3reef Community Bio Pellet Review

I just thought I would start a thread so maybe we could share our experiences with Biopellets. TIA for participating. If anyone sees that I left out any pertinent info please feel free to add.;D8) K+ To all who paticipate!!


Tank water volume:

Filtration:

Lighting:

Water Parameters:

Fish/invert stock:


Feeding schedule:

Additives being used:

Types of corals in your system:

Brand of BP's being used:

Type/brand BP Reactor:

How much BP's are you using:

How long have you been using BP's:

Reason/reasons for using BP:


Please share your experience with BP's:

 

Tank water volume: 135 gallon display + 20 gal fuge + sump w 15 gallons

Filtration:skimmer + filter pad + sometimes carbon + 150 lbs live rock + chaeto in fuge

Lighting: 6 bulb T-5s

Water Parameters: PH 8.0 - 8.3, DKH - 10, calcium 420, Nitrates - 15, phosphates -0 - .25 (hard for me to read my test), Mg - 1350, salinity 1.025

Fish/invert stock:see signature


Feeding scheduleellets and flake around 2:00 pm and 2 cubes frozen in evening (mix it up between brine, mysis, angel/butterfly, and emerald cuisine) along with nori. i also feed a different coral food every other day

Additives being used:BRS 2-part including magnesium

Types of corals in your system:mixed reef (sps, lps, and softies)

Brand of BP's being used: eco-bak

Type/brand BP Reactor:Nextreef smr1

How much BP's are you using:750 - 850 ml

How long have you been using BP's: since August 21, 2011

Reason/reasons for using BP:to lower nitrates


Please share your experience with BP's: My nitrates had reached 20 and rising. i added the reactor and unfortunately the chaeto in the fuge started dying. The fuge was downstream from the reactor and i am just guessing that the bio-pellets were the cause. I think that due to the dying chaeto, my nitrates climbed to 40. I pulled the chaeto (except for a hand full) around three weeks ago and my nitrates have slowly dropped to 15 (tested this past weekend). Right now the jury is out. i will see if it continues to drop and stays close to 0 before i endorse. I also need a better test for my phosphates so that i know where i stand there. Since the bacteria needs phosphates as well as nitrates, my understanding is that my nitrates will stop dropping if my phosphates are at 0. Anyway, that's where i stand. I should add that i am also trying to eliminate some unwanted algae in the DT (bubble and bryopsis).

Thanks for this thread, i look forward to the other posts.

Update: tested 11/27/11 and the nitrates have dropped to 10. dropping slowly but dropping.

update: tested 12/11/11 and the nitrates are at 5 and the phosphates are between 0 and .03. This is with increased feeding.

Update: tested 1/3/12 and the nitrates and phosphates tested 0. However, i still have some unwanted algae growing in my DT (bubble and bryopsis) so not where i want to be yet. i do feel safe at this point in saying that i feel the bio-pellets are effective.

 

Tank water volume:90 gallon display-20 gallon sump

Filtration:ASM G1X skimmer,BRS Carbon reactor,

Lighting:4x54w T5HO

Water Parameters:Alk.9,Calcium 450,Mag1500,Nitrate 20,Phosphate.30

Fish/invert stock:Mandarin Goby,Tomini Tang,Hancock Blenny,2 Chromis,4 Nassarius snails,1Emerald crab,


Feeding schedule:Once a day,rotate between,Flakes,Angel Formula 2,Mysis,

Additives being used: Dr. Tims Waste Away,BRS 2 Part w/Mag.

Types of corals in your system:LPS,Softies,

Brand of BP's being used: Dr.Tims NP Pearls

Type/brand BP Reactor:BRS BP Reactor with MJ 1200

How much BP's are you using:1/2 cup

How long have you been using BP's:10/27/2011

Reason/reasons for using BP:Looking for lower maintenance nutrient export. Have small outbreak of Bubble algae.


