just switched from BRS to Ecobak pellets

Me too boss. My pellets will be a week on Saturday.

 

My tank has been up and running with the same live rock for 15 years....

 

You might want to try some of dr Tim's while you are adding the bio pellets. There is no such thing as Old Tank Syndrome.

 

I do believe I've read about old tank syndrome.....I guess I disagree with you. We don't always need to agree in this hobby.

 

True but from what I have seen, it is merely an excuse for failure. In this hobby, most reefers shy away from blaming themselves. If it was true it would happen in all cases. Of the rock in my tank, most was purchased 14 years ago, the other was 10 years ago. My friends tank has had the and deep sand bed in the refugium and rock in the display tank for 25 years. As far as the science goes, old tank syndrome should be repeatable and my tank and many of my friends tanks should all be failing when in fact they are thriving. If it's not repeatable in all cases, then there is another problem, and that problem most likely lies in the reefer himself. It is far more likely that there is something different that that reefer is doing or not doing that myself and other long term hobbyists that I know are doing or not doing.

When I started in this hobby, I read and read all that I could to understand how and why things happen. Heck after I read all my books, I traded and swapped them with friends for theirs. Many of the books were written by experts in the field (except for the ones by Anthony Calfo). Today many get on reef forums and never really get the full understandings of the aquarium. They are continually looking for things to blame for their failures. First it was deep sand beds were becoming nutrient sinks, so many went bare bottom. There was Zeovit and all those in the US who killed their corals because we Americans think that if instructions say add this much, 50% more will work 50% better or faster. There was calcium reactors causing low ph, first had people dosing kalk, then had them adding kalk reactors, which then made people have to dose mag because mag dropped, then after all that people just ditched it all and went to dosing everything, and after all that you have a bunch of people going back to calcium reactors and the cycle will start again. There are LEDs, first white blue and green diodes, so people failed and blamed the green diodes, next blue and white diodes were great and everone raving, next adding royal blue, then adding violet, all along companies and hobbyists touting LEDs were better than metal halide because they had limited green and red spectral output. Guess what, now they are putting back green and red! Why? Well to be more like metal halide! And on this board I don't have to tell you about those that blame bio pellets for their failures.

Bottom line it's always something. IMO, it's almost always the hobbyist not the (insert excuse here)!

 

+1, actually + infinity

Great thoughts, great post

 

Seems like every so often a scientific/health report that milk is good for you, then after awhile another report says it's not good for you. Can someone tell me if milk is good or not once and for all?

 

Ok, I need to respond to this post. In referring to old tank syndrome and in reading about it, I am trying to figure out what has happened in my tank that is has been hard to decrease my nitrates. I was guilty of poor husbandry in my FOWLR tank and that has contributed to increase nutrients that I am having a hard time reducing. I am not using old tank syndrome as an excuse and if you read about it, a large part of the theory is that poor husbandry and lack of consistent upkeep is what is old tank syndrome - hobbyists don't keep up the same maintenance, testing and such and on and on... I am guilty of that - I am not making an excuse. As far as biopellets, my tank did crash when I added them BUT it was my fault that I did not have sufficient skimming when I added them. I get the jist of what you are saying - I just don't think that one should dismiss a theory of something actually existing when the hobbyist is a large part of the syndrome as it is stated. Hope that clarifies what I meant.

 

I was not directing my comments toward you but to those writing bout Old Tank Syndrome. Sorry about your bio pellet experience as my comment was not directed at you but at those who blame bio pellets for their failure.

 

I would get your your pellet quantity to the suggested amount and than it should be working better. Like you I started with 25% and than every 2 weeks I would add another 25% till I got the suggested amount

I believe in the import/export idea and the sumpless system you have is making things more difficult for you. When you do a WC I would siphon as much detritus as you can. When I first started my tank I kept live rock rubble in the sump and soon realized it was a huge detritus trap and my nitrates would hover around 50-80ppm.
At one point I was doing 20% WCs a week. I later removed the rubble and the nitrates got better. I do believe in over skimming

With a sump you have a place for the detritus to settle and it becomes easier to remove. When I first stated using bio pellets my nitrates were at 5ppm and right now hover around an estimated 2-3ppm, For me the bio pellets didn't do much for the nitrates but has done wonders fro the algae buildup on the front glass. Before I would have to clean the glass once a week, now I am lucky if its once a month.

One thing that I think also really helped me was when I added my MP40s, the second I turned them after on after installation I could see a lot of uneaten food and detritus getting pulled off of the liverock and substrate. The undertow was incredible and this got the crap in the water column where it could be sent down to the sump via the overflow.

I siphon the detritus from the sump when I do a WC using a shop vac