Trying biopellets instead of vodka dosing...?

[Werdlone]

Well, I broke down in an effort to make my tank less "labor intensive" and purchased some vertex biopellets. I'm hoping that these will take the place of dosing vodka everyday. From what I've read, they are a food source for bacteria (much like the carbon in vodka is) and also provides surface area for colonization. The constant motion releases mulm, much like zeo rocks, that feed corals and micro fauna. I will still dose microbacter 7 every 3 days as I do now. My only "down side" to this method is probably cost. Cheap vodka goes a long way, at least in my tank. Not so much in my liquor cabinet! The vertex pellets weren't exactly cheap. We'll see how long they last..?

Any advice/experience from other reefers is appreciated. I will try to update this post.

[jimsflies]

What the heck is "mulm"?

[ReeferRob]

Are you running them in a reactor (if so what kind) or passively? Im curious to see your results, I've been considering it for some time now.

[kgood1]

Tagging along.

[Myteemouse]

pending ther brand of pellets depends on the movement of said pellets
some can be tossed in a bag and tossed in your tank other must be vigorously tumbled..
Said to be good for the tank!

[Sir Patrick]

Your the first person I personally know to try it. Eagerly looking forward to your experiance/results. I have thought about it also- to replace the MB7/carbon dosing. I am getting possitive results, but negative effects from the dosing....might be the size of my tank....

[rmalone]

I'm interested to know how this goes also. I am currently dosing VSV with either mb7 or bio-digest, sometimes both. I just don't trust any dosers to mete out such small amounts, my VSV dose is currently 3ml. I don't personally chase ULNS, I just shoot for keeping parameters PLNS (pretty low nutrient system).

[Werdlone]

jimsflies: What the heck is "mulm"?

next time you shower, look at the build up between your....:eek: ha ha

I'm not quite sure, I read about it when researching zeo rocks??? I just like the word, though...mulm. I believe it is a build up of bacteria that releases from zeolith stones or this case biopellets. It supposedly feeds corals, sponges, etc.

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Werdlone,

Thanks for being bold enough to try this and sharing your experience. This method had intrigued me for a bit. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as well.

I also just saw that Two Little Fishies is selling a reactor and media for this.

Mulm (a.k.a. gunk) in this case is referring to dead bacteria, I believe.

Tom

[Manoj's Reef]

Andy, I dont have much info on pellets but have you thought of dosing the vodka using a doser? It will save you the effort of doing it yourself.

Also you can dose the bacteria using a doser.

Just a thought.

[Werdlone]

Well, I started out with the lowest dose as per the instructions...My shades of fall acro just RTN'd...half of it is white. I now have to figure out why...did I strip my nutrients too fast or did they spike? my alk/ph/specific gravity are all fine... 8/ 8.2/ 1.026, have to still do more testing to see what the rest of the params are. I took the biopellets offline and did a water change. changed the carbon as well. I'll update....not happy.

[Chelle's Ocean]

I have begun dosing vodka after speaking to a fellow reefer in our club, and reading up on it thru melvesreef. I also am trying microbacter7 as I have a horrible bloom (due to an experiment) :-|
I have another reeferbuddy from the club who has switched to the pellets, and has nothing but good things to say. I will try to get him on here. His tank is very nice....I have some pics from our meeting, I will post them:

[cg5071]

Any news to report?

[stunreefer]

What the heck is "mulm"?
It is the build up of excess bacteria harboring on the zeolite rocks. You will get negligible amounts on pellets though, as the pellets actually break down over time as they're consumed where zeolite does not (although it does absorb some ammonia, which is why they must be replaced). Said "mulm" is a great coral food and if we could replicate this into an "additive" of sorts it would be an unbelieveble source of food for keeping non-photosynthetic coral.


pending ther brand of pellets depends on the movement of said pellets
some can be tossed in a bag and tossed in your tank other must be vigorously tumbled..
I'm curious as to where you found/read/saw this information. The pellets that are out are mainly made form two different components (won't get into that) and although dozens of companies make them now they're all fairly similar - the jury is still out in regards to which "base component" is "better", and I honestly don't expect to ever get an answer, toe-mae-toe, toe-mah-toe kinda thing ;)

In other words, they can all be ran passively or through a reactor, the only thing I could see would be a manufacture stating "must be in a reactor" because they sell one to go with their pellets ;) If you run them passively I would recommend kneading the bag at least once a day in order to release any mulm that might build up on it (allowing pellets to continue to dissolve).

I don't personally chase ULNS, I just shoot for keeping parameters PLNS (pretty low nutrient system).
:thumbsup: Love the new acronym! Maybe we'll see everyone jump on that bandwagon now too, LOL!