Bio Pearls

[Stampos]

Hi all,

Was at my LFS today collecting a MH for my impending upgrade and had a chat with the owner about sumps and filtration

I mentioned the possibility of using bio pearls in a reactor and he said he uses it on his display systems (which are fantastic) so I invested in a reactor.

I want to run the pearls in a reactor which will exit to the skimmer intake, and have a refugium for growing cheato - I intend to do this as I aim to keep a Mandarin eventually so want the pod life cheato offers. Will I get decent growth from the cheato with pearls? I've read that the algae will use CO2 to grow alongside any traces of phos/nitrate?

Finally, I plan to run carbon in a mesh bag which will be located in the filter sock and fed from the overflow - any negatives to this and biopearls?

Worst case I can just use the reactor for a phosphate remover

Thanks,

Simon

 

[Morri]

I ran bio pellets on my old system they are very good at removing nitrates and phosphates but they can clean the tank to well there is a thread on UR about it.

Basically they remove a lot nutriants that some LPS feed on and they can starve a bit.

If you are going this route I would advise using Coral Snow and amino acids to make sure the LPS have something to chow down on

 

[Stampos]

I ran bio pellets on my old system they are very good at removing nitrates and phosphates but they can clean the tank to well there is a thread on UR about it.

Basically they remove a lot nutriants that some LPS feed on and they can starve a bit.

If you are going this route I would advise using Coral Snow and amino acids to make sure the LPS have something to chow down on

Thanks Morri,

I intend to stock predominantly LPS so I'm glad you mentioned that! I currently feed my only LPS (a galaxia) some mysis once a week and have no problems having to supplement them.

It's always interesting to hear peoples views on these things as there are so many different stances, a bit like whether overskimming is good or bad thing

Simon