HAHA! It took me forever to figure out why you thing my rice is in a "bag". Sorry...that was a figure of speech...silly internet.
if you go back further to when I first started...u can see that I am using a TLF550, sponges removed, mesh added so they don't backwash, and powered by a QO3000. The effluent is what I supply my skimmer with, skimmer ONLY gets effluent water after it's passed through the rice reactor.
I'm on day 4. Checked this afternoon and NO3 is still 15ish. Nothing else has changed as far as params. Sadly so far this is just like the BP for me..with the exception of the rice actually producing great skimmate. Hopefuly more time is needed for real results.
and day 4 water is still crystal clear. No bacterial bloom.
dave, so do u have a little tumble and is everything flying around?
is it possible for u to use another pump for the reactor? cuz if all the effluent is fed into the skimmer, wouldnt it be pulling everything out immediately?
I'm not too sure on this but if u could power ur reactor with another pump and put the out put near the skimmer that would be bettter than ur current setup.
also any chance of u getting a better test kit?
what do ur eyes tell u? see any difference in the tank? the need to clean the glass? algae growth?