jestep Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I had an ebay gift certificate so I decided to give some biopellets a try. Have been having nitrate problems from day 1 despite a moderate bioload and weekly water changes. Current setup: about 30 lbs of live rock, bare bottom, and a decent cleanup crew. 3 fish: clown, watchman, and a lawnmower. The tank was established for about 18 months before I purchased it last July. Some have suggested that the rock may be the culprit. If that's the case I may be replacing it entirely when I upgrade tanks in a few months. Upgraded to a good skimmer (Octopus BH1000, rated for a 90g) 3 weeks ago and added the biopellets on Saturday. Currently sitting at 40 - 50ppm NO3, PO4 has managed to stay very low, undetectable on API test. Feeding 2x per week with RO rinsed frozen food, about a quarter cube per feeding. Not dosing anything except Tech-M for bryopsis control. The nitrates are obviously contributing to it's furious growth as well. Changing filter floss 2 - 3 times per week. Running purigen and chemipure elite in my filter chanbers below the floss. Going to switch from chemipure to carbon once it's exhausted. Anyway, wanted to post a log of whether the biopellets are effective in my case. I've considered taking out the watchman as he's rather large and is by far the biggest waste contributor as far as fish go. Didn't have a tank log, so I might as well start it off with this. Figure I'll test NO3 and PO4 every other day. From what I've researched it generally takes 3 - 4 weeks before any major reduction is seen. Water changes will remain at 5 gallons per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Some pictures so far. Initial setup, really nice, ugh... A few months later: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 how did you get that clown to change colors like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 I sold the Maroon a while after I got the tank and switched to percs. Lost one of the percs during a water change. Didn't see him jump out. Now just a lonely perc who loves a frogspawn. Would be a pretty amazing transformation though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbrougher Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 What brand biopellets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 They're NPX from Two Little Fishies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Tested before water change on Sunday morning. Down to 20ppm NO3. Didn't think it could go down this quickly. I haven't changed anything in the tank at all so I can only attribute the decline to skimming and pellets. Tested with 2 separate test kits and both confirmed 20ppm. It was 40ppm on both test kits on Wednesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 dang thats fast acting mine took a month to start working . remember to overfeed alittle because the bio pellets will strip too much nutrients out and starve your corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 I was thinking the same thing. I'm going to test tomorrow and see where it's at. I added the skimmer a few weeks ago, so this decrease may be to the increased export through the skimmer while the biopellets aren't contributing yet. Either way, I'm very encouraged that the nitrates are finally going down. Already noticeable reduction in algae growth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 Tested last night and NO3 is down to about 10ppm. It was back up to 30'ish this weekend, but I am attributing much of the gain to massive algae die-off. Had a ton of bryopsis and it is almost all clear or redish and is all melting. The lawnmower started eating it now as well, so that's great. Hopefully will be 100% gone and sub 5ppm in 2 more weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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