my rice experiment

[coltrref]

in my case by reducing the flow to 1/5 and increase again without reaching 100% sulfide occurred, but the smell was light,
but after two weeks of starting the train of rice and by the smell, I said the whole rice.

want to experience again and rice train to prevent fungi and toxins by changing color, Rice will replace all three days.

continuous connection with another reactor with activated carbon for heavy metals.

Rinse rice well to prevent the milk in the water column aquarium

apparently the bacterial bloom this time has been even lighter.

 

[SimonSKL]

Haven't heard back from KKil4life and Icycoral for a couple days. Can we conclude this rice experiment is over? It seems to me rice has never deliver the key results we expected, ie long term reduction of PO4 and NO3 safely in a reef aquarium.

 

[Genetics]

I understand this idea was born from waste water treatment. However, waste water treatment and reef tanks are two entirely different species. Rice may be a cheap substitution in treatment of waste water but I cannot foresee this working well in an aquarium.

The key difference is evident in how we care for our aquariums. We minimize what goes into the system from RO, Salt, to foods. Adding this much rice cannot be safe in maintaining a stable reef tank. Nitrates and nitrite spikes are to be expected. In fact, it would not be surprising if the tank had to cycle again from the increased bioload. It does seem that is what some people are starting to post on this thread.

 

[HighlandReefer]

I understand this idea was born from waste water treatment. However, waste water treatment and reef tanks are two entirely different species. Rice may be a cheap substitution in treatment of waste water but I cannot foresee this working well in an aquarium.

The key difference is evident in how we care for our aquariums. We minimize what goes into the system from RO, Salt, to foods. Adding this much rice cannot be safe in maintaining a stable reef tank. Nitrates and nitrite spikes are to be expected. In fact, it would not be surprising if the tank had to cycle again from the increased bioload. It does seem that is what some people are starting to post on this thread.

+1 for what Genetics has stated. I'm glad he said it first.

FWIW, PCL seems to be the cheapest solid dosing carbon source for reef aqauriums we can use as a DIY source so far. So far the threads using the PCL find it is working well. PCL is used for medical sutures that degrade in the human body without problems.

 

[tmz]

I agree with Nate and Cliff and would not personally use rice in my sytem.

Here are a few reasons taken from one of my earlier posts that developed throughtout this thread:

A summary might be worthwhile for those considering using rice for carbon dosing.
I'll start and perhaps others might add pros and cons or debate.

Rice will provide a carbon source as it breaks down, a saccaride
(It is mostly carbohydrate). This will fuel bacteria and may fuel the growth of bacteria that will reduce NO3 and PO4 provided they are exported via gac(granulated activated carbon and skimming and the additions of nitrogen in the rice are offset.

A saccaride at some point turns to glucose as I undrstand it and Cliff has cited articles in the past that show glucose in particular may have a detrimental effect on corals. This has also been my personal experience when dosing sucrose( table sugar) which combines fructose and glucose.

Rice may contain trace metals which can be harmful in a reef tank.

Rice provides a fertile field for fungi and scary mycotoxins.

Rice contains significant fiixed nitrogen in the protein and B vitamins; fats too. . So it's questionable as to wether it will add to NO3 or PO4 in some situations.

While it may be possible to control the rice breakdown and the amount of organic carbon released by flow adjustments. I'm skeptical that this is acheivable with current technology and knowlege of how rice decays.

There is no long term experience with rice dosing to evaluate as there is with other sources such as ethanol and vinegar for example.


__________________
Tom

 

[SimonSKL]

TMZ, nice summary. +1.

 

[skunkmere]

i had to stop my rice experiment too, i saw no reduction in cyano, but my skimmer works better now, so not a total loss. Also no damage to my softies and seahorses. I was a good try. i will now look into pcl's.

thanks guys

 

[elijaher]

Pcl? There a thread on pcl.

 

[SimonSKL]

Pcl? There a thread on pcl.

Is this what you are talking about?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1766100

 

[elijaher]

Yell that is the cheapest solid carbon dosing.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Is this what you are talking about?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1766100

Or see my other thread on summarized list of DIY / alternative biopellets:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17432897

 

[icycoral]

Hey y'all I'm still alive just have been busy with a few things. My tank has settled down after removing the rice. A large water change, gfo, and gac are working their magic. I think all in all the rice was adding more to my tank than taking out I'm seeing less algae on the glass with a fresh reactors of carbon and gac than with the rice only. My purple hornets closed up for a day after removing the rice, I think they were happy with the mild level of no3 and po4. Going to check my levels on friday before my water change to see what my no3 is at compared to last week with the rice.

 

[tmz]

Interesting comment on the purple hornets. It has been my experience that zoanthus as well as protopaythoa and palythoa open wide and grow very well since dosing organic carbon( in my case vodka and vinegar) even though nitrates and inorganic phosphate are low. I think they may just enjoy the bacteria or perhaps the acetate. So when you stopped the bacteria waned to some extent and perhaps the zoanthidae reacted by closing or to something else in teh process.

 

[tmz]

TMZ, nice summary. +1.

Thanks Simon.Glad it was helpful.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

hmm interesting thread. After hours of reading i was hoping for something better in the end. It sounds like the addition of rice is kinda like what i read when people begin vitamin C dosing. You get alot of junk bonding and the skimmer pulling out excess crud for a few days. For whats its worth, it might be nice to run rice one week every couple months for the reaction your skimmer has pulling out leave behinds it was before. Pure speculation, im sticking to my macro algae in fuge. Thanks for your guys work in the experiment!

 

[thebanker]

For whats its worth, it might be nice to run rice one week every couple months for the reaction your skimmer has pulling out leave behinds it was before.

I don't think the rice would in any way help the skimmer pull out "stuff it missed." It just doesn't make any sense to me, unless the rice changes the molecular structure of the organics so they become polarized with hyrdrophilic / phobic ends.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Thats what I'm saying, but with moron-speak.

 

[tmz]

I wouldn't use it at all. There are other safer carbon sources in my opinion. Any one of them will enhance bacterial growth which in turn will be exported by the skimmer along with any N and P they consume. In most cases it takes a period of time with consistent dosing for these bacteria to establish themselves to a point where Nan P are reduced significantly so I don't think a shot here and there would be very effective.

 

[thebanker]

I think vodka is easier than this. No rinsing, no reactors. Once you get the routine down, it works remarkably well. Same with the Instant Ocean PCL.

 

[tmz]

Yes and if the vodka doesn't do all you want it to do for the tank you can drink it and everything will look better.