Looking to get into biopellets

I would start at 1/4 the recommended. After 6 weeks, if you still have phosphates, add another 1/4. Repeat each 6'weeks until the phosphates are gone.

 

2 weeks ago I started reef dynamics pellets in Vertex ZF-15 Zeolith Reactor. A little over 144, but it has a handle for zeo media. Vertex products are great for the price and the handle allows to mix the pellets should they begin to clump. Read the pellet direction close, they usually recommend a 24 hour soak In RO to soften them which helps them tumble as well as start the bacteria cycle.

 

FWIW, you're going to find if the kent is similar to the TLF, you want to mod it. Trust me. It's super easy as I stated before. You don't want the lower plate, you want the tube without any sponges to be in the middle of the pellets so they tumble continuously and don't stick.

you definitely want to soak the pellets well and start the flow low otherwise, the pellets will go up through the holes in the top plate (at least on the TLF) not sure on the kent.

 

Ok cool ill start with 125 ml then. Ecobak says 500ml for my tank.

 

Ok great advice ofk. Yeah I'm gonna go look at the store for some of those fine mesh things to put in there instead of the sponges. Then I should be good to go.
I called my lfs and they never heard of ecobak. Which is weird. So ill have to order that.
Best cheapest site anyone? Marinedepot?

 

If you get a chance watch the video on the reef dynamics website.
I think the recirculating is the way to go. There's a million threads on how someone over did it with biopellets.. With the recirc models you can control the effluent and still get a proper tumble. I would imagine the alternative for non recirc models would be to open it up and remove some pellets.
The reason I asked if you have LPS or softies is your Nitrate and PO4 can actually get too low for LPS. So that's where it's great to have effluent control.
For regular models I hear good things about the Aquamaxx from marine depot but they're out of stock for a while. If you're a tinkerer it wouldn't be that hard to make a recirc model.
The two best I've seen while shopping appear to be the Aqualund and reef dynamics but I'm not sure how much you want to spend. Also they take up a good bit of space and I'm not sure I want that.
Aqualund Re-Circulating Bio Pellet Reactor

This video if nothing else is a little educational on biopellet reactors.:
Bio Pellet Reactor for 250 gallon Systems

 

I've had great success running bio pellets in my cheapo kent phos reactor with a maxijet 1200. Unmodded and doing great. Maybe I'll look into this modding thing. I also use TLF pellets, bio pearls I believe there called.

 

plus 1

 

I tried TLF modded biopellets on my 65g. Although the pellets got consumed (I had to refill it several times over a year) I never saw nutrient reduction that I was hoping for and from time to time it would clog. I moved to an automated vodka dosing system and it's the best thing I have ever done in my years of reefkeeping. I can fine-tune the dose and know how much is going into the system. Nitrates from off the charts to 0.7 (ish) over the course of a few months. I was almost ready to give up on that dang tank, even tried floating scrubber to no effect. I am now in the school of thought that vodka or vinegar is the way to go for carbon dosing, but I wish you luck either way!

 

Interesting information!