Biopellets out, gfo in

[kien]

Originally Posted by chef

I've been using pellets since the tank got wet a year ago. I don't have any Sps right now (that's another story). They have been offline for a few days. I'm going to j and l today to get some gfo. I'm guessing I should start real slow with it.

oops. I missed the part where you said you didn't have any SPS.

Ya, I would agree with those suggesting to keep your BP running in this case. 10dkH isn't really a problem for anything else in the tank. And again, taking BP off-line won't lower your alk.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by spit.fire

Yes and yes, I agree with the pulling it off because of high alk too as I found it will kill sps

I'm switching to kz salt once the wholesaler gets more in so I can run my biopellets again

Io has high alk as well

FYI: There has been lots of complaints on the zeovit forums of the KZ salt being high in alk.

It makes no sense because their system promotes low alk.

[kien]

Originally Posted by xenon

FYI: There has been lots of complaints on the zeovit forums of the KZ salt being high in alk.

It makes no sense because their system promotes low alk.

I have never used KZ salt, but that would seem baffling to me. It seems in most probiotic systems like BioPellets and Zeo it is recommend to run a lower dkH like 7-8. For them to have a higher alk salt seems counter to that.

[xenon]

Yep. Baffling to me also.

It's the main reason we don't keep it in stock.

[spit.fire]

Originally Posted by xenon

FYI: There has been lots of complaints on the zeovit forums of the KZ salt being high in alk.

It makes no sense because their system promotes low alk.

I'll mix up a batch and check it once I get some

If it's too high I'll just lower it

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by xenon

FYI: There has been lots of complaints on the zeovit forums of the KZ salt being high in alk.

Tested fresh mix last night, 8.2.

Link(s) please.

[spit.fire]

Originally Posted by Werbo

You don't have sps and have no problems other than alk at 9-10 dKH? I'd leave the BP online and not change anything and slowly lower your alk using a different salt.

BP use is unrelated to high alk levels

They don't cause high alk, but if used in a system with high alk they burn sps

[Doug]

May I ask, what exactly do these "bio pellets", do? I have a chance to have the reactor built into my sump while its getting done but figured no need for it.

Does it even help with phosphate or is a nitrate reducer, which I dont need?
Thanks

[kien]

Originally Posted by Doug

Does it even help with phosphate or is a nitrate reducer, which I dont need?
Thanks

Yes, yes and yes.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by Doug

May I ask, what exactly do these "bio pellets", do? I have a chance to have the reactor built into my sump while its getting done but figured no need for it.

Does it even help with phosphate or is a nitrate reducer, which I dont need?
Thanks

It eliminates a whole lot less phosphate from the system than nitrate. "biopellets" are tiny little beads of a biodegradable carbon polymer. The principle behind it being that bacteriologically, aquariums are organic carbon limited. Some guy named Redfield figured out that ocean plankton, atomically, are composed of C:N:P atoms at a ratio of 106:16:1. Since then people have extrapolated a dozen ways from Sunday to assume that all microscopic/very small ocean life consumes C, N, and P in similar ratios. While the exact ratios likely vary significantly, the relationship generally holds true.

The idea behind biopellets, or any organic carbon dosing, is that if you provide organic carbon in gross excess, it will no longer limit the growth of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, which will then consume vast quantities of nitrate, and a much smaller amount of phosphate, roughly in a ratio of 16 to 1, which then gets packaged up in a cellular vehicle that can either be eaten by a coral, or exported by a skimmer. Most people recommend directing the output of the reactor to the intake of a skimmer for this reason.

So while yes, they do consume phosphate, they consume so much nitrate relative to phosphate that nitrate usually ends up becoming a limiting nutrient. People usually find that they still need to run GFO to mop up the excess. There are people who actually dose nitrate directly to try and reduce phosphate (there's a huge thread about this on reef central), but I personally would never in a million years intentionally pour pure algae food in my tank on purpose.

vodka, vinegar, or sugar dosing works on the exact same principle, only in those cases the bacteria have the entire surface area of the tank to grow on. With biopellets the majority of the carbon supposedly stays in the reactor. More like "supposedly" stays in the reactor.

There's as many people who think biopellets are the devil for various and sundry reasons as there are people who use them.