My Biopellet Crisis of Faith

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by Servillius, Jan 31, 2013.

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  1. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    Allow me to tell a little story...

    About 4 months ago I was running biopellets (EcoBak) in a Phosban reactor powered by a MJ1200. I had been running them since October of 2011 and things were looking good. If you search my other threads, I had corals growing and colors brightening nicely.

    Then one day I noticed that phosphates were creeping up slowly. I didn't want to do anything drastic, so I took a whack at the phosphates and got them down. Within days, my system was crashing. With all the news on fora about biopellet crashes, I assumed they were the problem and yanked them. I then started doing lots of big water changes (10 gallons twice a week on a roughly 60g system).

    For a while, things started getting better. Then they started getting worse again (I backed down to 8g a week on water changes after the first few weeks). I couldn't figure out why. It took an almost toal collapse of my sps before I figured it out. My nitrate test kit was toast, the readings were way off.

    Well, I hit the tank with vodka, more water changes, and decided to reinstall biopellets. I went with EcoBak, but this time I bought what I believe is a much better designed reactor. I've been waiting for weeks to see if the biopellets would kick in.

    3 days ago my phosphates stopped fighting my GFO (the GFO is off the system now and the phosphates remain 0), by skimmer started producing more agressively and my tank two part consumption went from 20ml a day to 60ml a day. Growth tips are sprouting everywhere.

    Here is what I think happened. I was always concerned my alkalinity along with biopellets would crash my tank, so I kept it low. When the phosban slowed down (as it will, I don't think this is a great wya to run pellets), my phosphates crept up. Not a lot, but enough to cause me to try to reduce them. As everyone knows, phosphate removal frequently causes alkalinity reduction (phosphate removing media tends to cause alkalinity loss). Since my alk was fairly low, further loss made things worse. I made the wrong choice and things went downhill from there.

    I tell this story for a couple of reasons. (a) Biopellets are not necessarily the problem. they're an easy skapegoat. (b) If you run them, get a reactor that allows you to maintain a constant flow rate. Sponges that clog up are a problem. At least with EcoBak, keeping the tumble rate constant by inspecting and adjusting will keep them working consistently.

    I'm hopefull I didn't lose too much in the entire mess and I'm optimistic I'll have some cool pics to post soon. Intil then, I hope there is a little here for others to learn from.
     
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  3. FaceOfDeceit

    FaceOfDeceit Hockey Beard

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    Thanks for the post. Sudden changes to any SPS system seem to be the worst thing to do. I'm glad you got a hold of it before it did crash your tank.

    About 6 months ago, my doser went crazy and dosed over 1/2 gallon of BRS Alk supplement in an 8 hour period. Yay. I was dosing vodka, and liked to keep my Alk around 8-9dKh range. I caught it first thing in the morning, and did an immediate 20 gallon change (100 gallon TWV). Did 2 more 10 gallon changes over the next two days. My Hanna Alk tester read like 18dKh after all the water changes. I lost all but 2 of my SPS, and one of the two, I could only save a nub...and has not grown since. I'm currently doing the switch over from Vodka/Vinegar dosing to EcoBak. I'm running a modified Next-Reef MR-1, and don't like it. I am planning on getting one of the RO pellet reactors, unless someone can recommend a better one.
     
  4. jbraslins

    jbraslins Teardrop Maxima Clam

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    Thank you for sharing. Knowing everything you know now, what do you think would be the optimal phosphate control method in combination with bio pellets?

    Thanks.
     
  5. FaceOfDeceit

    FaceOfDeceit Hockey Beard

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    If the pellets are doing their job, there should not be a need for futher PO4 control. I'd recommend GFO over any other PO4 reducer.
     
  6. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    I am trying a Hydra reactor (see either Marine Depot or Aquacave). So far a really like the controllability, but it doesn't to a very slow tumble well. That said, I like the tumble I'm getting with it once it settles down the first week. Still more to learn though.
     
  7. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    When the EcoBak is tumbling properly, it seems to fully control my phosphates. Next time I see phosphates creeping up, I'll try turning up the flow a little, then adding some pellets long before I try anything else. If that doesn't work, GFO with a very careful eye on alk.
     
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  9. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    Thanks for this write up, and everyones responses. Im doing some reading on bio pellets with plans to run them and the more i understand going into it the better. They really seem like a good way to go once dialed in from what i read.
     
  10. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    I would recommend them to anyone, but the reading part is important. More important may be effective communications of instructions/methodology. Exactly what, for instance, does slow tumbling look like. Until I saw it, I thought it was quite a bit slower than it actually is.
     
  11. insanespain

    insanespain Ocellaris Clown

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    Thats a good point. I have never even owned a reactor of any type, so i would need a video to judge the proper tumble rate needed.
     
  12. FatBastad

    FatBastad Zoanthid

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    ...I read this and get more excited about building a solid ATS...