Pelets vs. sulfur denitrator vs. vodka

[phurst]

I took down my long running 150 a few month ago in order to set up a smaller 90. I ran into a few delays (got laid off), and I'm finally ready to get rolling on it again. Here's my question. I have the means to use either some kind of pellets in a reactor, a sulfur denitrator, or straight vodka dosing. I'm wondering 1) which method would likely be the best choice for me and 2) whichever method I go with, should I do it from the beginning, or wait for nitrates to rise to a particular level first?

I'm pretty sure vodka is going to be out for me, because, well, I'm lazy and forgetful :) I already have a sulfur denitrator and new media for it, and i also already have a BRS media reactor and BRS pellets, so sourcing gear and cost aren't an issue at this point, it's strictly a question of which will be the best choice for me.

The tank will be primarily SPS, with probably a few LPS for movement, and a medium to heavy-ish fish load. SSB, with 80ish pounds of dry base rock, and a few good sized pieces of LR left from the tank I took down that are living with a few select fish and corals from my old tank living in a friends system. My sump has space for a fuge, but I'm hoping it will be unnecessary to use it as such. Skimmer is a Deltec APF600, and I have a 25w UV and 75mg/h ozone at my disposal with an ORP controller. Not sure if either will be beneficial or detrimental depending on which method I go with.

Thanks in advance for input, advice, observations or what have you.

[Ninjapotamus]

id say it depends on your fish load and nitrate levels.

if your looking for the most aggressive nitrate control i would go with a sulfur denitrator. possible problem with this setup is it tends to lower ALK.

biopellets probably wont get you to the rock solid 0 nitrates as fast as sulfur denitrator will, but it will get you close. plus it feeds coral, always a good thing.

i ran both for a while, took the biopellets off, just didnt need them. my cheato used to double in size every week or so... now growth has grown to a crawl, sulfur denitrator working very well.

[tmz]

On a new tank I wouldn't use any of the above until nitrate was higher than I wanted(say more than 5ppm;20ppm doesn't do harm either even to sps ,ime)). The extra bacteria from carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar, pellets, vitaminC, sugar et al) may be food /may not. May be pathogenic or encourage pathogenitc activity or not depending on the corals involved and overall tank conditions. Certainly may casue bacterial blooms and O2 depletion . Carbon dosing will add extra organic carbon to the tank which may build up to harmful levels particulary if there is no nitrate. The primary reason to dose organic carbon is to reduce nitrate and some phosphate. It is not without risk and potential downside.

The sulfur denitrator works best ime when nitrates are high . When they are low problems with toxic hydorgen sufide arise.

In a tank with very high nitrates( say over 30ppm) and a high bioload using a denitrator or water changes to take them down and then a carbon dosing method to keep them there is my preferred strategy.