I dont know if anyone has seen this but I thought it was interesting. I dont think it will work more than macro but it still is nice to see people trying new ideas.
These are more common in plublic aquaria and the like, however I have heard of using them for home aquariums. There isnt supposed to be much more merit to this method than growing something like cheato… and many people feel that it is best not to have nuisance algae (turf algae) growing anywhere in their system in the fear that it may spread to other parts of the system.
[quote=“DamnPepShrimp”]
As for sand, aragonite is my only choice, I’ve heard its the best for buffering.[/quote]
The only problem is to get significant dissolving of any aragonite you need a pH of less than 7.6 (calcite dissoves somewhere in the low 7’s), and if you have that low of a pH problem then you should be looking other places than your sand bed for the solution. That is why in calcium reactors they need the steady flow of CO2 to make the water more acidic locally to dissove the aragonite… if it dissoved and buffered on its own I doubt that people would waste the money on running CO2 in their reactors.
Very interesting!
I dont doubt that it works. I am a little skeptical as to how well the poster claims it works for him though. Im no expert, but i would think that the amount of nutrients absorbed would be directly porportional to the amount of algea grown. And from looking at some of the growth shots in the posts it doesnt look any more significant that what most of us get from chaeto or another macro. He makes a great point about passive filtering though and the damaged caused by skimming. If i had the money, i would love to invest in a passive skimmer.
There is one on RC also in the DIY Section. I was tempted to try it. It is a novel concept but how much is need ed to be effective.
Hey Icy what about a DSB in the display or remotely? I thought in the depths of the sand bed it was more acidic among other things.
Yes, in a DSB there can be some dissolving of the aragonite (generally not so much with calcite), and I would recommend it for those applications where people have DSB’s… but if they cant afford to buy that much aragonite I think that it makes that significant of a difference. I would much rather spend 10$ on a DSB made of play sand and then use kalk topoff to stabalize the pH as well as raise the calcium… since they will probably have to do that anyways.
Im a lil leary as well. It sounds to good to be true! I hope ken sees this thread as I would like to hear ken’s thoughts on this. Heck ken probaly has some in his fuge lol or he might have tried it years ago
I don’t doubt it will work but I don’t think you will get any more nutrients removed then with a good groomed ball of cheato
Thats a good price for the basic unit. I have an 8 year old coralife Pure flo that was originally a 50 GPD. Last year i upgraded it to a 75 gpd with a new membrane and restricting flow orifice. works great! If anyone is looking for a higher output unit, this could be upgraded to a 75, 100 or 150 gpd with new membranes and flow restrictor from someplace like buckeye field supply or air water ice.
Next time i need to replace the RO membrane i just might move up to the BFS 150 GPD membrane(DOW) and restrictor, so that i can overflow my barrel and soak the carpet in record time. Their new 150 membrane is rated at 98.5 rejection rate and fits right in the standard housings. sounds good to me. and dont cost very much to upgrade.
Can any unit be upgraded with any membrane? I have a kent unit that I was looking to get a new membrane for but a new Kent membrane is more than I paid for the whole unit…
Got my new RO/DI yesterday - $35 to whomever can get this by this weekend.
pretty much ICY. check these vendors, buckeye field supply and air water ice or filter guys. the housings are standard size, as are most membranes. unless you get some special brand that likes to make their own. cant think of one though, or a super large capacity. the trick is to change the restricting orifice to match the flow/pressure requirements of the higher flow membrane. orifices are about five bucks. those guys will help you select if you need.
Here is the one from RC
This is mentioned in Dynamic Aquaria…Ms. Loveland had one on one of her personal aquaria i believe.
There was also one on a system in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science center. As a past member of the Pittsburgh reefers group, they gave us a nehind the scenes tour several years ago.
It required maintenance…more than many are willing to spend, and it had three tanks, one had a reverse lighting cycle, so that the sytem could better balance itself.
Doug
Yeah that is what I was reading too. It takes more maintenance than people want to tell you.
Now that tour must have been great.
[quote=“a1amap, post:14, topic:657”]
Here is the one from RC
[/quote]
When did they start that?
[quote=“icy1155, post:11, topic:657”]
Can any unit be upgraded with any membrane? I have a kent unit that I was looking to get a new membrane for but a new Kent membrane is more than I paid for the whole unit…[/quote]
Hey Icy - for $25 - or a couple of them pretty Yumas you can experiment on mine lOl
Before the end of the year and my term in office I would like to complete a few things that I/We set out to get done this year.
- Paypal and an online membership form…Man we are missing the boat here.
- DRC Logo to adorn the home page.
- Business cards (need logo) and a brochure for in store advertising (B/W fine)
- Business sponsorship rates (reworked, will post tomorrow) and re-establish the goodie pile. (In progress)
I also started a list of ideas that I will work on next year (committee work yo). While I feel we have gotten a lot done these are areas that were part of the original plan but have fallen by the wayside. DOn’t get me wrong I think we are a lot stronger today then a year ago.
If you can get one done let me know. I am going to email Marty for the account number to link to paypal. I will also look into a mombot to attach to the joomla home page that has a membership form and can be modified. It can then email Marty and the officers the membership info.
Only 86 days left this year lets make it happen.
[quote=“a1amap, post:19, topic:657”]
I will also look into a mombot to attach to the joomla home page that has a membership form and can be modified. It can then email Marty and the officers the membership info.[/quote]
FYI - this will be much easier if there is a file that can be filled out and emailed or snail-mailed to some address.
I’m not saying NJReefers have it “all-right”, but they already do this, and it works well. All we need is the form modified to suit our needs. The rest can follow easily — whenever we can set up paypal …