Here are a couple of minor things that shouldn't be ignored. Articles: Part 1: www.melevsreef... Part 2: www.melevsreef... Iodine in the Aquarium: www.advancedaq...
Love the video Marc! For carbon I’m pretty sure you are right: after reading and testing (on a hospital tank I’ve used carbon some times to remove cupramine, it works great ant copper lowers fast and works for 3-5 days, after that it stops working - just a testable experience). On my tanks I also use it with purposes - to remove medications like fluconazole, to remove substances like when I trim zoas, but never all the time. About iodine I often dose and once a month I test (seachem test - not really easy to do. I notice when my iodine is low some zoas change some colors - tutty-frutty loses orange, sunny D get’s more green than yello for example - but that’s too anedoctal to be sure. I’m more afraid of overdosing iodine than underdosing.
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine in Marine Aquaria: Part I by Randall Holmes Farley. Just google it and it's on the Advanced Aquarist website. You'll be an iodine expert after reading these very informative and though articles. I posted the link on Club Melevs Reef.
I bought a used tank and the reactor is two pieces of foam and they way you described it. His add said it was a phosphate reactor but he also said he never used it. Can I put carbon in it? Is a phosphate reactor the same with two foam pieces? Can I use purigan anywhere if I have a sump? Do I put anything in socks or just let them catch detritus? Can you use a carbon reactor with a fuge? BRS said you should do both together either one or the other, cant remember why, maybe beacuse it would remove to much nutrients. What brand protein skimmer has a blue cap with outline of a white fish? Thats what tank came with. He said it was oversized for 36 gallon so wondering if it is big enough for my 72. Its pretty good size?
Purigen acts like a skimmer removing organics from the water. In place of carbon you would use chemipure blue which is gfo, carbon and purigen mixed together.
Hey Marc, I missed the live stream so I couldn't participate in the discussion. I sent out for ICP analysis and my Iodine came back low. ICP recommends 0.06. I purchased Lugol's solution and it says 1 drop per 25 gallons. I use Seachem Iodine and Iodide testing solution, but It can be tricky. Will have to try a different testing brand for comparison.
Oh! I bet it is 1 per 25g now that you mention it. Darn, misspoke. Hopefully people will read the linked article. At least my advice won’t lead to overdosing iodine.
Your experience may be different but there was a brs video which overwhelmingly showed the benefit of using a reactor over other methods. As such I use a reactor and in my anecdotal experience I've found the water in the chamber to become extremely toxic for ammonia/nitrates, I can't say if it leaches other toxins back into the tank but those are enough to for me to warrant removal so I don't leave it to find out. I've not seen or heard of anyone running 2 carbon blocks, removing one, and placing one in fresh salt water after use (of the same tank volume) for a period of time to see if measurable contaminants leach. To effectively do this an icp before and after carbon use, at a week, two weeks, and three weeks of carbon introduction and repeat the same on a pure saltwater water tank along with a control tank. This would fairly definitively show what happens but is quite expensive.
i have used carbon in the past and it bleached out all my lps. It took all the stuff my lps liked. i don't use it to this day and have had no issues. i do monthly water changes though. i have never done what you recommended though. A few days maybe would of been better. i left it in there. that was years ago though. i haven't ran it for a long time.
If a filter sock generates nitrates after 3 days then there's no reason to believe the carbon won't do the same. Even if effective for a week the nitrates being produced would eventually outweigh the carbon benefit.
In order to dose iodine into my 10 gal nano, I placed a drip of lugol’s solution in a cup of RODI water and then poured a fifth of the mix into the nano tank.
Ramon Perez why lol. Do a 10% water change and you’ll have everything you’re supposed to in a 10g tank. That’s the joy of picos is you don’t need to do anything except 1g water changes to keep water balance up. You’re over complicating a simple thing.
I've used poly filters for 30 years in my soft coral tanks , never used carbon once . I put one in an external filter once a month though they will last longer than that , can't recommend them enough .
