Would cornstarch be good for carbon dosing?

[Jon_W79]

Cornstarch is mostly amylopectin, amylopectin is the carbohydrate in nori, and I believe the main carbohydrate in most flake and pellet fish foods. Cornstarch is insoluble in water, but I think that the way it reacts to water may allow you to put it on a dosing pump.

FWIW, cornstarch is a good carbohydrate for biofloc technology(which uses carbon dosing):

https://www.globalseafood.org/advocate/effects-of-carbohydrate-sources-on-a-biofloc-shrimp-nursery

 

[itselenababe]

Idk about the reef and chemistry side of it, but from a cooking standpoint I feel like it would get really gross over time because the water is warm not cold

 

[Dan_P]

Cornstarch is mostly amylopectin, amylopectin is the carbohydrate in nori, and I believe the main carbohydrate in most flake and pellet fish foods. Cornstarch is insoluble in water, but I think that the way it reacts to water may allow you to put it on a dosing pump.

FWIW, cornstarch is a good carbohydrate for biofloc technology(which uses carbon dosing):

https://www.globalseafood.org/advocate/effects-of-carbohydrate-sources-on-a-biofloc-shrimp-nursery

Would it be good in a reef tank? I don’t know. Could be used for carbon dosing? Possibly.

 

[nereefpat]

My initial thought is that it wouldn't be as easily used by bacteria as simple sugars or ethanol or vinegar. If you want to use a sugar, why not table sugar over starch?

 

[Jon_W79]

My initial thought is that it wouldn't be as easily used by bacteria as simple sugars or ethanol or vinegar. If you want to use a sugar, why not table sugar over starch?

I am trying to create a successful fishless sps frag tank(using snails to control algae), and I think that adding amylopectin may be a good experiment. In an aquarium with fish, I believe that amylopectin is usually the main carbohydrate that is added to the water as a direct result of feeding the fish, and I think it may be something worth trying to simulate for my experiment.

 

[nereefpat]

I am trying to create a successful fishless sps frag tank(using snails to control algae), and I think that adding amylopectin may be a good experiment.

No reason not to try it, I suppose. I don't see why it would hurt anything. It may get quickly skimmed out, if you use a skimmer.

Are you going to dose some form of nitrogen and phosphorous?

I believe that amylopectin is usually the main carbohydrate that is added to the water as a direct result of feeding the fish

Glycogen would make up more of the sugars in my feeding.

Let us know what happens. I'm curious.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I cannot see any reason to complicate matters by dosing something more complicated than easily dosed and digested organics such as ethanol in vodka or acetic acid in vinegar.

What would be the rationale that ANY other organic is preferable?

 

[SPS2020]

"Would cornstarch be good for carbon dosing?"

Only if using milk for calcium replenishment.

 

[ChiCity]

 

[Jon_W79]

I cannot see any reason to complicate matters by dosing something more complicated than easily dosed and digested organics such as ethanol in vodka or acetic acid in vinegar.

What would be the rationale that ANY other organic is preferable?

I guess I shouldn't have asked the question in the context of carbon dosing in general, and I should have asked it in the context of my experiment. Based on some things that I have read I think that at least many species of marine algae may need organic carbon(and I think they need a certain kind), and I'm trying to figure out why I don't have microalgae growing very well in my tank, like it would normally grow in a tank with fish. I have had hair algae grow and reproduce fairly well in this tank before, but not any more(I think the tank should be acting similarly to one with fish). I do have some sea lettuce that is growing and spreading fairly well(I didn't intentionally add the sea lettuce, it came out of nowhere). This is my ongoing experiment that I think I might could find out every single thing acropora need and don't need captivity. But who knows, maybe dosing cornstarch could be beneficial.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I guess I shouldn't have asked the question in the context of carbon dosing in general, and I should have asked it in the context of my experiment. Based on some things that I have read I think that at least many species of marine algae may need organic carbon(and I think they need a certain kind), and I'm trying to figure out why I don't have microalgae growing very well in my tank, like it would normally grow in a tank with fish. I have had hair algae grow and reproduce fairly well in this tank before, but not any more(I think the tank should be acting similarly to one with fish). I do have some sea lettuce that is growing and spreading fairly well(I didn't intentionally add the sea lettuce, it came out of nowhere). This is my ongoing experiment that I think I might could find out every single thing acropora need and don't need captivity. But who knows, maybe dosing cornstarch could be beneficial.

I'm not convinced algae need DOC in the water, and increased algae is not a reported general consequence of organic carbon dosing.

I also do not usually recommend it as a good way to reduce algae (by reducing nutrients), since reducing nutrients often fails to adequately reduce algae. Herbivores are more generally successful.

If the question is exactly what good or bad might happen from dosing corn starch, the only way to know is to try. I personally would not expect it to be more desirable than vinegar dosing.

 

[Auquanut]

Cornstarch is insoluble in water, but I think that the way it reacts to water may allow you to put it on a dosing pump.

Not sure about the benefits as a carbon source, but it seems to me that when mixing with water in cooking applications, corns starch has to be mixed very well and used quickly or it tends to settle and become hard. I personally wouldn't trust it not to gum up a doser.

 

[Jon_W79]

No reason not to try it, I suppose. I don't see why it would hurt anything. It may get quickly skimmed out, if you use a skimmer.

Are you going to dose some form of nitrogen and phosphorous?


Glycogen would make up more of the sugars in my feeding.

Let us know what happens. I'm curious.

I'm dosing an ammonium chloride, trisodium phosphate, and vinegar mixture. I just got some cornstarch, I'll give an update on the results.

 

[flashsmith]

Didn't we just go through this with dosing milk for calcium?

 

[X-37B]

I see no sense in reinventing the wheel in this case.

 

[Jon_W79]

I think that I figured out why hair algae stopped growing, I think that it is because it ran out of iodine, I have been dosing chaetogro, and it doesn't contain iodine(I think iodine is very important for hair algae). If iodine is very important for hair algae(and some other nuisance algae species) and is not required for acropora, I think a fishless frag tank could be successful without a large clean up crew, and could produce far less detritus for the same amount of nitrogen added compared to an aquarium with fish, if the iodine level is kept very low.