Please share your experience with BP's: So far I have been amazed at the difference these have made in my tank. My skimmer is pulling out black nasty foulness.(pictures to come) My Nitrates have already dropped to 15 my Phosphate is at .20 . Any patches of macro have faded and died already.I took some pictures of my tank on startup and after these have run for a little longer I will post the before/after shots.
I have not seen any cloudiness and to the contrary my water has never looked so clean. I did get a Cyano bloom for a few days after I started but after consulting with Dr. Tim he came to the conclusion it was from adding the Waste Away as he has had reports of it happening with that product. It has since all but dissapeared. My corals look great and the few that were fading have started to color back up. So far I am a believer but whoever participates here I encourage them to update there experiences from time to time. TIA I look forward to hearing others comments.

 

Tank water volume: 225 gallon display, 50 gallon sump, 45 gallon refugium

Filtration: Warner Marine MF-251 skimmer

Lighting: 3 x 400w Ushio 20K

Water Parameters: Alk 9-9.5 (per Hanna), Cal 440-450 (per Hanna), Mag 1350-1400 (Per Elos), Nitrate 0, Phosphate .01 (per Hanna)

Fish/invert stock: 7 anthias, leopard wrasse, 3 fairy wrasses, 3 tangs, percula clown

Feeding schedule: Spectrum pellets small fish formula 4/day via Eheim feeder, Reef Nutrition OysterFeast, RotiFeast, ArticPods 3/week

Additives being used: Warner Marine supplements when needed to tweek water parameters.

Types of corals in your system: SPS w/ a few LPS

Brand of BP's being used: Warner Marine Ecobak

Type/brand BP Reactor: Precision Marine 24" tall w/ MJ 1200

How much BP's are you using: 1.5 liters

How long have you been using BP's: 2 years maybe more??? approx 6 months prior to Warner Marine released Ecobak. I was the first beta tester of the product.

Reason/reasons for using BP: low maintenance nutrient export and feeding SPS bacteria.

Please share your experience with BP's: I never had a nitrate nor phosphate problem due to my belief long time in running Large skimmers, GAC and GFO, Prodibio, and carbon dosing. The use of BP along with an efficient skimmer has enabled me to have maintenance free carbon dosing without changing media or dosing on a regular basis.

 

Tank water volume:
85G

Filtration:
Modified SWC Xtreme 160 Cone Skimmer

Lighting:
6-bulb 36" tek light

Water Parameters:
SG: 1.026
Ammo:0ppm
Trite: 0 ppm
Trate: 5-10ppm
PO4: 0.125 gm/l
Cal: 420ppm
Mag: 1350ppm
Alk: 125ppm

Fish/invert stock:
5 clams
3" blue hippo tang
2 3"-4" true percs
5" melanarus wrasse
1.5" neon cleaner goby
2" green chromis

Feeding schedule:
1 cube of each daily: mysis, cyclops and reef plankton
2 small spoons of nano coral food once a week
All heads of each LPS coral feed 3 pellets of Fauna Marin LPS food every 3 days

Additives being used:
Alk
Cal
Mag

Types of corals in your system:
60% SPS
35% LPS
5% Softies mainly Zoas and Palys

Brand of BP's being used:
Dr. Tim's Pearls

Type/brand BP Reactor:
Once I get a replacement Reef Octo BR-110, but until then a slightly modified NR MR1 reactor.

How much BP's are you using:
1 Cup

How long have you been using BP's:
~2 months

Reason/reasons for using BP:
I feed the crud out of my tank

Please share your experience with BP's:
After a slight cyano bloom, my nitrate and PO4 levels ave decreased slightly.

