Biopellet Reactor and nitrate progression question

[zechirian]

Evening All!

Just had a question. I've had issues with keeping nitrates lower for a while now and had been dosing No3Po4x from RedSea and it was doing a really good job. My problem is that in order to reduce daily maintenance and preparing for vacation time i'd really like to have the house sitter not have to worry about dosing daily.

So i decided to start up a biopellet reactor along with a regime of Prodibio Biodigest and Bioptim.

Here are the results so far:

Week 1: Biopellet reactor start, 1/2cup biopellets, 1x biodigest, 3x bioptim, No3 5
Week2: add 1/2cup biopellets, No3 5
Week3: 1x biodigest, 3x bioptim, No3 10
Today: No3 is at 25

So i'm seeing a rise in Nitrates and not sure if that's to be expected until the biopellet reactor can become fully operational.

I see a couple of options:
1. Add another 1/2cup biopellets
2. Hold off on adding more biopellets and 25g water change
3. Add another 1/2cup biopellets and a 25g water change

Here is my system setup:
120g display, 39g sump, Aquamaxx EM300 skimmer, Aquamaxx XL Biopellet reactor, various other bells and whistles

I have the output of the biopellet reactor plumbed into the skimmer via a T fitting and connected to the skimmer, so it's not leaking out anywhere.

I have a Tomini Tang, Lt Tang, One Spot Foxface, 2x Snowflake clown, Hoevens Wrasse, Royal Gramma, Blue Jaw Trigger, Court Jester Goby, Midas Blenny and 3 Lyrtail Anthias. So it's stocked towards the heavy end.


Any help, comments, concerns, questions, birthday wishes or what have you would be welcomed!

Thanks!

[The ReefBox]

With any of the bio pellet reactors it takes about a month to see a change as you have to build up the bacteria culture on the pellets before they will be beneficial. You may ned to apply another form of nitrate removal until it is working effectively. Adding more pellets and or flow is not the answer. Go slow

[zechirian]

That's what i was hoping.  I do plan on taking it slow and will probably do a 25-35g water change in a day or so.

[The ReefBox]

Manual removal might be best until you get bio pellet reactor working for you (i.e. Changes)

[Jeramy]

Just remember that 25-35 gallon water change is only 20-30 percent so will not drastically lower nitrate levels. not sure what your nitrates are at or how much they went up. If your nitrates went from 2ppm to 4ppm then a 30% water change will only take you back to 3ppm which is moving in the right direction. It also depends what your nitrate production levels are at if you are producing nitrates at a high enough level a 20-30 percent water change could have little to no affect on them.