.

What brand pellets are you using?

This time my acans (the same ones) and the Duncans (also the same colony) did not bleach .. at least not yet. Nor the two gigantea carpets for that matter. Just the one mini-maxi carpet. It's hard to speculate what would happen if I left the pellets on, I've decided not to chance it. I'll deal with the NO3 by some other means.