 

Tank water volume:
100 Gallons

Filtration:
RO NWB-200
Carbon/GFO in separate reactors
50 Lbs Live Rock
Barebottom


Lighting:
2x AI Sol Blue
24W ATI Purple Plus
3x 3W Edison UV LEDs

Water Parameters:
SG - 1.026
NO3 - 0 (Salifert)
PO4 - 0.01 (Hanna)
Temp - 78.6 (Controlled)
Calcium - 450ppm (Salifert)
Alk - 9+ (Salifert)
Mag - 1380 (Salifert)

Fish/invert stock:
3 Blue Reef Chromis
1 Bangaii Cardinal
1 ORA Naked Clown
1 McCosker's Wrasse
1 ORA Spotted Mandarin
Tube Anemone


Feeding schedule:
NLS Small (tiny) Pellets daily
1/2 tsp Cyclopeeze daily
Prepared Brine/Mysis 2x/week w/ Elos vitamins
2 tsp Rotifeast 3x/week


Additives being used:
BRS Calcium Supplement
BRS Alk Supplement


Types of corals in your system:
Various SPS (Seriatopora, Stylophora, Acropora, Montipora)
Various LPS (Blastomussa, Acanthastrea, Cyphastrea, Echinophyllia, Euphyllia)
Various Zoa/Palys
Ricordea

Brand of BP's being used:
EcoBak

Type/brand BP Reactor:
NextReef MR-1

How much BP's are you using:
750mL (ish)

How long have you been using BP's:
4 months

Reason/reasons for using BP:
Trying to achieve a ULNS


Please share your experience with BP's:
So far, I have nothing but good things to say about WM EcoBak. I cannot comment on other brands, as this is the only product I have tried. I have not had algae issues thus far. I clean film off my glass every 8-10 days. My numbers are solid. My LPS corals seem more colorful to me than before. My SPS corals are growing faster than before. I started using EcoBak on a new system, from day 1. My results may vary from others who add BP to an existing system. I am sold on BP from now on. Next up, a Zeovit system, and a hard comparison of the two.

 

Tank water volume:
225 Gallons

Filtration:
75 Gallon Sump, I-Tech 200 Protein Skimmer, Carbon, RowaPhos

Lighting:
3 400W SE Coralvue (14000K outside, 20000K inside) Rapid LED 12 LED Actnic kit.

Water Parameters:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5-10 ppm
Alk - 7.3
Calcium - 475
Magnesium - 1450
Phosphate - .09

All tests conducted with Salifert except for the phospate test, it was done at my LFS with the Milwalkee Phosphate checker.

Fish/invert stock:
4 Tangs(Black, Blonde Naso, Blue Regal, Desjardini), 4 Blue Green Chromis, 5 Lyretail Anthias, 1 Squarebox Anthia, 2 Golden Assessors, 1 Algae Blennie, 1 Midas Blenny, 1 Black Combtooth Blenny, 1 Neon Gobie, 1 Pinkspot Goby, 1 Royal Gramma, 1 Goldenhead Sleeper Goby, 2 B&W Clownfish, 2 Pink Skunk Clownfish, 4 Zebra Dartfish, 2 Engineer Gobies, 2 Fire Shrimp, 2 Skunk Cleaners, 2 Conchs, 1 Sand Sifting Cucumber, 200+ Blues Leg Crabs, 100+ Nerite Snails, 100+ Florida Cerniths,

Feeding schedule:
NLS 1 Pellets, Flakes, and Veggie pellets twice a day, 1 cube of either Mysis, Brine, Reef Plankton, Cyclops during the noon feeding, Nori 3 times a week.

Additives being used:
Microbacter 7

Types of corals in your system:
50% SPS, 25% LPS, 25% Softies

Brand of BP's being used:
Vertex Bio Pellets

Type/brand BP Reactor:
Biopellets - Next Reef MR1 XL
Carbon and RowaPhos - MR1 Monster

How much BP's are you using:
1200 ml

How long have you been using BP's:
1 March 2011

Reason/reasons for using BP:
I want my fish fat and run a ULNS

Please share your experience with BP's:
They took about three to four weeks to kick in. I am on my second refill since they gotten depleted. I only had to fight phosphates in the beginning. They were around .51 but since has gone down to .09 ppm. Nitrates were at 25 - 50 ppms but are down to about 5 - 10. I dont mind a little nitrates. When they were about 2 my LPS and softies suffered so thats why I feed heavier.

