Bio Pellet Reactor/Media Opinions

I use the ecobak plus and find them almost too effecient. I have too keep my recirc reactor dialed down to just barely a drip and I feed 2x per day. It took months but it did eliminate the need for GFO.
I'm using about 500 ml for a 215 gallon tank

Nitrate will drop prettyfast and I've always fought to keep PO4 low but now these pellets brought PO4 to zero. I measured .01-.03 for months on my Hanna but found out I had old regents and when I got a new 736 checker found it was zero ...checked it against some other local tank. I haven't used GFO in months just the pellets ,socks and skimmer.
So now I'm trying to find the sweet spot as PO 4 creeped back up to .07 while I had to turn my skimmer off for a week.
I have the Aqualund that is an older model. I find pellets clog the top screen making it hard to do fine tune adjustments. So I'm considering the new model or a reef dynamics.
If not already make sure u soak pellets overnight first to prevent floaters.
You definitely went the right way with a recirc model.

 

I only stopped using vodka because I got worried about the amount I was dosing. Seemed like a large amount for very little drop in nitrates and phosphates. Think I was dosing around 8 ml daily in my 75 gallon tank. I had success in the past with no3po4x so I switched to that. Midway through my second bottle I did start to see a drop in levels. Wanting to go the pellet route to get better control over these levels and eliminate the need to manual dose.

 

I think bio pellets are way better than manual dosing in my opinion. I don't think it's correct to say if vodka doesn't work then bio pellets won't work. It's another means to provide export isn't it? To the OP, bio pellets are amazing and there is definitely a difference in polymers that manufacturers produce.

 

After using a lot of different pellets, I've decided I like liquid carbon dosing better. An auto doser isn't any more than a reactor in many cases and, if you think about it, gives you much better control. Dosers don't gum up like reactors and aren't as hard to clean.

I use ZeoStart, but No3Po4x should work nicely.

 

Since I am currently using the Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salts and additives, I am going to use their pellets. That way I know they will complement the other products I currently use.

I am leary of automatic Dosers because I would worry about them failing and over/under dosing my system. Not to say they are not good just not for me.

 

Certainly lots of people use and succeed with biopellets, do you should definitely go for it. That said, an auto doser is probably a more reliable option than a reactor. Biopellets tend to gum up the works and change their flow rate requiring careful attention if you want them to work well.

 

My skimmer pump is located under the unit. The pump has an orifice plate connected to the pump input that also connects to the silencer. My question is can I install a "T" fitting at the input of the pump without affecting the skimmer performance? One end would be open and the other connected to the output of the pellet reactor.