bluprntguy
Guest
I've been running the NP All in One Biopellets in my reef tank for about 4 weeks and figured it was time to share my thoughts and also see what other people thought about this product. I was a little reckless in adding these to my system. I have always either carbon dosed or run biopellets and I really hate dealing with GFO, so these seemed like they might be a good solution. I put the minimum recommended amount of the pellets in my reactor to see how they worked. I also left some GFO mixed with some carbon in a mesh bag in my sump. I stopped dosing carbon, but I still leave a little vinegar in my ATO with the kalk.
The pellets appear to be just biopellets with very fine/pulverized FO 'something or other' mixed in. I had to crank my Innovative Marine reactor up to its highest setting to keep these fluidized as they are very heavy . I'm also likely also approaching the max amount I can run in the reactor. I assume that as the pellets wear down, that the FO ends up in the water column and gets skimmed out or removed with mechanical filtration. This is the part of the product that I'm less comfortable with.
Nitrates seem to remain at .2 -.5. My phosphates were at .o3 - .05 the last few weeks with Hanna Checker, but I've been battling a hair algae outbreak possibly initiated by the fact that I think my lights have been up way too high. I checked yesterday and phosphates were at .19. I ran another test and got the same result, so I put some new GFO in a mesh bag and ran my overflow water through it. Phosphates are going down again. My alk/ca consumption seems to be steady since I started using these, even with reduced lighting.
I'm still a little undecided on these. I have about 50ml of the pellets in my reactor. Directions say to use 50-200ml for my size system so I'm going to add more today. If it works, this would be cheaper and less trouble than carbon dosing and separate GFO, but I'm still not convinced...
The pellets appear to be just biopellets with very fine/pulverized FO 'something or other' mixed in. I had to crank my Innovative Marine reactor up to its highest setting to keep these fluidized as they are very heavy . I'm also likely also approaching the max amount I can run in the reactor. I assume that as the pellets wear down, that the FO ends up in the water column and gets skimmed out or removed with mechanical filtration. This is the part of the product that I'm less comfortable with.
Nitrates seem to remain at .2 -.5. My phosphates were at .o3 - .05 the last few weeks with Hanna Checker, but I've been battling a hair algae outbreak possibly initiated by the fact that I think my lights have been up way too high. I checked yesterday and phosphates were at .19. I ran another test and got the same result, so I put some new GFO in a mesh bag and ran my overflow water through it. Phosphates are going down again. My alk/ca consumption seems to be steady since I started using these, even with reduced lighting.
I'm still a little undecided on these. I have about 50ml of the pellets in my reactor. Directions say to use 50-200ml for my size system so I'm going to add more today. If it works, this would be cheaper and less trouble than carbon dosing and separate GFO, but I'm still not convinced...
