Well, on second thought...

Vinny is spot on.

 

I saw a drop after 4 weeks. As mentioned each system is different. I would not water changes with bio-pellets though

 

yes my bio load is high but so is my gas exchange. for a zero edge to have a oxygen problem says a lot. think about it. and yes it was the pellets no question about it, when i shut them down the fish started to be able to breath again, within a short time.
i agree each tank is different. but i feel the bio pellet community those pushing these as a fast answer to not do there husbandry should really should start to disclose the other sides of pellets. bottom line IMO there is nothing better than proper husbandry.....water changes, and filtration.
if you want to carbon dose go with zeovit at least its a little more regulated and tells you about the depletion in other areas that bio pellets create , like potassium , and fatty acids/ amino acids.

honesty i tried bio pellets to get my nitrates down, yes they do that but at a cost. i now am NOT running pellets and have a zero reading for nitrates. water changes and filtration is how i got there.

 

good luck reef madness.

 

Reactor is up and running . Just recieved it and set it up in record time, did have a leak due to not having the hose pushed down all the way (will have to cut them they are a little long for my needs). Hopefully with the mag3 I won't have to mod it, but well see.

 

What kind of pellets are you using? and how much did you start with?

 

Gas exchange means nothing if you have an atmospheric condition limiting it.It is also entirely possible that the BP's in combination with other factors is the reason you had issues.Just because your fish were gasping does not necesarily mean you had an o2 problem.It could have been the release of Hydrogen Sulfide as well.Agree that there are down sides to BP's but from the systems I have seen running them they do work when properly implemented.Good luck RM let us know how they work for you.

 

vinny you your self had a scare if i remember right and shut them down than restarted them. but you still push them.
also there is no atmospheric condition in my home. i almost always open the windows and one is near the tank. at this time my house is closed up most the time but i still have a great oxygen reading in my tank. the main pump is also a mag 1800. plenty of turn over with a skimmer thats over rated a bit for my water volume.

and my bio pellets were in a bio pellet reactor, no home made reactor they were in a aquamaxx bio pellet reactor and had a nice spin to them. there was no rotten egg smell coming from them when the oxygen depletion happened.

i know we all do things differently and run our tanks differently. but i once again want to stress bio pellets aren't as safe as they are put out there as nor is the info being put out on them just there to be seen. it really requires much research and should not be jumped into lightly.

example... those who look into zeovit don't do it because how structured the program is.
but bio pellets they jump on because there is no structure, and they are lead to believe they are safe and need no work but put them in the reactor and let them be. well thats not true at all.

another point, i told a local his store owner who has been in the business for many years that i had started bio pellets and asked him about them. he told me, he had heard of lots of horror stores and that he would not use them. i months later had another horror story for him! i should have known to listen to him.

im not even going to keep on with this. i hope it gets to some people that these are not completely safe, not to mention they will need you to add additives.

 

Pink, no disrespect but your argument is very emotionally driven. I don't feel Vinny is "pushing" bio pellets at all but you are trying to scare people from trying them. Fact is they are working for lots of people and you feel they didn;t work (had the opposite impact) on you. What Vinny points out is there are many reasons things could of happened. There is not a cut and dry way of knowing what or why things happened. You believe it was the bio-pellets that hurt your system and have made things work just as well without them. This doesn;t mean that will be the case with others. Last, what disclosures are you talking about that they should add? Eccobak and BRS pellets absolutely come with warnings and have great articles on how to use them. I know, I currently use both with no issues.

 

Also my scare was completely unrelated as it turns out which was one of the points I was trying to make. Never stated atmospheric conditions was your particular problem but it might have been.(along with alot of others) As Tom. has already stated no where in any of my posts have I "pushed" them.Don't know why your getting so emotional. All I was saying is people are using BP's with great success.If this is true then something is different in your tank compared to theirs, hense the reason I said everyone's tank is different.You seem positive the problem was lack of oxygen but unless you were testing for it that is just your theory of what went wrong.If BP's were such a bad thing then no one would have any success using them.So just like every other thing we do it will take time and experience to sort out exactly why some people can run them without issues and some people can't.I always advise people to go slow especially when adding newer things to their systems. If the O.P. was asking whether or not he/she should run pellets I would definitely tell them the pro's and con's of them based on my experience. I could care less really if they use them or not as I do not own stock in these companies.LOL