rice dosing !!!!!!!!

dez_2121

dez_2121

Member
Ok so I started my rice experiment a couple of hours ago
First things first my tank is a standard 55gal BB tank with dual overflows and a 30 gal sump. For my return I'm running a mag 12, that I have T'd off to run a make shift rice reactor lol (should put that one on the ghetto thread) the line has a restrictor so I get just enough tumble on the rice. My lighting is an aquaticlife 48" 4, 54w setup. I'm not sure about my skimmer because I bought it second hand but it runs off an Rio 1100. In my sump I have about 25lbs live rock no sand and some cheato.
I've been running a bare bottom tank now for about a month, the reason I went BB was because of a fire I had with my VHO's. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1861255&page=2. After the fire I dumped all my sand, and just rinsed off my rock. I never heard of cooking rocks so needless to say I'm having a hair algae bloom from hell because of the rocks leaching PO4 into my tank.
I did a test of the water before hand with an API reef master test kit (only one I could get for now)
27 AUG 2010
Ca2"¦"¦"¦..540
KH"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦15DKH
Po4"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦.. 5.0, I think this is because of the hair algae I have plus I've been running some PURA phoslock Po4 remover. Not sure if it's even been working
No3 "¦"¦"¦"¦. Between 0 and 5.0 can't tell (because the kit) also think its low because of the algae.
I will keep postings and pics up on the progress of this

ok first the rice i'm using
0727001404a.jpg


0727001406.jpg


next my tank notice the hair algae
left
0728000121.jpg


right
0728000122a.jpg


center
0728000122.jpg


0728000121a.jpg


and FTS
0728000122b.jpg


took everything after lights out so they where closed a bit
 
I dont know if I would be carbon dosing with an unknown skimmer. Id work more on that first personally..... How muc water does it pull, how much air does it pull, what size is the skimmer body, what size is the skimmer neck, etc....

What kind of flow do you have in the display ???

Keep us updated on the progress for sure though. :thumbsup:
 
Thats a good point that I didnt think of when I saw Dez's post about this on our local clubs forums. Carbon dosing requires that you have a very powerful skimmer. Having an underpowered skimmer while carbon doseing will cause more harm than good.
 
some one said it the skimmer is a coral life and I kind of remember the instructions saying it was rated for up to 100 or 150gal but ether way it was way over my 55gal tank.
Thanks for all the info
 
i didn't want too but i'm going to do a 15 or 20gal water change this weekend to see if that will help bring down the ca and dkh
 
I didnt even look at the numbers, I stopped after the skimmer. I would definitely get your numbers in line before you worry about any carbon dosing.

I don't think that skimmer is enough to pull out the amount of crud that somes with carbon dosing but its not my tank. Ive never seen those coralife skimmers perform that great, but that could just be me... :twitch:

I'm still of the train of thought that the best thing we can do for our tanks is good sized consistent water changes with a quality salt.

How did your CA get so high, are you already dosing stuff or using kalk to top off?

What brand of salt are you using and what size and frequency are your water changes?
 
i have no idea how it got so high i do about 15gal every 2 weeks with store bought ready mixed water ( Aquatica ) i don't top off with kalk and i haven't added any supplements since the crash so if i had to guess i would say Aquatica's water has a higher rang of ca and dkh they advertise it as being for reef, someone else made a good point to that since i don't have anything to consume the ca and alk thats why its going up instead of down, like i said i'm doing a water change this weekend and i'm still going to continue with the dosing. i gotta see what happens
 
Some users of organic carbon dosing have reported the tissue loss at the ends of their SPS. "burnt tips" recovered once the user reduced the alkalinity levels within their tank to alkalinity levels closer to natural seawater (7-8 dKH).
 
well if you need help PM me if you like. I do Vodka Dosing in my tank.. BUT YOU NEED A GOOD SKIMMER TO DO CARBON DOSING.
 
If I were you, I would run some tests on the water you have been buying. I would say that it is highly suspect and could be causing a lot of your problems. It is possible that they are using both high TDS freshwater and a poor salt mix. Your phosphate, calcium, and alkalinity are very high and I don't know of a salt mix that has those alk and calcium numbers. I was thinking Oceanic at first with the high calcium, but then I saw how high your alk is. How old are your test kits? Maybe try having your tank and water change water tested by someone else to confirm your results. Also, out of curiosity what is your salinity at?
 
you all are all right lol. i hadn't check my salt in awhile but when i did its low as well i don't want to say its the water i'm buying thats my problem until i can test it for myself. maybe they're keeping it low salt and high ca and alk for a reason. don't know what that might be. anyway i'm going to still try to get some fresh ro/di water and mix myself. i used to use reef crystals sea salt hopefully that still the same lol.
 
most fish stores mix their water around 1.0019 for fish only tanks. i'd look into fixing up everything before adding another unknown element.
 
first a video of my rice reactor


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I'm on day 2 and my skimmer is going nuts just emptied it last night and it was overflowing a little while ago. a good skimmer is a must i see that now for sure lol. but you have to make do with what you have so I'm going to keep going. all fish and corals look good my GSP even look better than before.

i just finished my second day testing and here's the numbers so far

Ca 500 coming down slowly
PO4 .5 now that's a change
KH 14 barely moving but getting there. one good water change and i'm there i hope
No3 0
 
Last edited:
I have hair algae in my 45 and can not seem to get rid of it. I run carbon in my overflow, my sump is a 30 gallon rubber maid with a octopus 200 skimmer and a mag 9 return with a koralia 2 in the tank. I do have new lights and never adjusted my lights to be on less, so this might of had something to do with it,
? about the rice so what you are doing is equivilent to running say a bag of rice in my overflow then all the water goes through that before going to the sump? HMM
would have a fuge help control all the algae in the tank and make it grow in the fuge instead?
 
jfuka78 said:
I have hair algae in my 45 and can not seem to get rid of it. I run carbon in my overflow, my sump is a 30 gallon rubber maid with a octopus 200 skimmer and a mag 9 return with a koralia 2 in the tank. I do have new lights and never adjusted my lights to be on less, so this might of had something to do with it,
? about the rice so what you are doing is equivilent to running say a bag of rice in my overflow then all the water goes through that before going to the sump? HMM
would have a fuge help control all the algae in the tank and make it grow in the fuge instead?
Click to expand...

i've been following these two threads.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1874551
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1878307
this is the first time i'm trying something like this so as much as i would like to answer your questions i don't want to give you bad info so bare with me as i try to and please do what i haven't done in the past and thats check up on any info that anybody gives you

ok first thing depending on how long your lights are on. if they're on over 6 hours like mine was (12) i would cut down on the daylight time

some people are trying to go with a bag in their overflow read through the threads i believe they have had some success

and last a fuge would help with some chaeto and a deep sand bed (DSB) but even that's up for debate some like myself don't run sand at all in there systems on that its totally up to you and what works and easiest to maintain
hope what i've said has help or atleast put you on the right path. trust me the best thing to do is read, try, read, try some more, and when thats done READ lol

dez


HAHAHAHA almost at 300 come on 300
 
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