NP reducing biopellets vs. Vodka

woah, really?

 

they can, mine did

 

dang, good to know.

 

I am going to show my shear ignorance here....what biopellets? Is it like the stuff you use in nitrate reactors? What type does everyone use?

 

It's basically a carbon source, like vodka is. Except it's solid, so you can put it in a reactor like GFO or carbon.

 

thats the only way to learn, I'm surprised there isn't more interest in them they are the best thing since sliced bread.

I use NP biopellets.
NP Biopellets Filter Media, Biofiltration & Nutrient Control > Biological > Filter Media > Saltwater Aquarium Supplies

there are multiple brands of them tho

most probably have slightly different polymer recipes, although I have heard some are just repackages of a bigger supplier.

You just use them in any reactor that will keep them fluidized, I use a two little fishes reactor(they make them for phosphate media and stuff).

 

Update

Ok so since my ordeal with GHA, I moved most of my coral to my other tanks in the fish room which and all doing fine with the exception of the open brain, frogspawn and clove polyps. The open brain looks very pale, almost bleached like look. The frogspawn was completely dead until a couple days ago I saw two very minuscule heads pop out of nowhere. They're very hard to see but at least there's still life in them. The clove polyps have completely disappeared. It sucks. They were gorgeous. Also, my favia sp. had about 40+ eyes, now has only two but at least it's living.

For the algae part, the bubble algae is completely gone, and the GHA is on its way out.
I wish I could pin point exactly what i did to solve the problem but my experiment was not "controlled" in the least. To combat the issue, I added a Foxface Lo and NP reducing Bio Pellets. Two weeks in to no avail. On the 3rd wk, I started dosing vodka. This was my turning point. The GHA started to disappear.

From this experience, I'm inclined to say that it was the vodka that worked to solve this problem but, again, this experiment was not held in a controlled environment so I wont!

I honestly think that it was a combination of all factors.

Things still aren't the way it was but it's a work in progress and I do see a posotive outcome within the next few weeks.

 

I ran biopellets in the past and I am not to fond of it since I pretty much starved my tank and my corals were not happy at all. Once I stopped using BP most of my corals recovered well. I just started dosing vodka. I like the idea that it takes care of nitrates as well as phosphates, win win situation. People worry about going on vacation and not being able to dose. My view on that is how long do most people go on vacation. Maybe a week or two...so nitrate levels should not be at critical levels if tank is not being overfed. Maybe at that point would be good to employ GFO while you are gone. Bottom line, if you follow procedures with vodka dosing you should not encounter or impact your tank negatively.