carbon dosing

[mike007]

Instead of dosing your tank with vodka save that for yourself. I have been using a product from Redsea called nopox for short. Excellent results and far better for your reef in the long run. Voda will have adverse effects in the long haul so be carefull.

 

[fragmatic]

I was dosing with rum. Yes rum, but I eventually weaned my tank off it, and yes, I drank the rest of the 5th, dosing myself with a mix of it and coke. Then I did the bio-pellet scene, but after a few weeks I removed that reactor. Presently, no carbon dosing is happening at my system. I still do not have a firm opinion, and never did see any testing results I can say was a clear indication or difference between rum, pellets, or none. So, I'm still on the fence as far as carbon dosing. I am listening in the trenches for good solid data because I'm always ready to do and learn about what will really befit my tanks.

EDIT: The one thing I have found to be a factor in that concept as far as carbon (the carbon in food) is the clear evidence that I can under feed, over feed, or feed my tank enough to assure all life forms have plenty (of the proper kinds of food) while not quite over feeding. This is the balance I now constantly tweak. My indicators seem to be between; >do the algae and pods in my refugium have enough to thrive and grow at a healthy rate, and >do I not cloud the tanks. Presently I am trying to slowly increase the feedings in small increments towards a point that my refugium is more robust. This process has clearly provided a far more positive effect on my reef system than anything I have ever tried. My concern is that I will have the intelligence and skills to identify when I have reached the most advantageous feeding quantity to use as a standard.

Please do not use my post to derail the topic away from carbon dosing.

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

What bad things are going to happen if you run vodka?

What is your supporting evidence?

 

[Aquaph8]

Ive been carbon dosing for a long time, what are these adverse effects you speak of?

 

[Zack]

Definitely interested in this one.... I don't know jack about carbon dosing...

Sent from my VS950 4G using Forum Runner

 

[mike007]

What bad things are going to happen if you run vodka?

What is your supporting evidence?[/QU

 

[mike007]

I am not a chemist but i do alot of research. If you get on Redsea website they do have some very valuable information on carbon dosing and reef supplementation. I switched over to there products and my tank and corals have never looked better. They have some great videos that are easy to understand that explain everything you need to know about corals.

 

[mike007]

Rapid reduction of NO​

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3 but does not reduce PO4. If notcombined with additional PO4 reduction the N ratio willbe disturbed leading to outbreaks of cyanobacteria. Overthe long term a lack of essential elements will reduceeffectiveness and may lead to the collapse of the bacteriapopulation. System can produce H2S which is toxic for​

corals and fish.

 

[Aquaph8]

I can see all that if you decided to use carbon dosing as a replacement for water changes or something but you also gotta see it as a sales pitch to some extent. They are trying to get you to use their product.

 

[mike007]

I still do water changes as sceduled. Redsea is a very reputable company that does lots of testing of there products and they know there stuff. I have only commented on my results with there products. You are free to use whatever product works for you. I am only trying to help. Like i said before if you go to there website and listen to what they say you will be informed about these subjects. I have used many other products from name brand companies and noting compares to these. I have lots of money invested in my reef and i want the best supplements to support it. So you have your opinion and i have mine.

 

[Aquaph8]

all right buddy, glad you found what works for you , would love to see some pics sometime.

 

[Downbeach]

Different types of alcohol.

NO3O4 X = Methanol + some other carbon source (some type of acid).

Vodka = Ethanol

You might get similar results with a mixture of carbon sources, i.e. Vodka and Vinegar(acid)

 

[michaellee64]

Vodka dosing can be a little risky.... I've been Carbon dosing with vinegar for approximately 4 months with great results. System volume is approximately 400 gallons, and I'm now dosing 96ml of vinegar a day through a dosing pump. Nitrates are undetectable and I've had to take my phosphate reactor offline as my phosphate is undetectable with my Hanna Checker. The only thing you have to watch out for is not allowing your alkalinity to rise above 9dkh... 8dkh is preferable, as some montiporas will bleach out on you. Not sure why this is, but everything else is doing great. Started dosing due to fighting Green Hair Algae, becasue of the high volume of food I dose my NPS corals. GHA has become non-exsistent, and I've found that I don't have to clean the glass on my tanks as often. The key is to ramp up slowy, giving the bacteria colonys time to grow and then to figure out what your maintenance dose is, and dose accordingly every day. If you decide to stop you will need to ramp it back down, because if you stop it all at once your bacteria colony will crash and foul your tank. Just my 2 cents!

 

[Davinci]

Red sea makes awesome products, they do know their stuff. I do love thir salt and their test kits. In regards to carbon dosing, I do not trust vodka or anything like that. When in doubt of anything, do a water change. I find it risky when we are trying to make the hobby easier for us by taking "shortcuts" such as biopellets. I jsut believe that the more natural way of doing things is the best way.

 

[mike007]

If you Google redsea products it will direct you to there site. They have some excellent videos that explain carbon dosing and much more. They explain in laymans terms all about supplementing for your corals.There is a lot more info on carbon dosing. It does not replace water changes it does a lot more than what you might think. Anyway check out there site.

 

[eagle]

There are a lot of other sources. I for one usually don't put much into advice from someone that's trying to sell me products. I'd rather see actual results from other peoples tanks and posts. Just my opinion. I have had a couple red sea products over the years. Really nothing that great about their products.

 

[Aquaph8]

I agree, there's a bunch of different ways of carbon dosing and additives to go with it. As far as the actual carbon source goes I find it easier to just grab a gallon of vinegar at the grocery store along with some baking soda for Alk. Smell any of those other products from Red Sea to zeovit and tell me they don't smell like vinegar. Only difference is I get a whole gallon not 50ML or so and a pretty bottle.

 

[mike007]

You guys are being hard one me. I only wanted to express my opinion on what is working for me. I agree that there are many different methods to reefkeeping. Lots of great products out there. But i do not believe in bashing someone elses products . I have had reef tanks for years now and these products are the best i have ever used. What ever works for you guys is great and i hope you have great success. Hope that you are open minded and just consider watching Redsea videos. Doesn't matter if you use thier product or not they contain lots of usefull info.

 

[Aquaph8]

We're not trying to bash anyone's product, well most of us aren't. We just thought that the thread was open to discussion about carbon dosing. The title is carbon dosing, not I like Red Sea's products. You opened up the thread basically bashing the use of "Vodka", saying it shouldn't be used cause it causes issues. Please post a link to the info you would like to share or post some pics of your results, we would love to check it out. I tried to goggle it but couldn't find the stuff you were talking about. Understand though most of us don't want to be rude we just enjoy a friendly debate. Cheers

 

[Downbeach]

It's been my experience with liquid carbon dosing, including: Vodka, Vinegar, VSV, VCV, and NOPOX, that they all work. The only issue I had with them was the daily dosing, and constant testing, and adjusing the dosing as necessary. A couple years ago I went to bio-pellets, and haven't gone back. The things I like about it is: I no longer have to do daily dosing, testing is a lot less frequent, it's pretty much on auto pilot(bacteria populations adjust depending on ebb and flow of your load), the bulk of it is contained in a reactor, (as opposed to the whole tank), the effluent can be placed directly at the input of the skimmer.