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.... 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.