Are Bio Pellets Reactors Becoming Abandoned?

[SoLiD]

I noticed the price of Bio Pellets coming way down and a couple of people here removing them from their system. I thought this was supposed to be the next great thing to hit this hobby. Can anyone explain to me why the craze is dying down??? I understand the whole 15NO3:1PO4 ratio for the bacteria to reproduce. Is this why? Is it because most people are aiming for a 0 NO3-'s and 0 PO4's systems which wouldn't be conducive to having bio pellets in their system. Any input would be nice.

[ramsey]

I can't speak for anyone else but I've been using them for 5-6 months and love them. My tank is doing much better than it was without them. I have no detectable nitrates or phosphates. I love that I can overfeed and not worry about it. All my fish are super fat, most os my corals are happy and again, no nitrates or phosphates. The only coral that is not doing worlds better is my GSP but it grew like a weed in my old tank so it's kinda nice it's growing a little slower. SPS are doing far better.

On another note, the price of biopellets and reactors seem the same as they did when I bought 6 months ago. Where are you seeing that the price has come way down?

[SoLiD]

Vertex dropped by $20 on their Bio Pellets. From $70 to $50 for a 1000ml bag.

[allan]

I've been running them for a little over a month and I can't see a difference except that most of my lps seem to not swell much.

I've been assured that this will pass but I've considered pulling out the reactor a time or two.

[Europhyllia]

I think I was one of the ones to jump on the pellet bandwagon before most others did and I took them off line just about the time when everybody else started getting their reactors and here's why:
The things I like to keep like to eat (who doesn't!?) so my system is set up to supply food on a continuous basis (Powdered foods for seafans, sponges, filter feeders. etc.). About 8 hours per day food is dispensed slowly into the tank.
And that's the reason I even got the pellets. I am not keeping a low nutrient system.
I also was hoping the bacteria from the pellets could be used as food for my corals.
With my constant supply of food to the tank the bacteria used it in the water column causing an almost permanent bacteria bloom. None of the corals liked that. They certainly didn't seem to be happily eating the bacteria.
Sure N and P were super low but at what cost.
At some point I got so sick of it that I turned on the UV sterilizer (a 'don't do' for pellets) and within a few hours the tank was clear, the corals looked happier. My choice was then to either replenish the pellets in the reactor and keep the sterilizer running to ensure the bacteria only did their work in the reactor and not in the water column, to quit feeding round the clock or to simply do away with the pellets all together.
By that time I already knew that 50% of the reason I wanted the pellets to begin with didn't work for me: none of my critters cared to eat the bacteria stuff. Stop my automated feeding regime would have meant giving up on my intent to keep my critters fed as close as possible to how they are fed in the ocean. The cost to replenish the pellets in adequate amounts to keep up with my stuff seemed really high and so I decided to take the reactor off-line.

Ricordea finally started to puff up and split, gorgonians started to have their polyps out all the time, encrust the rocks and grow. Things looked better and that was really my decision maker right there.

At least for my type of set up the pellets were not a good fit (mostly due to my continuous feeding I am sure)

[allan]

I've never taken my UV offline. Reckon I should?

The decrease in cost could be attributed to the move from market skimming to saturation.

[CoryDude]

The decrease in cost could be attributed to the move from market skimming to saturation.

That was one variable I was thinking of too Allan. It seems like everyone is flooding the market now with their own version of the pellets.

Some people I've spoken to are having the same problems as with the Hiatt a few years back. The bacterial systems work too well, to the point of starving the corals.

With the Hiatt, I was feeding frozen, flake, and pellet foods on a daily basis, and nightly feeding of the corals 2x a week, and the sps still looked pale with little polyp extension.

[allan]

My polyp extension on the sps is poor... To nonexistent on the p lovelli (sp?).

If things don't get better I will be removing the bp.

[Big_Pun]

I love my pellets, the one thing I've run into is making sure the amount in my reactor stays constant and not let it get low. my tank is a lot cleaner and nitrates are undetectable, SPS love it but some softies suffered from too clean a tank along with algae. another thing is people use them and think they can use only a small amount as just a supplement, but I believe you need to go by directions and use the amount needed for you total system volume and remove all macro, they are not just chemical dosing but and actual biological filter.

[ErikH]

changing a prefilter all of the time to keep the reactor from clogging is what made me pull them from my system. I'm just lazy ;)