carbon dosing overdose

[Aquaman_68]

the best way to straighten your issue....Small water changes every day...solution to polution is dilution....All the die off has caused a bloom....

On the use of carbon.....Not sure why but....carbon use in a reactor is nothing more than a bandage for the overlying issue.... what is causing ur issue that makes u need to run a carbon reactor?? Poor product water due to an inferior ro/di system....or cheap sub par filters? Over feeding? (many r guilty of this) The use of food high in protein....(the cheaper the food the higher in protein) the more protein in the food....the more the fish excrete.....The more polution!!!

Is ur skimmer up to par or undersized? Is it adjusted properly? is it cleaned regularly & cleaned the proper way so it doesn't have to break in everytime u clean it?
Oh & reef magic suppliments.....They don't work....It's all marketing bunk......all they do is polute ur closed system....
So many issues to look at for the cause....


If u had a 100 gal system..You would do say 5 to 8 gals a day for 10 days.....Carbon should only b used passive in a sump.... IE: in mesh bag in between baffles....(about 1.5 to 2 cups) swapped out every 4th week...

thats my story...I will stick to it...To the death.....

 

[frank180reef]

He is talking about Carbon dosing as oppose to charcoal carbon use..................

and yes agreed the magical additives are nothing but economy stimulation

 

[JohnK]

Ok that makes sense. What you are saying is that I effectively killed some bacteria with the carbon by limiting available nutrients to the bacteria. As the carbon was used up, skimmed, etc, there was nothing limiting bacterial growth and that caused a bloom. That bloom then used up the available oxygen and in turn, lowered my PH. The bacteria should die off and setle back to acceptable levels and my water will clear? Am I understanding correctly?

I think you are thinking there is an extra step so to speak. The carbon didn't kill bacteria, the growth was simply limited by the lack of available organic carbon. Adding the carbon source allowed the bacteria to bloom. And yes, the bacterial bloom uses up O2 and drives down PH. Leave everything alone and it will all go back to normal.

 

[dannyp02908]

Ok. Thanks john.

Aquaman - frank is right. Dosed a carbon similar to adding vodka. As for charcoal, I run it active because I note my water I clearer with it. Its in a reactor tied off my return. I've always ran charcoal with no issue. I have a spectrapure rodi with top of the line filters. 0 tds. Of DI and about 4 after RO before DI. My skimmer is a reef octopus nwb150. Display is a 110 oceanic (old skool) and sump/refugium is a 45 sectioned off. Prob around 130 gal total volume.

 

[beelezebubba]

Ok that makes sense. What you are saying is that I effectively killed some bacteria with the carbon by limiting available nutrients to the bacteria. As the carbon was used up, skimmed, etc, there was nothing limiting bacterial growth and that caused a bloom. That bloom then used up the available oxygen and in turn, lowered my PH. The bacteria should die off and setle back to acceptable levels and my water will clear? Am I understanding correctly?

limiting nutrient in 'bio-speak' is the one necessary element that an organism needs that is in shortest supply. bacteria need (among other things)- nitrogen (nitrate), phosphorus (phosphate), and carbon. there could be all the nitrate and phosphate in the world in you water but if they don't have enough carbon they won't grow, since they need all three in adequate amounts. by dosing carbon you're giving them enough of the limiting nutrient to enable them to grow and start taking up the nitrate and phosphate.

when you overdosed the carbon, there was suddenly tons of the limiting nutrient available, so you got a big bacteria bloom and the water turned cloudy. this is similar, but not the same, to how new fish only tanks often get cloudy initially before the tank cycles and the bacteria populations reach some equilibrium. it's also similar to what happens in the gulf of mexico every summer, but instead of bacteria it's phytoplankton that bloom, then die and descend, where they cause enough of a bacterial bloom to drop o2 levels enough to kill many benthic inverts. this is why most of your stuff is ok except for the fish- vertebrates have much higher oxygen demands.

as the limiting nutrient, carbon, gets used up the bacteria will start to die and the tank should begin to clear up, but water changes and aggressive skimming are good to help remove many of the bacteria before they die and further deplete o2 levels.

hope that was clear lol. good luck with the tank, hope everything pulls through. it should assuming john k is right, which i think he is. nice work john!

 

[mchartier]

I was dosing vinegar for about 4 months, I gradually came off it by lowering my dosing each week (about a 4 week span). I still had a bacteria bloom when I finally stopped. My bloom lasted about 8 days till it was completely cleared. I did 5 gallon water changes every other day until it cleared (about 65 gallon system). Activated carbon will not do anything for the bacteria as mention, if you want to do something to stop the bloom quicker run a UV sterilizer.

 

[dannyp02908]

That is as clear as it gets. Thanks. I have no way to increase oxygen short of the sump and skimmer for now.

 

[JohnK]

Is the tank starting to clear up at all? If yes, then you are probably past the hurdle.

 

[mchartier]

That is as clear as it gets. Thanks. I have no way to increase oxygen short of the sump and skimmer for now.

What do you have for powerheads in the tank? Maybe point them more to the surface to agitate it more will help.

 

[Aquaman_68]

He is talking about Carbon dosing as oppose to charcoal carbon use..................

and yes agreed the magical additives are nothing but economy stimulation

I can read....actually pretty good............

His original question was how to get around a carbon overdose....I gave my take...& explanation why I feel that way.....

So I guess it will b my chance to chime in my thoughts on Carbon Dosing as well!!! :

There is such a fine line on carbon dosing that it is almost impossible not to have a catostrophic event at some point...Most times sooner than later!!!

Keep it simple....The bacterial balance is just way too hard to acheive on a controlled level with CD..

CD is a way to set u up for a melt down at some point!!

Hopefully people will learn from ur mishap, Danny!!

 

[dannyp02908]

I'm not home to see if it has cleared some. For powerheads, 2 K4s and they are always pointed to the top. I will never try carbon again. I had a 40 fowlr for years witn nothing but a HOB filter. Will learn from this.

 

[dannyp02908]

So, update. The 3 remaining fish are still alive (yellow tang, pj card, 4 stripe damsel). The tsnk is almost crystal clear. Most corals are opening. Losses so far, my tomato clown, domino damsel and 2 blue chromis. Corals, have a green slimer that RTN'd, a green tip birdnest RTN'd, gsp hasn't opened much, kenya tree is wilted, anthelia is wilted, lost a feather duster, toadstool is in bad shape.