 

Tank water volume: 80ish gallons

Filtration: Coralife 220 Skimmer and GAC

Lighting: 4 Geissmen 48" T5's

Water Parameters: Ammonia 0 salifert
Nitrites 0 salifert
Nitrates 0 salifert
Phosphates 0.02-0.04 hanna
Alk 9-9.5 hanna
Cal 430 Salifert API hanna
Mag 1300 salifert Red Sea Pro

Fish/invert stock: 2 false percs, diamond goby, 2 green chromis, melanurus wrasse, kole tang, yellow tang, mckoskers wrasse, midas blenny


Feeding schedule: flakes at 5pm, various frozen at 8pm

Additives being used: BRS 2 part

Types of corals in your system: Mixed

Brand of BP's being used: Warner Marine Ecobak

Type/brand BP Reactor: Avast Marine MR5

How much BP's are you using: 500 ml

How long have you been using BP's: 11 months

Reason/reasons for using BP: To keep my phosphates and Nitrates down while at the same time being able to feed heavy.


Please share your experience with BP's: I have been running the ecobak since the tank cycled. I run them in a canister filter which does not give me their full potential. But even so, I have perfect parameters, and am extremely happy with my decision to run them on my simple low budget system. Edit: switched from my eheim to an Avast Marine MR5 reactor.

 

Tank water volume: 75 gallon DT/40 breeder sump. Roughly 97 gallons total volume after displacement

Filtration: Biological, Eshopps S120 Cone, ROX .08 in reactor

Lighting: Dual 150W Pheonix 14k in combination with 24 3W LED w/ 60* optics

Water Parameters: sg 1.026, pH 8.1-8.4, nitrate 0, phos .02?? (API liquid; waiting to finish project and get Hannah Checker), Calc 440, Alk 9, mg 1400. Temp. gently arcs 76-77.2 over a 24 hour period.

Fish/invert stock: Pair of Oc., Yellow Tang, Pair of Purple Firefish, 4x Blue Green Chromis, Mystery Wrasse, Yashi Goby.
6" Crocea
2X Pencil Urchin, standard CUC, 2x Emerald crab, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, Randalli pistol.

Feeding schedule: Ehiem Autoair gives 4 rotations per day, chopped meaty once every other day, Nori for the tang as needed. Coral food 3x per week.

Additives being used: BRS 2 Part, Kalk, TwoLittle Fishies Bactiv8

Types of corals in your system: SPS dominant. LPS, Zoa/Paly, Gorgs, Rics and yuma's

Brand of BP's being used: Two Little Fishies NPX Bioplastics

Type/brand BP Reactor: BashSea Media Chamber

How much BP's are you using: 200 mL

How long have you been using BP's: 6 weeks

Reason/reasons for using BP: Wanted ultra-low nutrient and had some browning of corals.

Please share your experience with BP's: Was scared of them at first. I'd heard to many horror stories of tank crash. I began with half the recommended dose for my water volume. I planned to either take the tank off if there was any signs of ill effects or increase dose if there was no change in anything. Turns out I didn't need to. 200mL is perfect for the load I give the tank now. There is virtually no nuisance algae, I clean the dust off the glass about 2x per week now compared to daily before. Even the effluent in the skimmer cup went from dark stinky black to a lighter tea colored liquid. Still stinks though.
In the past week there has been an explosion of both coralline and coral growth and the colors in my corals are becoming more vibrant. I haven't tested PO4 lately due to tritation tesing for it is a waste of time IMO but I'm confident that levels have significantly been reduced resulting in the increase in coralline and coral structure growth.

 

Great thread! This plus the info in Steve's thread is very helpful. I can't comment on BP's...not using them.....yet. Planning a new system and will use them on it once it's up and running. Thanks for starting this, Vinny.