my rice experiment

[daveonbass]

end of day 7. Still no change on my 15-20ppm NO3.

IF IT'S NOT DUE TO LIMITED PO4, then my only other guess is that there may be a balance. There is only enough rice/bacteria to consume the excess nitrates that are produced each day. So instead of reducing the NO3, it is merely keeping it at bay. That's all I got.

so tonight I'm gonna soak some rinsed rice, and rinse it again before I add it to the tank on monday. I'll simply add another 1/2 cup...for a total of 1 cup now in a 58g tank.

so we'll see what happens next week.

 

[Du]

I'll simply add another 1/2 cup...for a total of 1 cup now in a 58g tank.

So you will have a rice dose as recommended dosage of NP plellets. For pellets it is 250 ml (~1 cup) per 50 gal.

 

[elijaher]

Maybe need some phosphate then will have a n/p ratio.

 

[Du]

Maybe need some phosphate then will have a n/p ratio.

More rice - increase fish foods and/or more fishes :twitch:

 

[icycoral]

Update

Update

Day 15
It's been 15 days since I tried the rice reactor. Today I figured I'd open the reactor to see how the rice was holding up as it had turned a funky brown with dark spots.

So I tried crushing a few grains to see how soft it had gotten. What I found is that some of the grains were fairly soft like fresh made popcorn soft. And some were still pretty hard in the center with the exterior being a tad soft. The closest thing I could relate it too is it's like squishing a sunflower seed kernel.

So I rinsed another batch of rice (3/4 cup this time) and restarted the reactor. Looking back I think I should not have replaced the rice. It was still plenty hard and was not breaking up as it was tumbling in the reactor. I think I. Ould have gotten another week out of it and should have left my reactor alone Have to say I'm getting a little burnt out testing my water every night so I think I'm going to only test for No3 and PO4 daily, and test my other levels bi weekly. And everything looks great otherwise.

 

[daveonbass]

So you will have a rice dose as recommended dosage of NP plellets. For pellets it is 250 ml (~1 cup) per 50 gal.

yeah. BUT...remember that I ORIGINALY had 500ml of NP pellets in the reactor with no results. I can't for the life of me fathom that 4 chromis, 1 bangaii, 1 foxface, 1 rbta, and a hand full of corals would be too much on a system this size. The tank looks empty to me. If I simply need more solid carbon then good grief.

personally I don't tink this will help. I'm really just testing it to rule it out.

as far as upping the PO4, show me a safe way to do it and I may try it. But no matter how much I feed...the level stays at zero. I've fed frozen unwashed mysis fur times a day for a week and had the tests read zero PO4.

it's still a mystery.

 

[Du]

as far as upping the PO4, show me a safe way to do it and I may try it. But no matter how much I feed...the level stays at zero . I've fed frozen unwashed mysis fur times a day for a week and had the tests read zero PO4.

it's still a mystery.

I think, having a solid carbon sourse is a good way to have many fishes and no phosphates. So it is a time to add more fish! :idea:

 

[daveonbass]

thought about that...still not sure if I should push my luck....thats how I got high NO3 in the first place. Lots of fish...and there was still no PO4. So instead of all the levels coming down it was just the NO3 going up.

 

[Du]

thought about that...still not sure if I should push my luck....thats how I got high NO3 in the first place. Lots of fish...and there was still no PO4. So instead of all the levels coming down it was just the NO3 going up.

Maybe it makes sense to add a photosynthetic as corals or macro algae? It wiil keep NO3 level stable or come it down.

 

[daveonbass]

what coral would lower (really lower) nitrate?

I have added the next half cup of rice. After washing this batch more than the last I was surprised how brittle it was already. Like icy said before...its easy to break with your fingers. So interestingly as much as they tumble they are not breaking in the reactor. So they are more brittle than BP from the start...but yet they stay solid.

I'll post a pic when I can but the new rice was SOOOO much whiter than the old rice. Once turned back on they mixed really well together, it was interesting to see how well the reactor works.

word of caution. When adding any new rice...your skimmer will go crazy again. Even after washing them well. I'm predicting that this will go away in a day or two again.

so, week 2 started...and now I have double the original rice. So lets see if NO3 comes down this week.

 

[Du]

what coral would lower (really lower) nitrate?

photosynthetic corals

Any photosynthes process involv NO3 as main nutrient. So i didn't see why corals or others can't help to lower NO3, and one more thing, they can do it with different balance of N versus case of "rice" bioplankton.

As you have 0 PO4, and stable CA and ALK, so it's a good condition for corals, also.

 

[daveonbass]

sloppy? Powerheads? Go watch your free movies...and stop plugging them here.

oh and "welcome"...

:/

 

[loveless]

Has anyone tested the effluent out of their reactor? Cause mine isnt good, trates are on the rise in the tank and what coming out of the reactor is somewhere between 50-100 ppm nitrates. Also the rice has what appears to be cyano bacteria all over it. I have been running the reactor for 6 days now and my skimmer is pulling alot of crud out but so far it appears something is wrong.

 

[DJREEF]

Has anyone tested the effluent out of their reactor? Cause mine isnt good, trates are on the rise in the tank and what coming out of the reactor is somewhere between 50-100 ppm nitrates. Also the rice has what appears to be cyano bacteria all over it. I have been running the reactor for 6 days now and my skimmer is pulling alot of crud out but so far it appears something is wrong.

Is the reactor getting light?

DJ

 

[DJREEF]

sloppy? Powerheads? Go watch your free movies...and stop plugging them here.

oh and "welcome"...

:/

If you want phosphates start feeding nori (if you have fish that will eat it), and flake food. That'll bring them up.

DJ

 

[SimonSKL]

Has anyone tested the effluent out of their reactor? Cause mine isnt good, trates are on the rise in the tank and what coming out of the reactor is somewhere between 50-100 ppm nitrates. Also the rice has what appears to be cyano bacteria all over it. I have been running the reactor for 6 days now and my skimmer is pulling alot of crud out but so far it appears something is wrong.

That doesn't look good. Did you also measure NH3 and nitrite of the effluent? What kind/brand of rice did you use?

 

[DJREEF]

That doesn't look good. Did you also measure NH3 and nitrite of the effluent? What kind/brand of rice did you use?

Yea, it almost sounds like the proteins within rice are breaking down and becoming a source of nitrification.

DJ

 

[Du]

Yea, it almost sounds like the proteins within rice are breaking down and becoming a source of nitrification.

DJ

If we have 100 ppm from reactor (perhaps reactor is 1 L) so in tank volume of 100l it will be 1 ppm. So, the question is - what we are measuring?

 

[Du]

And one more. A 100 gramm of rice contain a 100 mg of P. Perhaps it balanse with N as 1:10. So we will have a 1000 mg of N or 3000 mg as NO3. In 100L tank we will have a 30 ppm trates from 100g of rice. That is completely out of concern.

 

[DJREEF]

If we have 100 ppm from reactor (perhaps reactor is 1 L) so in tank volume of 100l it will be 1 ppm. So, the question is - what we are measuring?

Like Simon Says :lol2:- all nitrogenous byproducts - ammonia, nitrite, and of course nitrate. If you're getting elevated readings on all 3 counts then the rice is rotting and adding to the problem that it's supposed to be solving. If you're only getting elevated NO3 then your rice 'pellets' are behaving like energy filled bio media, and becoming an actual source for the nitrification process. If I were a betting man, I would say the lowest flow necessary to keep this from happening - maybe to the point of hypoxia/anoxia.

DJ