Mirror your video, your shirt is backwards, so MACNA reads on our screen ANCAM.... FYI. As always nice feedback from viewers. A fellow reefer used NoPox and got white balls of bacteria slime growing
Josh Lira the red field ratio isn’t backed by any real sciences it’s just a new antidotal view.. I have a brand new nano tank.. used live wet rock from trusted local vendor and started cheto fudge day one.. tank is 1 week old today and is running 0-0-0-.5 based on red filed I should have algea everywhere cause I have too many pho’s and no nitrates.. tank is a clean as clean gets.. did I mention it’s a 10g nano lol.. if anything I should be having all kinds of issues especially when my daily 8oz water top off is regular bottled water from Walmart.. The red field perspective is a very interesting read and I think it’s close to what is true. The reality is there is zero true factual information in ohisohates and nitrates in fresh or salt water and what happens as a result. Every tank is different and the only constant is 3-20 nitrates and under 1 pho’s is typically gtg.. there is no true backing studies to support red field even though I personally feel it’s a good rule of thumb to prevent issues.. this is why fuges and 10-15% weekly water changes are the norm to experienced reefers.
Carbon that’s clean or carbon that’s rinsed till clean.. is a great host to bacteria. It’s 90% used in first 2-3 days like you said. However I feel it’s real benefits come when left alone long term.. what item in the fish hobby has more surface area then carbon? Sand and that’s about it.. no actual media comes close. I ran a carbon reactor on a freshwater 125g tank for a long time.. 59goh flow and let the detritus build with a full reactor of carbon.. by week 7 I was down 66.2% nitrates from normal amounts without any other changes.. I’ve since in freshwater stopped cleaning my filters regularly. I let the detritus build till flow almost stops.!nitrate factory? Nope I have a 125 with 36 chiclids and run 20ppm 24/7. Water is clear and fish are happy enough to breed. Haven’t changed water in a year next month.. just weekly 10g top offs and running fine sand bed that I’ve never cleaned and looks as good as the day I set the tank up. The fish keeping world is held back by manufacturers false information to sell product.. look into aquaponics denitrification and you’ll be shocked how they are doing this. It’s a fish net (mechanical filter to us) stuffed in a container in a wet dry type fashion (nitrate factory to us) they let the detritus build up and slow the flow which in return creates denitrifying pockets do to lack of o2 cause of all the bio slime.. I used to do weekly 60-75% water changes in my freshwater tanks and 20% weekly on my salt tanks for 10 plus years while running the best of the best equipment setups and media’s.. wasn’t till I stopped cleansing my filters monthly and let them run that nitrates started to drop.. I keep monster fish in monster tanks and don’t do water changes and have not lost a fish in over a year in 7 tanks.. used to run 160ppm weekly. Best thing you can do in salt or fresh is setup a good system and leave it alone.. let it run.. nature will do the rest long as you let it..
Not activated carbon but carbon dosing such as vinegar or vodka. @melevsreef do you think the cyano could be caused from it removing nitrates and phosphates in an unbalanced manner?
Thank you for doing these live-streams so regularly. These are great. Cheers.
Love the video Marc! For carbon I’m pretty sure you are right: after reading and testing (on a hospital tank I’ve used carbon some times to remove cupramine, it works great ant copper lowers fast and works for 3-5 days, after that it stops working - just a testable experience). On my tanks I also use it with purposes - to remove medications like fluconazole, to remove substances like when I trim zoas, but never all the time.
About iodine I often dose and once a month I test (seachem test - not really easy to do.
I notice when my iodine is low some zoas change some colors - tutty-frutty loses orange, sunny D get’s more green than yello for example - but that’s too anedoctal to be sure. I’m more afraid of overdosing iodine than underdosing.
Thumbs down = trolls
Your videos are always informative. I appreciate the work and time you put into sharing your knowledge.
