Fun with rhodamine

[DonW]

I started this discussion to discuss flow mapping instead I think its best to just discuss the use of rhodamine and what can be done with it. Tuning a reef has always been nothing more than one person following another or outdated rules of thumb. In todays day and age there is no reason a person can't stray far from methods used in the past provided they want to go through a little experimentation and testing. If nothing more than fine tuning you can find that with some experimenting the efficiency of reef equipment can be greatly improved.

Rhodamine is nothing more than a non toxic dye. Its been used for many year for flow mapping streams and wetlands. Its readily available and is fairly inexpensive. Rhodamine can be found at aquatic eco in good sized jugs. There are two colors of rhodamine wt. Red and Green the red is easier to see with the naked eye. There is also uv rhodamine that can be found at most auto parts stores. The uv rhodamine uses a black light that makes it glow even with just trace amounts not visable to the naked eye.

Got to leave it at that for now and will be back in awhile to give some more explanation.

 

[DonW]

If your reef is already up and running you cant use the uv dyes. You can however use plain rhodamine to see exactly whats going on with water movement and where the system is actually hindering itself. Starting with the sump intake.
One example is the skimmer intake. Most berlin sumps have a skimmer section. Most would think that placing the pumps intake toward the the water entering the sump is best. In fact if you use rhodamine to watch the flow you will find that pointing the skimmer intake towards the baffel away from the sump intake will cause the skimmer to pull in more dye. While your there you can easily see whats going on inside the skimmer. More air does not make for better skimming just as Escoble points out. Watching the dye in the skimmer you may find that the dye never reaches the top of the skimmer and just reducing the air will help. Of course this is going to be different on every skimmer so you have to experiment. Sometimes its a matter of raising or lowering the water lever slightly. The air numbers that are tossed out by manufacturers are a good guide but nearly every skimmer pushing high numbers will benefit from less air or a different water level. The dyes are organic so the skimmer should remove the dye so watch the output and you can clearly see what not being removed. I think most folks would be shocked at how poorly their skimmer is performing although it appears to be pulling more skimmate.

More later

Don

 

[Scooterman]

I think what one calls good or great flow would be surprised If the went up against other tanks that was actually tuned, even with way less gph. trying to get the flow just right by naked eye is very difficult if not impossible.

 

[returnofsid]

Wow, Don, this is very fascinating!! Will this dye stick to anything in the aquarium, equipment, glass, silicone? We all want red and purple rocks, but not dyed red...lol.

 

[DonW]

I don't know about silicone but no its not permanent nor will it color acrylic or glass. If your rocks are dead or bleached it will color them slightly but goes away pretty quick.

Don

 

[returnofsid]

Ahhh I see. So, it could possibly permanently dye the silicone. Might have to try this in a 10 gallon tank I have that's only used for growing pods and macro.

 

[lizardarm]

Don how long does the rhodamine stay visible in the water column?

 

[DonW]

Not for long just long enough for you to see what's happening especially if you just put it in front of a power head or something like that. I put it right into the pumps inlet on returns or right into a stand pipe to see what's happening in a sump. You can also dye cyclopeze its pretty cool sort of glows under atinics.

Don

 

[dailydriven911]

Very interesting stuff Don!