Dr Tim's bio pellets

[gcarroll]

Obviously drawing conclusions without knowing the facts can cause a foot or two in your mouth. I got my first batch of pellets at a meeting when it was first introduced by wm. I am sure the pellets are good if u use it the right way. Only directions I got was to use recommended amount. When the bacteria colonized it stripped away nitrate and phosphate so fast that my coral couldn't adjust and wiped away alot of the Sps and Lps. It was a learning experience and don't want to make that same mistake w Dr Tim's pellets. I am in the business of helping and stating solutions. Add if it brings worth/value to the thread. Thx.

So tell me what is the right way? I dumped 2 liters into my reactor at least 6 months prior to anyone else. No ramp up at all. (Why is my tnk still thriving?) Still running the same batch today. I have done everything that everyone tells others not to do. Hell, even Schnitzel came over and saw them a while back. He asked, "Aren't the pellets supposed to be moving?" My response, "Are they?" I think it was obvious that mine were not. (Why is my tank still thriving?)

So now that I have succeeded even after doing what you insisted was the cause of your failure. Maybe you can re-evaluate your hypothesis. I am also in the business of helping and stating solutions. I will give you some help. Lowering Nitrate and Phosphate too fast had nothing to do with your losses! If this were fact, water changes would be detrimental as well. A 20% water change will lower you levels by 20% immediately. Bacteria is fast but not even close to that fast.

 

[wickedfish]

Can you walk on water and make water into wine?

 

[gcarroll]

Can you walk on water and make water into wine?

Nope, those two skills might hamper reefkeeping.

 

[Six2seven]

This is a great thread and I've been following along since it started. I do not run bio-pellets but its nice to see how everyone started and how they use them. I recently bought a cadlights reactor because I thought it was a sweet deal but I don't plan on setting it up at the moment.

Greg how large is your system? Maybe a larger volume had less of an impact from the bio pellets.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Start em now Steve. Just go really slow. Like I said 1/10 of the recommended dose. U will be good to go

 

[gcarroll]

Greg how large is your system? Maybe a larger volume had less of an impact from the bio pellets.

about 250-275g total water.

In all honesty, rather than researching pellets, reefers should try to understand the basics of bacteria. This will help reefers understand what is actually happening and help us overcome the pitfalls. I would never recommend someone doing any form of carbon/bacterial dosing without having a strong understanding of those basics.

When I was first introduced to carbon dosing, while everyone was looking for success stories, I was busy trying to understand why and how it works. A lot of that information came from European forums and other peers that had a more scientific background than myself.

 

[Six2seven]

Start em now Steve. Just go really slow. Like I said 1/10 of the recommended dose. U will be good to go

Yea im thinking about it since I like to feed heavy and my wife is one of those "they looked hungry so I fed them"

 

[high dollar slime]

about 250-275g total water.

"In all honesty, rather than researching pellets, reefers should try to understand the basics of bacteria. This will help reefers understand what is actually happening and help us overcome the pitfalls. I would never recommend someone doing any form of carbon/bacterial dosing without having a strong understanding of those basics."

Totally agree...Its good to experiment with different concepts for sure..BUT..at this point 99% of us are flying blind on this one...The commercialization and stream of steady "web experts" have got a lot of people doing all kinds of weird stuff lately... Everybody's looking for the elusive golden arrow....ES

 

[jon warner]

I remember hearing that Eco bak breaks down differently.... when it gets really small, that makes them have a negative effect. I'm gonna try to get a better answer from Dr. Tim and report back to this thread.

Complete nonsense, you know what happens to ecoBAK pellets as they get smaller?

They're exactly the same as when larger but they're SMALLER. That's it...

Also... PHA is a family of bioplastics. Saying that a product is made of PHA is like saying that your breakfast cereal contains "Grain".

ecoBAK is a member of the PHA family. But there are 100's of bioplastics in the PHA family.

ecoBAK has nothing to do with potatoes.

ecoBAK has no fillers or starch.

Some of our competitors want us to talk more about the means of production and the process. Knowing the means of production and process tells the educated competitor which bioplastic EXACTLY that we use.

I have worked directly with the manufacturer of 3+ years. I have provided input on how the product is to be made for ecoBAK production.

When I started researching a bioplastic for NO3 and PO4 reduction I started with a clean slate because at that time NO ONE knew the composition of NP BIOPELLETS. So... my own research lead me in a somewhat different direction and thats how I ended up with a slightly different bioplastic.

And about 6 months after the release of ecoBAK a certain USA based manufacturer of biopellets started contacting every single supplement manufacturer and water additive company offering their high quality PHA biopellets available for bulk sale. This coincides with a half a dozen companies coming out with their own version of biopellets.

Oh, btw ecoBAK was the first bioplastic pellet released after NP biopellets and 6 months before the others.


Having said that... I like Dr. Tim's LIQUID BACTERIAL ADDITIVES, recommend them frequently and I'm sure that his bioplastic works as advertised. But I ask everyone to do ONE THING when considering a biopellet brand.

READ THE REVIEWS.

Not a single review or a handful from one website but hundreds from different websites. ecoBAK is the most reviewed biopellet on the market, it's easy to find plenty of reviews.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Complete nonsense, you know what happens to ecoBAK pellets as they get smaller?

They're exactly the same as when larger but they're SMALLER. That's it...

Also... PHA is a family of bioplastics. Saying that a product is made of PHA is like saying that your breakfast cereal contains "Grain".

ecoBAK is a member of the PHA family. But there are 100's of bioplastics in the PHA family.

ecoBAK has nothing to do with potatoes.

The last sentence made me laugh

It's always good to see an owner of a company involved. Thanks for coming on the thread and spreading some knowledge.

