Carbon Dosing

cubbyman60 · Jan 25, 2017

Hey all,
I did a quick search but can't find anything regarding my specific question. My nitrates have been elevated between 20 and 40-for years-and I have been beginning to try to correct it. I have never corrected it in the past, mainly because most of my corals seem happy. However, I am curious to see if they could thrive more by lowering nutrients further. The first step I took was adding Chaeto to the sump, but I'm looking to different or additional options.

My question is: once you start carbon dosing, can you ever stop? Will you be tied to dumping in vinegar forever? Thanks for your input.
Charlie

Reefing Madness · Jan 25, 2017

Answer is, all depends on you and what you do to the tank after you get the nutrients down.
You will dose forever, unless you do more water changes, get a bigger skimmer, lower your tank feeding. All these will factor into just how long you will be dosing.
I've been vodka dosing for years now. But unlike vinegar, I only need to use a medicine syringe.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 25, 2017

IMO, there are reasons to carbon dose beyond nitrate (like creating bacterial food in the tank), but many folks have found they can greatly decrease the dose once they've been dosing for a while and nitrate comes down.

cubbyman60 · Jan 26, 2017

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the input. Obviously, treating the source of the nitrates is the best option, but it has seemed that my nitrates are always a little high.

I actually became primarily interested in carbon dosing in particular for the other benefits that you have written about and alluded to, Randy. Thanks for responding.