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Biopellets - carbon dosing to bring down NO3/PO4


impur

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Here is a thread over on RC about them

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1694529

 

The maker posted this

 

-The pellets don't dissolve in water in the absence of bacteria

 

-they do not stimulate bacterial or algae growth in your tank and specially for the algae growth, this appears to be reduced and similar observations have been done for cyano bacteria when compaired to using soluble carbon sources such as wodka or sugar. big advantage is no more bacteria growth on your corals and unlimited carbon source to reduce nitrate and phosphate. My own tank consists of gorgonia combined with lps and sps corals. this requires feedings of 10x a day (with reefpearls ;-)) and I can keep nitrate between 0-5ppm and phosphate around 0-0.03 without the addition of wodka and phosphatekiller. this was for not possible before I started to use the biopellets.

 

-they are heavier than water and can be used in fluidized filter systems. we recommend this actually because this way you will always have high water flow and thus more aerobic conditions for your bacteria, which in principle is much safer than anaerobic conditions. On this point we have to say that some anaerobic bacteria will excist on the pellets, but this layer is so thin that is not harmfull and has a rather positive effect on your pH (aerobic-> H+; anaerobic -> OH-)

 

- the pellets are not on the market yet and will be released soon in the netherlands and belgium and other countries will hopefully soon folow. until that time you can contact me for questions at info@reefinterests.nl (I hope this allowed by admin, otherwise I apologize and please remove just this last sentence then).

 

-in contrast to what was mentioned, the pellets do not need to be replaced after 6 months. they are consumed by the bacteria and will slowly disappear, which means that you have to add extra pellets every 6-12 months. In one of our test conditions it took 3 years to completely digest the pellets. this is also the reason that you have to use at least 1 or 2 liters of these pellets (around 120 euro's) but it will last at least 1 year.

 

Wodka can still be combined with the pellets and will rapidly be consumed by the bacteria which live on the pellets, however, it is not necessary to do so, but when you need to finish the bottle of wodka, this is one way of doing it ;-)

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I'm going to be ordering some next week... I've been following that thread on rc and I think I want to give them a try since the mb7 and biofuel have caused a cyano outbreak in the cube tank.

 

I'll keep everyone posted once they get here along with the results seen over some time.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

NP Biopellets worked great for me

 

I thought I would revive this thread with a report of my experience with this technology. I have been using 500ml of NP Biopellets on my 140 gallon system for about 3 months via a Two Little Fishes phosban reactor. It has been nothing short of miraculous. For two years my aquarium could not even grow a zoanthid. I had big hair algae problems and my nitrate and phosphate numbers were always high. A couple weeks ago something amazing happened. The huge amounts of hair algae in my tank suddenly started to vanish. My zoanthids are now huge and growing quickly. I even had old skeletons of stony and LPS corals left for dead in the back of the tank suddenly come back to life in a big way. Then something happened that I never thought possible. My test kits could not detect nitrates or phosphates. That was the coolest thing ever. After more than two years I am reminded why I built this beast of a tank in the first place. The price of the pellets is a bargain. Just set and forget.

 

I do currently run phosban but I am sure that it is not responsible for the tank turn around. I have used phosban for years and it has not been able to fix the phosphate levels and subsequent hair algae. In addition currently my phosban is really spent so I know it must be the biopellets.

 

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5742

 

 

 

close-monti-hill.jpg

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Frednack:

 

Im intrested in this. I have tried Vodka (in the tank) and was impressed with it but always seem to stop useing it as I forget for days. How many cups are you useing in the reactor and when do you add more?

 

Jay

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I used a 500ml bag that filled a phosban reactor about 2/3rds. I am told it will slowly dissolve and that you should top it off. After 3 months 3/4ths of it is still there. I am going to top it off soon. My total system water volume is at least 185 gallons.

 

I think it is way better than vodka because it is automatic. You just need to make sure your pump is flowing through the reactor at all times or harmful stuff can build up in the reactor. I have had the pump go out though for days. When I restarted the pump I had no problems.

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It would cost me about $200.00 a year to use that product!! Sounds like a lot for media!

 

Wonder if the cost will decrease as it becomes more popular and more used?

 

It does sound very interesting.

Yes, there are already "knock off" companies popping up. I was contacted from a guy I know in Canada that wants me to rep his product which is the same thing but branded differently.
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