Well, on second thought...

After all my ranting and raving a few days ago about minimizing equipment, I convinced myself to buy a biopellet reactor . Just placed an order through BRS for their BRS Biopellet reactor combo and a mag3. I'm hoping with the mag3 I'll be able to T it off to stir up detrites in the skimmer section of my sump. We'll see how it goes, I'll give a full review. Anyone have tips/advice for it? Running a SWC 160 Cone skimmer not sure the best way to ensure return from reactor goes straight to the skimmer, let me know if you have thoughts .

 

The main thing with them is the screens clog up constantly. I modded mine and it seemed to work much better but have since discontinued their use for a different probelm.(Not related to the reactor)There are a couple mods for them on this site heres a link to mine. Probably the least complicated.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/brs-bio-pellet-reactor-mod-130080.html

 

get your self an oxygen test kit if your going to run pellets or any other form of carbon dosing. the bacteria the carbon dosing creates can cause an oxygen depletion problem and kill fish. i learned the hard way. or i should say half my fish learned the hard way 5 fish dead. ones i had from the start of the tank.
i now do not run pellets and don't plan to ever again. IMO your better off vodka dosing you have more control.

 

The reactor should be here tomorrow . Says use about 350ml of pellets (max for the reactor) for a 75gal. I'm thinking to add around 100ml? then maybe 2 weeks later another 100ml 2 weeks the remaining 150ml? Sound like a plan? slow it down/speed it up/half and half?

 

After reading the prior 2 answers, I'd say stay low and go slow. I've read a ton of similar problems and worse going to fast with pellets. I have a reactor and pellets collecting dust because i don't want to run it.

 

Out of curiosity, what is worse then your fish dying? I would tart with one quarter cup then wait 6 weeks. Most issues seem to have come from too much too soon. I have pellets on both of my tanks and have had zero issues. The amount of people achieving success with pellet makes those that do the unlucky few. Like anything new you do, take your time and observe it often.

 

Absolutely excellant advise.8)

 

i think there are more people with problems with pellets than we know. most don't like to advertise their mistakes.

my problem didn't start till after the pellets were running a few months. the pellets were actually half the size that they were to start and were due to be replenished/ topped off. i had turned my uv light off, which i feel left the pellets bacteria take over in the water. my pellets where below advertised amount to be used for my water volume when this happened.

in the start of using pellets i lost several corals all the goni's a blue a green 2 pinks. died. thriving before pellets. this bothered me but i kept using the pellets, but when it killed my fish. that was the end of pellet use for me. its to uncontrolled. there is no reactor out there that gives you control of flow and spins pellets at a proper rate. i did see on utube someone was attempting to make a reactor that would spin the pellets at a proper rate and give you the control of what comes out of the reactor ( leaving you able to turn down its outflow with out effecting its pellet spinning)

i stress the oxygen test kit. they are cheap. 15 - 20 dollars. if i had one i would have seen what was going on and saved the fish.
i have one now and will test monthly just for peace of mind. even though I'm not running pellets. its a good thing to do. I'm not sure why this isn't added to peoples must have test kit as is test kits such as nitrate and ammonia ph cal mag and alk

 

It is very hard to put the blame on things in our systems.A good example of this is when people wake up to find their hermit crab chewing on one of their fish and blame the crab for killing it. The fact that people are having success with them leads me to believe that they do work.Everyones system is different parameters,lighting,aeration,atmospheric conditions, and stocking levels all play a part in the success or failure. Because they are new it will take some time to develop and there are reactors coming out now that give you the ability to control the outflow of effluent and increase the tumbling of the BP's. I would venture to guess that most people are having difficulties because of the reactor not the BP's.Also most of the threads I have seen where fish are actually killed are either heavily or overstocked which was the case with Pinks tank IMO. With so many variables to consider it is usually very hard to determine the exact causes but when people have thriving tanks with the use of BP's it means when used properly with the right conditions BP's can be a very usefull tool IMO.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, looks like I will go the take it slow route. With Nitrate sitting at around 20ppm do you think I will see this change at all with the 1/4cup over 6 weeks? or am I looking for results more at the 3-4 month range?