Biopellets is a form of carbon dosing, Flow, Churn, and Effluent are much harder to quantify than a standard dose of some other carbon source? I made Pellets work for a time, but had problem when I switched brand of pellets and have never looked back. I too had best luck with Ecobak original, but never was able to quantify dose so went with different method. Also when you feed bacteria if the bad out competes the good you will have problems. Someone mentioned Muratic Acid and starting with Dead Rock in this thread and in my opinion we have gone backwards in this Hobby and there is more in Live Rock than we understand. Every tank I have started with Good Seeded Live Rock has flourished, my 400 with Dead Rock took two years to hit its stride. Off topic, but I would rather deal with Hitchhiker pest off Live Rock than wait two years to be able to have rock that would keep my corals happy and my nitrates low!