Any reason why I should run your pellets over Dr Tim's? Any legit reasons why yours is better? Dr Tim has a pretty good sales pitch on why his are better. (I don't remember what his claims are)

Thanks

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Guess I spoke too soon.

Why would u recommend Dr Tim's pellets over your own?


Any reason why I am getting cyano after starting bio pellets? (I'm using Dr Tim's)

Had I used ecobak would I see different results?

 

[wickedfish]

My question to Jon:

I failed miserably about two years ago running EcoBak. I spoke on the phone with you for about 20-25 minutes on my tank what I needed and the current parameters.

I had my JNS pellet reactor next to a skimmer inlet.

I added half of what you personally recommended me starting with. Don't know what happened but all my acropora species started to fade, lost color, then they started to peel. Parameter prior to addition of pellets was 5 nitrate, .12 phosphate. Ph normal 8.1, calcium and magnesium also normal range. Alkalinity was 7.3-8.1 durning the course of the pellets. Water changes every two weeks.

As soon as I disconnected the pellets whatever acro was left (just nubs) returned to "normal" about 6 months later.

What did I do wrong?

 

[jon warner]

Guess I spoke too soon.

Why would u recommend Dr Tim's pellets over your own?


Any reason why I am getting cyano after starting bio pellets? (I'm using Dr Tim's)

Had I used ecobak would I see different results?

What??? LOL

I recommend Dr. Tim's LIQUID BACTERIAL ADDITIVES frequently as they seem to work well for red slime and/or Cyano.

Many people using the PHA based products from the certain US-based company (basically everyone else) have Cyano issues. I'd recommend Dr. Tim's Waste-Away for that.

Biopellets don't raise your fishes IQ by 30% or turn your cheapo corals into LE's. A good quality biopellet lowers BOTH PO4 and NO3, has few if any side-effects, produces very low nutrient crystal clear water and doesn't cause undesirable algae. That's all we claim to do. Check our reviews.

 

[jon warner]

My question to Jon:

I failed miserably about two years ago running EcoBak. I spoke on the phone with you for about 20-25 minutes on my tank what I needed and the current parameters.

I had my JNS pellet reactor next to a skimmer inlet.

I added half of what you personally recommended me starting with. Don't know what happened but all my acropora species started to fade, lost color, then they started to peel. Parameter prior to addition of pellets was 5 nitrate, .12 phosphate. Ph normal 8.1, calcium and magnesium also normal range. Alkalinity was 7.3-8.1 durning the course of the pellets. Water changes every two weeks.

As soon as I disconnected the pellets whatever acro was left (just nubs) returned to "normal" about 6 months later.

What did I do wrong?

Hello again,

It's hard to say. Of the hundreds of customer service calls I've taken over the last 3 years I've had maybe 5-7 people claim to have issues with ecoBAK. After talking about the issues a few of those have discovered the correct cause of the problem.

So when we have a situation occur possibly 1/200 times how can we diagnose it? Is there something in ecoBAK or something associated with it's use that can stress SPS? No. If you ran an fast aggressive flow on a high nutrient system that can cause a reaction, just like running GAC on a system with heavy water coloring, changing your lights, using a different salt mix, having your cigar smoking Uncle visit or a 100 degree day while you're off at work? Maybe.

 

[wickedfish]

Really hoping for a response that can make me say hey I really did mess up. Or hey your system wasn't fed enough or anything.

Main thing just smooth acro died. Can pellets deplete a reef aquarium of coral food?

 

[pgr11]

Hey Jon just sent you a pm lmk

 

[jon warner]

Really hoping for a response that can make me say hey I really did mess up. Or hey your system wasn't fed enough or anything.

Main thing just smooth acro died. Can pellets deplete a reef aquarium of coral food?

Well, the bacteria on the pellets are removing some dissolved nutrients from the water. I've always been a proponent of feeding. Ever since seeing Tyree's SPS presentation in 1995 we've concentrated on keeping our water clean, no fish no feeding no detritus. That used to be the only way to keep SPS. But with the advent of big skimmers, better supplements and Carbon dosing/Biopellets now we have the ability to strip a system of nutrients. So... in 2013... Clean your water. Feed your system.

 

[gcarroll]

Main thing just smooth acro died. Can pellets deplete a reef aquarium of coral food?

Intersting statement. I had a friend go through something similar with another product. That product also had a track record of success. That product was also a bacteria product. Sorry for calling it user error when it could really just be something random or just bad luck.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

What??? LOL

I recommend Dr. Tim's LIQUID BACTERIAL ADDITIVES frequently as they seem to work well for red slime and/or Cyano.

Many people using the PHA based products from the certain US-based company (basically everyone else) have Cyano issues. I'd recommend Dr. Tim's Waste-Away for that.

Biopellets don't raise your fishes IQ by 30% or turn your cheapo corals into LE's. A good quality biopellet lowers BOTH PO4 and NO3, has few if any side-effects, produces very low nutrient crystal clear water and doesn't cause undesirable algae. That's all we claim to do. Check our reviews.

I misread ur previous post. I thought u said u recommend dr Tim's bio pellets. That's why I was confused.

U now have me sold on ecobak. Do u guys do trades for dr Tim's pellets?? Lol

 

[wickedfish]

No need to apologize Greg. To me this always a learning curve and hence why I am still in the hobby. I agree understanding basic nomenclature and biology in reef aquariums is important.

I find most of our hobby fascinating and love to push the envelope. And am always looking for the next thing to make the tank more independent.

I am not biased towards BP's, just want em to work for my tank so I can get off Gfo, cause it's pretty pricey!