Very good interesting video Melev! I've often wondered how to make carbon work it's best! 😀👍
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine in Marine Aquaria: Part I by Randall Holmes Farley. Just google it and it's on the Advanced Aquarist website. You'll be an iodine expert after reading these very informative and though articles. I posted the link on Club Melevs Reef.
Thanks. I added it to the video’s description too.
Don't understand why anyone would give you a thumbs down my friend???
Sometimes I'm just not worthy. lol
Haters.
Jealous.
I bought a used tank and the reactor is two pieces of foam and they way you described it. His add said it was a phosphate reactor but he also said he never used it. Can I put carbon in it? Is a phosphate reactor the same with two foam pieces? Can I use purigan anywhere if I have a sump? Do I put anything in socks or just let them catch detritus? Can you use a carbon reactor with a fuge? BRS said you should do both together either one or the other, cant remember why, maybe beacuse it would remove to much nutrients. What brand protein skimmer has a blue cap with outline of a white fish? Thats what tank came with. He said it was oversized for 36 gallon so wondering if it is big enough for my 72. Its pretty good size?
Purigen acts like a skimmer removing organics from the water. In place of carbon you would use chemipure blue which is gfo, carbon and purigen mixed together.
Hey Marc, I missed the live stream so I couldn't participate in the discussion. I sent out for ICP analysis and my Iodine came back low. ICP recommends 0.06. I purchased Lugol's solution and it says 1 drop per 25 gallons. I use Seachem Iodine and Iodide testing solution, but It can be tricky. Will have to try a different testing brand for comparison.
Oh! I bet it is 1 per 25g now that you mention it. Darn, misspoke. Hopefully people will read the linked article. At least my advice won’t lead to overdosing iodine.
Great information .Thank you 👍
Aptaisa issues in my reef, any thought about bergia and where is the best place to buy them?
90 gallon reef 30 gallon sump
How often do you dose iodine.
Every 15 days, when I dose Prodibio Iodi+
ROX 0.8 carbon?
If the carbon gets used up, why remove it? The biofilm that clogs up the carbon also prevents any release of adsorbed substances.
Your experience may be different but there was a brs video which overwhelmingly showed the benefit of using a reactor over other methods. As such I use a reactor and in my anecdotal experience I've found the water in the chamber to become extremely toxic for ammonia/nitrates, I can't say if it leaches other toxins back into the tank but those are enough to for me to warrant removal so I don't leave it to find out.
I've not seen or heard of anyone running 2 carbon blocks, removing one, and placing one in fresh salt water after use (of the same tank volume) for a period of time to see if measurable contaminants leach. To effectively do this an icp before and after carbon use, at a week, two weeks, and three weeks of carbon introduction and repeat the same on a pure saltwater water tank along with a control tank. This would fairly definitively show what happens but is quite expensive.
Ryan Snodgrass Interesting. Thanks.
i have used carbon in the past and it bleached out all my lps. It took all the stuff my lps liked. i don't use it to this day and have had no issues. i do monthly water changes though. i have never done what you recommended though. A few days maybe would of been better. i left it in there. that was years ago though. i haven't ran it for a long time.
If your tank does well with your current method, I’d stick with that. 👍🏻
Carbon can be a blessing and a curse especially given its contribution to HLE in tangs
Rinsing well helps avoid this.
If a filter sock generates nitrates after 3 days then there's no reason to believe the carbon won't do the same. Even if effective for a week the nitrates being produced would eventually outweigh the carbon benefit.
Just caught up with the live stream today 👍
Spock came over first thing.
In order to dose iodine into my 10 gal nano, I placed a drip of lugol’s solution in a cup of RODI water and then poured a fifth of the mix into the nano tank.
Ramon Perez why lol. Do a 10% water change and you’ll have everything you’re supposed to in a 10g tank. That’s the joy of picos is you don’t need to do anything except 1g water changes to keep water balance up. You’re over complicating a simple thing.
