A Pellet Survey

[Europhyllia]

With so many on board now in regards to pellets (aka solid vodka dosing) I thought it would be interesting to do a survey (for pellet users only)



What result do you hope the pellets will help you achieve?
What results have the pellets achieved so far?
How long have you been running pellets?
Have you noticed any other positive side effects?
Have you noticed any other negative side effects?
Did you anticipate everything that happened presumably due to the solid vodka dosing method?
Will you continue to use this method in its original form?
Will you continue to use this method in a modified form?
What brand(s) have you been or are you using?
Any thoughts/comments you'd like to add

Thanks! :)

[alton]

Karin would you maybe add a #10 and ask what brand? I am sitting on the outside looking in, I have a reactor just waiting to pull the trigger.

[Europhyllia]

added :)

[Big_Pun]

1. i wanted to lower my nitrates
2. nitrates are very low,
3. almost 3 months
4. most nuisance algae gone, sps have better color, fuge is offline, i can feed coral more with no affects to system
5. some soft corals do not like the low nutrient tank
6. i was ready for the begining stages, but not the loss of some soft corals
7. yes
8. maybe
9. warner marine eco bak
10. when moving to bio pellets ease in the required dosage, also have a good skimmer, and good test kits

[Europhyllia]

Thanks Chris!

[ramsey]

What result do you hope the pellets will help you achieve?
Low n and p, clear water, no need for fuge

What results have the pellets achieved so far?

Low nitrates, clear water

How long have you been running pellets?
One month

Have you noticed any other positive side effects?
Low nitrates, corals seem a lot happier, water is very clear

Have you noticed any other negative side effects?
Had slightly cloudy water for a while, had cyano but it's almost all gone

Did you anticipate everything that happened presumably due to the solid vodka dosing method?
Yes

Will you continue to use this method in its original form?
Yes

Will you continue to use this method in a modified form?
No


What brand(s) have you been or are you using?
Vertex

Any thoughts/comments you'd like to add
So far, so good! My corals seem a lot happier and growth has been much better. My Xenias are the only coral that seem less happy. They're still doing ok but there not as happy as they were with my od tank. Nitrate is undetectable but phosphates are still at .5. I recommend using a bacteria additive when you start the pellets. That has helped get rid of my cyano. It's very nice to have a single reactor that does a much better job than a big fuge ever did. I have a much smaller sump but much better water params.

[ErikH]

What result do you hope the pellets will help you achieve? Lower Ns and Ps so as my fish grow, my Ns and Ps wont.
What results have the pellets achieved so far? I have noticed that my SPS has had full PE all day! Acans and trumpets have tentacles out all day as well.
How long have you been running pellets? 2-3 months? I noticed the above after 1 month.
Have you noticed any other positive side effects? Stinky skimmate
Have you noticed any other negative side effects? Just have to keep up with my skimmer!
Did you anticipate everything that happened presumably due to the solid vodka dosing method? Yes, as it was the only new change.
Will you continue to use this method in its original form?
Will you continue to use this method in a modified form?
What brand(s) have you been or are you using? NP
Any thoughts/comments you'd like to add

[Jarob]

Great thread as I'm adding a pellet reactor after christmas! I was worried about losing my fuge when I get my new bigger skimmer but it looks like its not a problem now!

[Europhyllia]

What result do you hope the pellets will help you achieve? prevent or reduce high nutrient levels due to frequent feeding as well as provide bacterial plankton as a food source
What results have the pellets achieved so far? nutrient levels did stay very low however the bacterial plankton did not appear to be a foodsource
How long have you been running pellets? overall since Feb 2009, on newest reef since July 2010
Have you noticed any other positive side effects? no hair algae! Not even during the early days of the tank.
Have you noticed any other negative side effects? Frequent and persistent bacterial blooms due to my frequent feeding of filter foods; ricordea and zoas not fully opening. Since no hair algae was present, cyano seemed to bloom at some point but disappeared with ZeoZym application
Did you anticipate everything that happened presumably due to the solid vodka dosing method? no I did not realize that I couldn't do the constant feed thing with pellets. In fact I started using the pellets with the intent to be able to feed a bunch
Will you continue to use this method in its original form? no
Will you continue to use this method in a modified form? I considered using a modified approach with a UV Sterilizer (usually a 'no' with this method) but found that the pellets were much less effective in that case
What brand(s) have you been or are you using? NP BioPellets -the original and the 2nd generation, BRS Bio Pellets
Any thoughts/comments you'd like to add I think it's still a great approach probably especially for SPS keepers or others that don't feed as continuously small particle food. I no longer believe in it offering much in terms of bacterial plankton or at least bacterial plankton my critters like to eat. I think for the type of corals I like to keep other ways of reducing N&P might be more compatible

[Big_Pun]

that's makes sense Karin, with the corals you want to keep. but my rics seem better and I feed coral frenzy and fuel(amino acids) one each day and have no blooms. there's no way to ease up on feedings?

[Europhyllia]

Chris I am sure one could ease up on feeding. But I don't want to. lol
In fact I think we barely mimic what's available in the ocean and I'd love to be able to add some Swiftia gorgonians and keep my filter feeders alive and even growing. I might even add an automatic refrigerated food line to my set up.
Part of my reasoning was that the bacteria might feed the gorgonians, etc. but I did see no evidence of that. In fact the bacteria might have eaten more of my expensive FM food than the gorgos! lol
They all seem to do much better now without the bacteria bloom.
And I just started investigating other options for reducing N&P and am finding that there are very good alternatives for that available.
So why limit myself in what I can do and what kind of critters I can keep in my tank just to stick with the pellets, kwim?
I always like to continue to learn and try different things and optimize my tanks for the benefits of the specific critters I keep. :)

[Big_Pun]

coreydude is going a diff route to remove n&p. maybe he will chime in, I can't remember the method

[Europhyllia]

Hiatt? I am not moving to another bacterial method. I think I would prefer pellets over Hiatt (which is why I chose pellets over Hiatt. lol)

I am pretty encouraged with what I see with my N&P results in my other thread. I think I will pursue that route for now. :)

[Big_Pun]

no don't think it was hiatt something to do with sulfur i believe

[Europhyllia]

A sulfur denitrator? That's been around for a long time. See there are so many options for reducing N&P. Lots of different approaches may yield the results we are looking for. :)
After going through over 200 dollars worth of pellets I also like the idea of using a regeneratable media like the one I described in my other thread. Not spending so much money will be nice! And dropping 35 ppm in N in 48 hours - I think that's pretty good :)

[Europhyllia]

and I am not dissing the pellets. Like I said: lots of ways to reduce N&P and depending on your system, your expectations, your budget, etc. one may be better for you than for somebody else. It's all good.

[txg8gxp]

My review

With so many on board now in regards to pellets (aka solid vodka dosing) I thought it would be interesting to do a survey (for pellet users only)



What result do you hope the pellets will help you achieve? Low Nutrient System
What results have the pellets achieved so far? Has worked great for Low Nutrients, water is always crystal clear and SPS is loving it
How long have you been running pellets? 6 months or so
Have you noticed any other positive side effects? ULNS, Great sps color and PE
Have you noticed any other negative side effects? Not that I can tell
Did you anticipate everything that happened presumably due to the solid vodka dosing method? Yes, This is my only filtration method and it's working great for me
Will you continue to use this method in its original form? Yes
Will you continue to use this method in a modified form? No mods
What brand(s) have you been or are you using? NP biopellets
Any thoughts/comments you'd like to add I will stick with it, this system may take some work if you system does need some nitrates/etc. but for any sps system I think it's the most simple way to maintain a ULNS.
Thanks! :)