Using calcium carbonate as a flocculant

[Smallslandreefer]

Hey guys and girls. Any experience on using/dosing food grade calcium carbonate capsules mixed in ro di to act as a flocculant, bind all the degraded stuff and then dose some bacteria product to remove them from the system. Any opinions?
Do you believe it will have any adverse effects?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Won’t hurt anything except to remove some organic matter and phosphate from the water.

Aside from flocculation, what is the goal?

 

[Smallslandreefer]

Just clearer water and maybe promoting more beneficial bacteria rather than cyanobacteria and diatoms

 

[rtparty]

Tons of great threads on this already. We've been doing this for years. More than a decade even

 

[Smallslandreefer]

Won’t hurt anything except to remove some organic matter and phosphate from the water.

Aside from flocculation, what is the goal?

Just clearer water and maybe promoting more beneficial bacteria rather than cyanobacteria and diatoms

 

[Smallslandreefer]

Tons of great threads on this already. We've been doing this for years. More than a decade even

Post some please. On this thread

 

[rtparty]

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[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just clearer water and maybe promoting more beneficial bacteria rather than cyanobacteria and diatoms

I cannot see it promoting bacteria more than when the organics are dissolved, but as folks note, it does help clear the water of organics and phosphate.

 

[G Santana]

I've been doing it since I learned about it here, it does work, tank is definitely clearer. I dose it right after I blow the sediment off the rocks.

 

[Dan_P]

I cannot see it promoting bacteria more than when the organics are dissolved, but as folks note, it does help clear the water of organics and phosphate.

Has anyone ever demonstrated the reduction of aquarium DOC with calcium carbonate?

 

[Rmckoy]

I remember something similar and originally got it from a Facebook group years ago .

mixing calcium carbonate powder with rodi water and dosing directly to the display tank at the time it was said to clear water , and help with organics .
similar zeovit I believe ?
recommended to buy calcium carbonate from the health food store and mix with rodi

The exact ratio I can’t remember but someone recently commented on one of my threads about the same .
I have 1 container left of the dry calcium carbonate .

 

[Smallslandreefer]

I've been doing it since I learned about it here, it does work, tank is definitely clearer. I dose it right after I blow the sediment off the rocks.

How much do you dose? Lets say its pill is 500 mg, in how many ml of rodi would you dissolve it in and how much of that would you dose in the tank per time??

 

[Tathamet]

How much do you dose? Lets say its pill is 500 mg, in how many ml of rodi would you dissolve it in and how much of that would you dose in the tank per time??

If you follow @SunnyX recipe at 10 tablespoons calcium carbonate to 450 ml of rodi or distilled water you would dose 1ml per 10 gallons.

I think about 20 grams calcium carbonate is equivalent to 1 tablespoon so you would need about 400 x 500mg capsules to make a 500ml batch. I would probably go for straight powder rather than the capsules to save on extra work emptying that many capsules.

 

[G Santana]

If you follow @SunnyX recipe at 10 tablespoons calcium carbonate to 450 ml of rodi or distilled water you would dose 1ml per 10 gallons.

I think about 20 grams calcium carbonate is equivalent to 1 tablespoon so you would need about 400 x 500mg capsules to make a 500ml batch. I would probably go for straight powder rather than the capsules.

This is the formula I follow!

 

[minus9]

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[Smallslandreefer]

Won’t hurt anything except to remove some organic matter and phosphate from the water.

Aside from flocculation, what is the goal?

How long would it take for the flocculant to bind to the organic matter? Let say i add it and i do a waterchage an hour later would that be sufficient time for the flocculant to bind things and the be removed from the waterchange??

 

[Dan_P]

I cannot see it promoting bacteria more than when the organics are dissolved, but as folks note, it does help clear the water of organics and phosphate.

Just wondering. The phosphate binding is understandable, though has anyone actually established its capacity? Ditto for organics, and by the way, who actually measured a change in DOC using the stuff?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How long would it take for the flocculant to bind to the organic matter? Let say i add it and i do a waterchage an hour later would that be sufficient time for the flocculant to bind things and the be removed from the waterchange??

Some will bind fast and some more slowly, but I’m not sure a flocculant does anything useful in the context of removal by a water change.

Think of it this way. The water volume you intend to remove has organics and CaCO3 particulates. Whether those organics are loose in the water, or attached to the particles makes no difference. They are removed in either case.

 

[Smallslandreefer]

Some will bind fast and some more slowly, but I’m not sure a flocculant does anything useful in the context of removal by a water change.

Think of it this way. The water volume you intend to remove has organics and CaCO3 particulates. Whether those organics are loose in the water, or attached to the particles makes no difference. They are removed in either case.

Ohh i see. So it wont play that much of a role, the waterchage will remove a much as you change

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just wondering. The phosphate binding is understandable, though has anyone actually established its capacity? Ditto for organics, and by the way, who actually measured a change in DOC using the stuff?

Phosphate binding to aragonite is, of course, surface area dependent, but it has been published in the scientific literature, and measured by jda here on rocks.

Adsorption of Phosphate on Calcium Carbonate