How do you dose organic carbon? Poll!!

[bif24701]

I add 4 cups of white vinegar to my 32 gallons of Kalk. I also have a mixture of vinegar and sugar that gets dosed in small amounts throughout the day.

 

[Twins Dragonz]

I have never dosed this and plan to try it out. My question is? How much do you dose your tank? Is this base on your tank water volume or your fish/corals population? TIA.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

No carbon dosing for me right now!

 

[Ross V]

I USE REDSEA NOPOX

 

[Reef Tripp]

i used vertex biopellets

 

[saltyhog]

In the past I've used both NoPox and vinegar. I had much better results with vinegar....or I should say less unwanted effects. Both effectively lowered my nitrates but while I had some minor problems with bacterial blooms with vinegar (probably from being a tad too aggressive with it), I had some big time cyano issues with NoPox.

I moved and when I re-set up my tank I went with a more open scape and have been much more aggressive with blowing off the rocks and stirring the sand bed. I am also using two of the Brightwell ceramic nitrate reducing media blocks. Not sure which or if all are responsible but thus far I'm actually having problems getting my nitrates detectable after 9 months.

 

[glb]

I love Nopox.

 

[Shigshwa]

Where is the vote for biopellets? That's what I'm running right now. I recently replumbed my reactor to be recirculating, I'm trying to limit the effluent to reduce cyano and maintain small levels of nutrients.

 

[Mindi]

Randy... I would switch from dosing NOPOX to Vinegar in a heartbeat. With needing a CO2 scrubber to keep my pH up to 7.9-8.0 would I not have a worse pH issue dosing with vinegar..?
Can I see a near future with a new sodium hydroxide based 2 part recipe to replace recipe-1, giving enough pH boost to carry the vinegar dosing...????...John

 

[divetoday]

I use vinegar, dosed during the day for ph reasons, but have still had to do major water changes to make a dent in my nitrates.

 

[Grimm_Medic]

Switched to aquaforest from vinegar a month ago. So far so good, nutrients are srill down and my sps are regaining their color!

 

[dactylo]

Other. Zeostart 3. Havent had any cyano or any adverse effects. I have a heavy fish load and feed a lot. Corals are feed as well every day. Another benefit is the small amount to dose and its easy to make adjustments.

 

[DominicanReef]

Vodka and works really well.

 

[DominicanReef]

Switched to aquaforest from vinegar a month ago. So far so good, nutrients are srill down and my sps are regaining their color!

Hi, how do you use it?

 

[Grimm_Medic]

Hi, how do you use it?

I'm using the ProBio F. It's the powdered form within contains the bacteria and binder. Check out their product guide which has all the info on getting started.

 

[Reefbuds]

For me vodka is working great, I have not noticed any negative side effects yet. Only lower nitrates, no color loss or polyp extension. Actually is seems like everybody is more colorful and growing even faster, my duncan has grown 5 full heads in the past 40 days!

 

[mazoli]

Started FM Bacto Reef Balls 2 weeks ago. So far so good, earlier I excerienced cyano with DIY nopox and with vinegar alone as well. Now with BRB there is no cyano. Will see how it behaves ín the future

 

[Forsaken77]

Isn't Aquaforest ProBio-S and Np-Pro their version of carbon dosing? Or is that a probiotic, which is completely different?

Because the Aquaforest Probiotic salt uses a different form of bacteria than the ProBio-S, as per Aquaforest. I figured the ProBio-S with their liquid polymer (Np-Pro) was their version of Nopox.

 

[Nadir]

[/ATTACH]

Two main reasons, but before I give them, I want to be clear that I'm not claiming it is best. People have good success with vodka and mixtures of vodka and vinegar, NOPOX, etc.

I do agree with Hans-Werner that I'm not a particular fan of sugar. I've heard of more negative effects from it, and the two times I very briefly and unscientifically experimented with it, it browned corals and anemones.

I started with vodka when I took up organic carbon dosing, but cyano became a problem in my tank, so I switched to vinegar. After the switch the cyano went back to its previous levels in my tank, which didn't concern me, so I stuck with vinegar for years after that.

Acetate from vinegar is perhaps the most common single organic chemical in the ocean, especially in terms of the amount metabolized each day. I've seen studies where the turnover/metabolism of acetate provides the largest fraction of metabolism of organic matter in sediment pore water. It is also very widely taken up and used by organisms. Corals, sponges, etc. Is there a reason to only want to drive bacterial growth? Why not directly help support the growth of many of the larger organisms in the tank?

I use Vinegar mixed with sugar, this is the ratio: for every 20mL of vinegar, I add 2 table spoons of sugar mixed with One gallon of RODI water. This is dosed through out the day with a total of 55-65 mL daily dose. I use a Kamore dosing unit. This is a maintenance dose for the last 3 years and is adjusted when reading go up or down.
What I have found that the combination of both keep all my Nitrates and Phosphates down and to boot the Skimmer produces a very dark skim when you have medium wet setting on your Skimmer. The other advantage I found is there is very little film on the glass and with the help of rocks in the Sump the water parameters are always stable.
This is my sump for over 15 years and thriving. It supports a total working volume of 500 of water in two tanks, with two sumps connected together.

 

[mucky1957]

I love my nopox. Nitrate stays between 2 - 5 and my phos is always 0.03. I dose 2ml every evening ( when I remember ) in my 240lt heavily stocked tank ( see my pic...lol )