Biopellet hype gone?

[Roo&Lis]

As some of you may know I'm in the process of a slow tank build. As a result, I've been carefully selecting everything I will need. I've been thinking of doing biopellets but haven't heard about them in a while. When the craze was going on, I know a lot of you were running them. Do you still run them or did the results start to vary over the long run? If your still going strong, what does your rig consist of, how much is the cost for the whole setup (guesstimate), and cost to keep them running? Thanks.

[Big_Pun]

very easy IMO, you need a quality reactor made for bio pellets(dont mod one never works properly), i suggest next reef, or ocotopus reactors also a good pump. the outlet of the reactor needs to be placed in skimmer area so water is properly airated as co2 is bi product. what i do is the first time i use the instructed amount i mark a line on reactor where the pellets are up to, that way i can periodically turn off pump and see how fast they are dissolveing. i top off every six months, yes top off no need to dumb and add new pellets. One thing to watch for is proper tumble of pellets you want them turning over but not being blasted around, and also every once in a while the plates will clog in reactor, so you just dumb the pellets in thier water in a container clean reactor and then place them back in and turn on pump. i still run gfo and carbon in seperate reactor to control phosphates, i still run a fuge with just cheato to help with some nutrients and phosphates. i dose diff things but mostly its to keep sps happy. any more questions feel free to ask and you can even swing by an see my setup.

[Europhyllia]

I think it's a good option for certain set ups.
It was not a good option for mine. Before you invest read as much as you can and decide if it's a good fit for you.

[SoLiD]

I think it is a must to have a good skimmer to pull out the excess bacteria or else your water will stay cloudy, & your pH & oxygen levels will drop. Almost everyone I know, also run GFO to help with phosphates because the bacteria will consume 16X more Nitrates than Phosphates. So that's a ratio of 16ppm Nitrate : 1ppm Phosphate... If I understand it right... :angel:

[Big_Pun]

David is correct on skimmer, needs to be a smooth workining one. but cloudiness is from not tumbling correctly and causing it to cycle again or your feeding too much causing bacteria to bloom. some people get a bio bloom at begining where tank goes white for 24-48hrs usually if its an old established tank.

[Europhyllia]

I disagree on the feeding too much -sort of. Feeding too much for biopellet standards maybe -but not by the standards of the critters to be fed.
I was one of the people that suffered that constant bacterial bloom (and yes of course I had a good skimmer ;) ).
I keep some NPS and filter feeders in that tank so I like to have timed food 24/7 on this tank.
Sure I could have stopped that to accommodate the pellets. But I run my tank to accommodate my critters in the tank, not the add-on equipment ;)
For me the sulfur reactor fit my needs better but for others the pellets may be perfect.

They did do what they were designed to do -only that my critters suffered in the process rather than benefit from it
Mine if a fairly unique/specialized set up though.