cabinetman123
Member
I've come to Learn that this is a pretty common problem associated with carbon dosing. How many of you see this on surfaces in your tank? How bad is it?
White snot from dosing
- Thread starter cabinetman123
- Start date
toothybugs
New member
You're dosing too much if your skimmer can't keep up with it. A film on the glass is one thing, snot is another. I had that issue when I first started, then backed off quite a bit (no longer put vinegar in my ATO) and have not had an issue since.
Piper27
I love bengals
I dose a very high amount of carbon sources. I get a lot of bacteria mass in my skimmer bodies and sump walls. I have not seen any bad effects from it other than the random snot ball making it to the display but they don't last long there and hurt nothing. I run huge skimmers to help with this and have a dedicated tank filled with rock that I dose the carbon sources into. I will lower my dose once I can pull some fish out but for now there is no easy way for me to keep low nutrients. The snotty stuff I only have to clean off the sump baffles every other week or so.
Piper27
I love bengals
I wonder if anyone has found an easy way to deal with it. I can't use filter socks because they overflow over night. There has to be a way to set up some mechanical filtration with sponges that won't overflow anything and will keep floating debree and bacteria out of the water column.
stephenhall1987
New member
+1
When I first started dosing on my 400g I could not get the nitrates down to 0. They were low, but always some. So I kept upping the vinegar and vodka dose. My sump became full of this snot, and I would have to clean the display tank glass every couple days because of the film. Powerheads would get clogged with it. I eventually backed off the dosing and the snot cleared up.
Currently dosing 10ml of vodka a day. I feed 3 cubes ff a day, and seaweed every other day.
Horace
New member
If you get snot, then your dosing level is too high. Its generally harmless, but a sign that you are not a huge distance from overdoseing, which can cause tank crashes from a huge bacteria bloom. The bacteria is not harmful, but in large quantities can rob the water column of oxygen, causing mass dieoff. I would personally just start VERY small, and observe your tank carefully while ramping up. If you get any obvious visible accumulation of bacteria (ie snot), its time to back off....
As for mechanical filtration. There are not many options here. I recently chose to go with the rollermat. its pricey, but its automated and removes material before it has a chance to break down into P04/NO3 in the tank (which is the primary concern with running mechanical filtration). A guy in the DIY forum has built a sand filter (much like a pool sand filter) that accomplishes a similar thing to a sock, but requires manual backflushing and cleaning of the sand, but does avoid the need to wash socks. you can also size the sand filter appropriately to get 3 days or so before it starts backing up, so that is another option you may consider, assuming you have to room for one. Other than that, I would suggest going with larger socks. If your socks are backing up in one day, they are far too small for your system. They should go at least 3-4 days before backing up, but note that when first adding a sock, they will plug up quickly, but after a few changes should settle down significantly as the particulate is removed from the entire water column.
As for mechanical filtration. There are not many options here. I recently chose to go with the rollermat. its pricey, but its automated and removes material before it has a chance to break down into P04/NO3 in the tank (which is the primary concern with running mechanical filtration). A guy in the DIY forum has built a sand filter (much like a pool sand filter) that accomplishes a similar thing to a sock, but requires manual backflushing and cleaning of the sand, but does avoid the need to wash socks. you can also size the sand filter appropriately to get 3 days or so before it starts backing up, so that is another option you may consider, assuming you have to room for one. Other than that, I would suggest going with larger socks. If your socks are backing up in one day, they are far too small for your system. They should go at least 3-4 days before backing up, but note that when first adding a sock, they will plug up quickly, but after a few changes should settle down significantly as the particulate is removed from the entire water column.
Piper27
I love bengals
Good post Kurt, do you have a link to the sand filter build??? I would run large socks but my sump isn't big enough right now 
Also good point on the snot as a warning sign of an overdose, for beginners it could be something to watch. In my case I have been carbon dosing for a few years And knkw what my system can handle. The skimmers help a lot but I am in the process of pulling some big fish so I can decrease the bioload and therefore try and reduce the snotty stuff in my rock refugium. Hopefully after that I can try socks again. But the sand filter sounds interesting. Please share!
Also good point on the snot as a warning sign of an overdose, for beginners it could be something to watch. In my case I have been carbon dosing for a few years And knkw what my system can handle. The skimmers help a lot but I am in the process of pulling some big fish so I can decrease the bioload and therefore try and reduce the snotty stuff in my rock refugium. Hopefully after that I can try socks again. But the sand filter sounds interesting. Please share!
The Rollermat is extremely helpful when carbon dosing- it actually provides a really good growth medium for the bacteria, and is a very fast way of exporting. You can build your own if the price is a little much
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2552341
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2552341
