Bio Pellets - Round 2

After a few months hiatus, I've decided to try out bio pellets again.  I previously switched from the bio pellets to Fauna Marin, as the pellets did too good of a job stripping my water of nutrients.  However, I found the Fauna Marin to be too much maintenance for my liking, not to mention the added cost.

So why would I switch back to bio pellets after the disastrous results of my initial trial?  Well, the bio pellets did exactly what they were intended for... to clean the water, it just did too good of a job by stripping all the nutrients.  I knew something was missing so I did some research and it turns out that in order to run bio pellets successfully, you must find that fine balance of the right amount of bio pellets to use in accordance with your system.  In hindsight, I probably used too much in my initial trial, which is why my water was completely stripped of nutrients.

This time, I am using NPX Bioplastics bio pellets.  Based on the recommendations on the packaging, I am to use 100 ml per 25 gallons.  With my system being 135 gallons with a 55 gallon sump and subtracting the volume taken up by the live rock, I would estimate that I have roughly 150 gallons.  This would mean that I need to use 600 ml of bio pellets.  There is also a warning on the packaging about starting off with half the recommended dosage to prevent algae blooms, so I did just that.  I set up 300 ml of bio pellets in the reactor, and will gradually add 100 ml at a time to reach 600 ml, all the while testing the system to ensure I'm not using too much.  

In my research, I also came across another key point.  Because bio pellets are only a carbon source, its important to seed with a good bioculture, and that most have been successful using Brightwell's Microbacter7.  I did not do this in my initial trial, which probably would've made a significant difference.  I will be supplementing the bio pellets with it this time around.

I'll monitor and tweak the system in the coming weeks and hopefully provide some positive updates.