Uv and biopellets

so after reading all this, should i use the uv with the pelots or not, and here is the can you open should i use bio pellots or carbon now im all messed up lol
thanks for all your help

 

No one can answer your question based solely on facts, without opinion.
You shouldn't use uv with carbon dosing. Biopellets is a form of carbon dosing, but in theory the bacterial growth is benthic and therefore not in the water column. This is a theory though and not 100% true in practice.

Im not a fan of UV, as it kills bacterioplankton, a primary source of food for our microorganisms and corals. So, I find it mind-boggling that anyone would intentionally do this. So, know that you know my bias, here is my opinion on the subject.

No one can say how much bacteria is or isn't in the water. If you take the manufactures at their word, all of the bacteria is on the pellets, not in the water, but as mentioned hobbyists have looked into this and it appears to be wrong. Bacteria sloshes off of the pellets and probably the pellets even decay and feed bacteria in the water. If there is enough in the water, using uv will be detrimental when combined with bio pellets as there will be a constant source of decaying bacteria and could possibly limit the bacterial population even. When bacteria is alive it reduces nutrients, when it is dead, it releases nutrients and other chemicals into the water column. It then depends what happens to this, whether or not it is an issue and that is likely to vary substantially by tank.

There is a lot of research on UV from the aquaculture industry. So, what UV does is less of a guess. In a closed system it is really only effective at killing algae and bacteria. Higher doses can kill other things, but the kill rate is low and it is still not efficient.

Bacteria is a primary source of food, directly or indirectly for many organisms in our systems, such as corals. UV does a good job of killing this food supply. UV also kills algae though, and some people think this benefit makes up for the killing of bacteria. IMO though, if you are carbon dosing, running GFO, performing regular water changes, protein skimming, and are not overstocked, then you will not have algae issues that UV will help with. So, it seems to be overkill at best, possibly detrimental though when you consider, one of the main benefits of carbon dosing is bacterioplankton and you are losing that benefit with UV.

So, my opinion is no do not run the two together. I'm sure pink4miss disagrees though Certainly as no one has studied uv with biopellets, no one can say for sure. Really all you can do is make your best educated guess and hopes for good results.... Certainly some people have nice tanks with UV. While I don't like UV, it does work for some people. Perhaps under some set of circumstances carbon dosing and UV will produce good results as well...

 

so should a person use bio pellots or carbin what do you think works better
thanks

 

Biopellets are a form of "Carbon Dosing", not to be confused with GAC "Granular Activated Carbon". I run Carbon Dosing and GAC together, they perform different functions and should not compete or hinder the other in any way. If using GAC, I would recommend a high quality dust free carbon such as Bulk Reef Supply ROX 0.08.