Calcium Carbonate

[Brew12]

Hey guys and gals. I just ordered some food grade calcium carbonate. It was $8 for 1 pound or $12 for 5 pounds. I ordered 5 pounds even though 1 was likely way more than I needed.

Anyway, I have a minor issue with vermitid snails and I have been told that this will help clear them up in about a month. I'm going to give it a try. It should also improve water clarity and help with light penetration.

The package should arrive next Thursday so if anyone wants some just let me know!

 

[Tomoko Schum]

How does it help with vermitid?

 

[Brew12]

How does it help with vermitid?

I believe the theory is that it helps keep the water too clean for them so that they starve out. Not sure how true it is or if it will work, but it won't hurt to try it.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Whenever i add live stock again, was going to try this route.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-010-0663-9

 

[Brew12]

Whenever i add live stock again, was going to try this route.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-010-0663-9

I have 2 in my tank, but they will only protect the immediate coral they inhabit.

 

[Brew12]

Just to add more info... CaCO3 is powdered limestone. It is one of the main ingredients in KZ coral snow.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/korallen-zucht-coral-snow.html

It is supposed to bind with organics in the water and act as a flocculant to help skim them out.

 

[GWHouston]

I’m good for one #. Like to try it for clarity

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I saw a few posting suggesting that Coral Snow can suppress/control vermitids. Larger calcium carbonate particles can be a bit irritating to corals, though. I have used a flocculant successfully in a fresh water tank as a water clarifier a long time ago, but I am a bit scared about using flocculant in a reef tank. Flocculants are typically positively charged (multivalent cation) and they attract negatively charged particles. Since CaCO3 is not a polymer based flocculant and some people had a good success with it, it must be worth trying. Good luck with it. Let us know how it works out.

 

[Brew12]

I saw a few posting suggesting that Coral Snow can suppress/control vermitids. Larger calcium carbonate particles can be a bit irritating to corals, though. I have used a flocculant successfully in a fresh water tank as a water clarifier a long time ago, but I am a bit scared about using flocculant in a reef tank. Flocculants are typically positively charged (multivalent cation) and they attract negatively charged particles. Since CaCO3 is not a polymer based flocculant and some people had a good success with it, it must be worth trying. Good luck with it. Let us know how it works out.

I will do that! I'm not aware of anyone using it specifically for Vermitids. It came up that they were using it for clarity reasons and noticed a month later that their vermitids had all died. Seems like a cheap yet interesting trial.

 

[Brew12]

Linking this thread here because I keep losing it!
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-kz-coral-snow-with-97-purity.211722/

 

[Brew12]

Hmm.. Thursday came early this week. I just got an email that this package was delivered. If I have time I will start my trial tonight.

 

[Brew12]

Let the games begin!

 

[Brew12]

@Tomoko Schum Could you offer your thoughts on how best to proceed? Do you think daily would be too often or should I add it to the tank every other day? I'd love to hear your opinion.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

With chemicals, I tend to go slow by figuring out the smallest daily dosage that would be effective and easily handled. Off course, you don't want to go so slow that you need an electronic balance or a graduated pipette to measure out a dose. I do this by habit because I often had sensitive corals like Hawkins Blue Echinata and Turaki in the past. I suppose that you can follow the instruction for KZ's Coral Snow, though. On the contrary, with antibiotics I tend to go with a recommended dosage and knock out whatever I need to kill rather than going slow, but this is not the case here.

 

[Brew12]

With chemicals, I tend to go slow by figuring out the smallest daily dosage that would be effective and easily handled. Off course, you don't want to go so slow that you need an electronic balance or a graduated pipette to measure out a dose. I do this by habit because I often had sensitive corals like Hawkins Blue Echinata and Turaki in the past. I suppose that you can follow the instruction for KZ's Coral Snow, though. On the contrary, with antibiotics I tend to go with a recommended dosage and knock out whatever I need to kill rather than going slow, but this is not the case here.

As far as starving out the vermitids, any idea how long that would take if I dose per KZ's directions daily?

I've already seen one negative and that is my nitrates have dropped to almost nothing. This is reducing my nutrients more than I would like, but I guess that is just part of it.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I don't know exactly how CaCO3 and MgCO3 can work as flocculant since they are very insoluble in alkaline water. Calcium based flocculant agents are typically CaO or CaOH. They dissolves in water easily and ionize. Both phosphate and nitrate can bind with calcium to produce calcium phosphate and calcium nitrate, but I don't know how that occurs in our reef tank. KZ products are full of mysteries, aren't they? I wonder what it has in addition to CaCO3...
Someone said it took a while for the Coral Snow to work. I have never used Coral Snow. My vermitid snails were the big ones. I used either cut them with toenail cutters or plug them up with two part epoxy.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I added some to an amazon order i was already making. Made a stock solution of 100ml rodi a 50g caco3 did my first dose when i got home from work today. Also put a 10 micron sock on. Will change out the sock in the morning.

 

[Brew12]

I added some to an amazon order i was already making. Made a stock solution of 100ml rodi a 50g caco3 did my first dose when i got home from work today. Also put a 10 micron sock on. Will change out the sock in the morning.

I'm still going, nothing negative observed yet.

 

[Brew12]

10 days in with daily dosing and I can confirm the vermitids are still alive. The anecdotal reports are that it was noticed after a month, so this isn't exactly a surprise. The trial continues!

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Good luck! I hope it works out well. A vermitid snail may eventually find its way into my tank. It's good to know a way to eradicate it.