Biopellet Tips anybody?

[Flow863]

Just picked up these npx biopellets
Can I just put it straight in my phosban reactor?

 

[bluecrabbster]

Yeah you need to follow the recommended dosing though. For NPX it's 100mL per 25 gallons. And they suggest starting with only 1/2 that to get started so that the possible bacterial bloom won't rob all the oxygen and crash your system.

What I found in my own case was that it took a little bit for the pellets to get started. I was running GFO as well as Purigen, and the flow was a bit too high. I ran it that way for three months, and I saw little if any change in nitrates. My phosphate was great, but way too low and became a limiting factor.

There appears to be two types of bacteria to culture, and as you attempt to do so on the solid carbon it may help to carbon dose (vodka,vinegar,sugar) with the small amount of NPX in order to jump start the bacteria in the tank, and possibly encourage them to proliferate into the water column where they will be taken up into your fluidized reactor.

Keep us up to date with your progress, we like to learn from each other...

 

[tonedogz]

LA Fishguys, Bio Pellets, Episode 107 pt2 - YouTube Watch this it might be helpful there's also a pt.1

 

[MBliss81]

Start slow. Add a little and let it run a few days, then add a little more, etc.

I made the mistake of adding all at once and had a major bacteria bloom that took a week to clear up and killed my sand sifting sea star.

That being said, I highly recommend npx bioplastics. I have been running them for over 2 years, and have been very happy with the results. I even experimented with not doing water changes and keeping the nitrates down using only biopellets, with success (though I don’t recommend it, and don’t do it any more).

Great product.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I ran it for six months, saw no major changes in DOCs but skimmers ran like crazy. But it did cause a Cyanobacteria outbreak and I hadn't seen that in years. I am using vinegar now with no issues. It seems less prone to grow cyano.