Tell me about your experience with carbon dosing!

[Layllah]

Hi guys! ^.^

So, in my 150 reef I have FINALLY gotten a skimmer dialing in. Before acquiring this equipment I had read several articles including Mr. Farley's regarding carbon dosing.

Buuuuut I've also read alot of horror stories or 'stay away' warnings on other sites- many citing cloudy water, algae blooms, and tank crashes via oxygen depletion due to the bursts of bacteria.

I'm curious, what's your experience/opinion on vinegar or vodka doing as means to keep nitrates within a manageable level in a higher nutrient system?

xx
Lay

 

[fabutahoun]

I was doing vinegar dosing on my sps tank,Then I stopped the dosing and added chaeto to my fuge partition in the sump which had only live rock at that time. the main reason that made me stop the vinegar dosing was the white burned tips on all my acro.
I am now just using chaeto and GFO and my NO3 level 0 - 0.25 and PO4 0 - 0.02.

 

[Wiz]

I run a big dsb fuge. But when i get spikes i use vodka. Tiny amounts. Less than 2 ml a day on about a 120g volume. Works great. I stop when im back in normal range.

 

[jwshiver]

I've been carbon dosing for a little over a year. I started with vodka and eventually switched over to zeovit with their carbon dosing product. There is a lot of good info if you research. I used this article as a guide when I first started. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/. You have to be a little more interactive with your tank in regards to your water parameters as your NO3 and PO4 start to drop. Everything has to be in harmony with each other. For example, if your PO4 gets to zero you may notice that your NO3 won't drop anymore. You will need to carefully bring your PO4 back up to get things moving again. I do it by dosing phosphate. If your goal is to achieve ULN you will need to gradually bring your alk down to 7 - 8 or you will get tip burn. I like it because it gives me more control of my NO3 and PO4 by dosing NO3 and PO4 back into the system. I try to maintain PO4 around .03 and NO3 between 2.5 -5. Sounds crazy to bring them to zero just to add them back, but it works for me. I'm not talented enough to control my levels through feeding.

 

[dave57]

Start slow... with any carbon dosing.. and stop slow.. dose daily and don't double up dosing if you forget to dose one day. I suggest running a pump to accurately dose your daily dosages and try running a wet skim.

 

[Scott.h]

If you have to have it, use it. If you don't, dont. It depends what you have for corals, and what you are trying to achieve. Are you chasing a number, or do you have corals that need lower levels? What your levels at? Many mature systems do just fine with high levels. My softie tank prefers higher. Corals just flat out look better.

As far as the blooms (horror stories) start slow and raise it at a measured amount each day, preferably twice a day.

 

[Rick.45cal]

I personally carbon dose using NOPOx. I think it's an effective tool if used properly, used improperly it's a potential disaster and a great way you can starve all your corals (GFO can do the same thing).

I personally think probiotic tank methodologies are beneficial when used to achieve a balance, bacteria provide a very important food source, both to corals but also to microfauna in our tanks.

I do agree 100% with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If your tank is in a happy balance I would hesitate to make a change to carbon dosing. If you are needing an export method for excess NO3 (specifically) and lesser so PO4 then it's an acceptable answer. Carbon dosing, is like anything in life, best practiced with moderation.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Started carbon dosing, drove my no3 from 20 to 0 . Got a bunch of rtn. For the rest of my tanks live I got this crazy po4 imbalance. Where I would have to use lounds of gfo. Started a new tank feed more than the old tank, added matrix to it , never dosed carbon, and my no3 is always 0. As a matter of fact I dose nitrates now and every time I dose kno3 my po4 drops. I haven't used gfo in 8 months . That's my personal experience.

 

[jwshiver]

I personally carbon dose using NOPOx. I think it's an effective tool if used properly, used improperly it's a potential disaster and a great way you can starve all your corals (GFO can do the same thing).

I personally think probiotic tank methodologies are beneficial when used to achieve a balance, bacteria provide a very important food source, both to corals but also to microfauna in our tanks.

I do agree 100% with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". If your tank is in a happy balance I would hesitate to make a change to carbon dosing. If you are needing an export method for excess NO3 (specifically) and lesser so PO4 then it's an acceptable answer. Carbon dosing, is like anything in life, best practiced with moderation.

I agree. If everything is happy, be happy with that, and don't start carbon dosing if you don't need to. Define your reason and make sure this is a viable option. I started because my tank looked more like a underwater salad bar than a reef tank.