Bio-pellets?

[teebone110]

Anyone using them?

They will not only reduce nitrates, but phosphates too. I read that any reactor can be converted into a bio-pellet reactor and to ensure the foam pads are replaced with mesh screens to prevent the water flow from gumming up.

It is also not recommended to run bio-pellets in a dual reactor with carbon, as changing the carbon will interfere with the bacteria growth rates and the flow through the bio-pellets wouldn't be optimal.

I was debating on getting a BRS dual reactor, but now am thinking that maybe a single reactor for biopellets might be the best choice.

So many decisions... ???

 

[Cal_stir]

I did some research on bio pellets, a lot of mixed reviews, half the people said they work and half said they didn't.
a lot of people said they experienced bacterial blooms and reactor crashes.
as I understand it, aerobic bacteria grows in the reactor, NO3 and PO4 are used up in the building of the bacterias cell walls, the bacteria dies and enters system where it must be skimmed out to remove the NO3 and PO4 from the system.
a strong skimmer is a must.
I never tried a reactor, but I did try a layer of bio pellets at the 4 inch mark of a RDSB, did not see any results in nitrate reduction, but when I tore the RDSB down I did find a lot of black stinky crap in the sand.

 

[teebone110]

Thanks Cal for your feedback. I am reading a lot of mixed reviews as well.

It looks like a lot of folks are jumping on the band wagon, BRS is sold out of their reactors until April!