I do like how easy it is to balance everything out again with a quick water change. My salt has no iodine, however. So I add it in.
have you used polyfilter if so what are your thoughts
I've used poly filters for 30 years in my soft coral tanks , never used carbon once . I put one in an external filter once a month though they will last longer than that , can't recommend them enough .
I’m watching this video from 3 years ago and wow thighs have changed so much now u can add 5 ml per 25 gal of water of lodide and nothing happens 😅👍👍👍
Hi
i add 3 drops iodine every week been doing it for years no problem i dont test it
Mirror your video, your shirt is backwards, so MACNA reads on our screen ANCAM.... FYI. As always nice feedback from viewers. A fellow reefer used NoPox and got white balls of bacteria slime growing
Weird that the video was backwards. I used webcams, but perhaps I had a setting that flipped the screen. Thanks for the heads up.
Also, prefer the full story video.
Thanks for that answer.
So beautiful
Cyano when carbon dosing is from an imbalance in the red field ratio
Josh Lira the red field ratio isn’t backed by any real sciences it’s just a new antidotal view..
I have a brand new nano tank.. used live wet rock from trusted local vendor and started cheto fudge day one.. tank is 1 week old today and is running 0-0-0-.5 based on red filed I should have algea everywhere cause I have too many pho’s and no nitrates.. tank is a clean as clean gets.. did I mention it’s a 10g nano lol.. if anything I should be having all kinds of issues especially when my daily 8oz water top off is regular bottled water from Walmart..
The red field perspective is a very interesting read and I think it’s close to what is true. The reality is there is zero true factual information in ohisohates and nitrates in fresh or salt water and what happens as a result. Every tank is different and the only constant is 3-20 nitrates and under 1 pho’s is typically gtg.. there is no true backing studies to support red field even though I personally feel it’s a good rule of thumb to prevent issues.. this is why fuges and 10-15% weekly water changes are the norm to experienced reefers.
Carbon that’s clean or carbon that’s rinsed till clean.. is a great host to bacteria. It’s 90% used in first 2-3 days like you said. However I feel it’s real benefits come when left alone long term.. what item in the fish hobby has more surface area then carbon? Sand and that’s about it.. no actual media comes close. I ran a carbon reactor on a freshwater 125g tank for a long time.. 59goh flow and let the detritus build with a full reactor of carbon.. by week 7 I was down 66.2% nitrates from normal amounts without any other changes.. I’ve since in freshwater stopped cleaning my filters regularly. I let the detritus build till flow almost stops.!nitrate factory? Nope I have a 125 with 36 chiclids and run 20ppm 24/7. Water is clear and fish are happy enough to breed. Haven’t changed water in a year next month.. just weekly 10g top offs and running fine sand bed that I’ve never cleaned and looks as good as the day I set the tank up.
The fish keeping world is held back by manufacturers false information to sell product.. look into aquaponics denitrification and you’ll be shocked how they are doing this. It’s a fish net (mechanical filter to us) stuffed in a container in a wet dry type fashion (nitrate factory to us) they let the detritus build up and slow the flow which in return creates denitrifying pockets do to lack of o2 cause of all the bio slime..
I used to do weekly 60-75% water changes in my freshwater tanks and 20% weekly on my salt tanks for 10 plus years while running the best of the best equipment setups and media’s.. wasn’t till I stopped cleansing my filters monthly and let them run that nitrates started to drop.. I keep monster fish in monster tanks and don’t do water changes and have not lost a fish in over a year in 7 tanks.. used to run 160ppm weekly.
Best thing you can do in salt or fresh is setup a good system and leave it alone.. let it run.. nature will do the rest long as you let it..
Not activated carbon but carbon dosing such as vinegar or vodka. @melevsreef do you think the cyano could be caused from it removing nitrates and phosphates in an unbalanced manner?
Cyanobacteria isn’t algae, and it is always present. It often appears in tanks that use vodka dosing, that’s just a side effect.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experiences with us.