Vinegar Dosing questions.

[Uzair Aiman]

Once you reach your desired nutrient level .
sometimes stopping carbon dosing will result In a very heavy thick Cyanobacteria which can be near impossible to get rid of .
even though all nutrients and parameters test well . It’s very easy to over dose .
always start slow and less then full dose

If it’s possible . I would research different possible ways to achieve the same goal before beginning carbon dosing

What is the cause of the cyano outbreak actually? Is it sudden spike of nitrates and phosphates when I stop dosing?
Ive done some other research and it seems to me that I don’t have the space or budget to install reactors, bigger skimmers, or a tang gang to clean up the algae. Doing a lot of water changes seem to be very expensive also over time.

 

[homer1475]

There are other benefits besides nutrient export to carbon dosing.

And yes you can 0 out your nutrient levels with carbon dosing. Just keep an eye on your nutrioent levels, and you'll be fine.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

There are other benefits besides nutrient export to carbon dosing.

And yes you can 0 out your nutrient levels with carbon dosing. Just keep an eye on your nutrioent levels, and you'll be fine.

I guess as always throughout the hobby, slow and steady wins the race. Just gotta make sure the nutrients won’t bottom out I guess. I’ll try to dose til my nitrates are atleast under 10ppm. Then I would halve my doses. Does the vinegar have a lingering effect? For example, if I were to dose today, then I stop dosing tomorrow, will nitrates still go down the following days? Or does it stop completely? (Or it depends on the tanks bio filter?)

 

[homer1475]

The idea behind carbon dosing is to feed the bacteria that converts nitrates to nitrogen gas. Stopping abruptly, I have no idea of the side effects other then a possible bacterial bloom if ramping up to high. I don't believe the bacteria still work without directly feeding them(meaning niotrate doesn't reduce if you stop)

I stopped cold turkey once my nutrient levels were where I liked them. With my current filtration, I see no reason to dose it.

Of course I am not a scientists(nor do I play one on TV), and this is only my understanding of how it works, and my own personal experience.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You recommend vinegar dosing during the day time, may I ask why? If ph commonly drops during the day, won’t the vinegar drop the ph further?

pH drops at night, so daytime dosing won’t drive it as low as night time dosing.

Also, carbon dosing consumes O2, so dosing when it is naturally highest is desirable, IMO.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As far as a slow ramp up time, you don’t see any issues doing the ramp up quickly and causing a sudden drop in your nitrates? Would it be more of an issue the other way around, ie nitrate spike?

Rarely do nitrate levels drop very fast with carbon dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I guess as always throughout the hobby, slow and steady wins the race. Just gotta make sure the nutrients won’t bottom out I guess. I’ll try to dose til my nitrates are atleast under 10ppm. Then I would halve my doses. Does the vinegar have a lingering effect? For example, if I were to dose today, then I stop dosing tomorrow, will nitrates still go down the following days? Or does it stop completely? (Or it depends on the tanks bio filter?)

Most people do not see a nitrate drop for many days, sometimes weeks, with organic carbon dosing, but there’s also nothing with going slow to test the waters.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is making 2 half doses during the morning and mid-day okay? Cause I do not have concentrated vinegar and calcium hydroxide, and I do not have the space or budget for a dosing pump. How much ramping up should I do before anything bad happens? I was planning to do the dosing according to the table stated since I'm afraid that I would crash my tank.

Thats likely fine.

 

[JGT]

Rarely do nitrate levels drop very fast with carbon dosing.

OK, and would you expect for your RODI water mixed with salt to show some nitrates or should it be 0?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, and would you expect for your RODI water mixed with salt to show some nitrates or should it be 0?

Should be low, if any, but I would not expect any problem even if it had a few ppm.

 

[JGT]

Should be low, if any, but I would not expect any problem even if it had a few ppm.

OK, thanks!

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Should be low, if any, but I would not expect any problem even if it had a few ppm.

How would I mix vinegar and calcium hydroxide? How long would this solution be stable? Thanks for any info on this. Something I have been thinking about.

 

[JCOLE]

How would I mix vinegar and calcium hydroxide? How long would this solution be stable? Thanks for any info on this. Something I have been thinking about.

This is a really good article to read and explains dosage. I mix up 30 gallons of kalkwasser at a time in a vat. I go all out and mix 200ml of vinegar with my kalk powder. I stir it and let it sit for a minute. It will get warm during this. I then dump it in my vat and fill with water.

Vinegar is great to use with kalk. I find it dissolves the kalk and allows for better saturation. It also helps feed bacteria in my system to assist in nutrient removal.

kalkwasser

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How would I mix vinegar and calcium hydroxide? How long would this solution be stable? Thanks for any info on this. Something I have been thinking about.

I simply add calcium hydroxide directly to the vinegar until it there is a bunch undissolved after mixing, and dose the clear liquid. IT is stable forever if you are sure there is excess calcium hydroxide and it is closed.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

I simply add calcium hydroxide directly to the vinegar until it there is a bunch undissolved after mixing, and dose the clear liquid. IT is stable forever if you are sure there is excess calcium hydroxide and it is closed.

Excellent, thank you sir and the other guy as well for the article. I'm messing around with this now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Excellent, thank you sir and the other guy as well for the article. I'm messing around with this now.

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[JGT]

Should the UV be shutdown during the dosing period? Seems it would be counter productive to trying to grow/increase bacteria.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Should the UV be shutdown during the dosing period? Seems it would be counter productive to trying to grow/increase bacteria.

I do not use a UV because I do not want to kill circulating bacteria, but the period right after dosing isn't going to be a lot different than 12-18 h later, so I don't think you can easily time it in relation to dosing.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Hi everyone,
Right now I have high nitrates (around 50ppm) and low phosphates (around 0.1ppm). The phosphates might be a false reading since my tank is now filled with green hair algae (which Ive been trying to remove). I remove them manually when doing water changes weekly, and they still grow back up on the rocks and some frags.
Ive been thinking of dosing vinegar (I have the Heinz all natural white distilled vinegar 5% on hand) as to reduce nitrates and phosphates. My tank is around 1 year old, 25 gallons in size of display volume (its an AIO) and I have a Bubble Magus QQ Protein skimmer (cause I know I need to oxygenate my tank when carbon dosing, also need to remove the nitrates and phosphates).
Is there a specific guideline that I can follow? Also, lets say I want to reduce my nitrates to 5ppm or something, after dosing a specific amount daily, when I reach said number, how do I keep it there? Do i reduce the dosage in half? Or shall I still keep dosing the same amount or do I just stop dosing right away?

Im quite paranoid and afraid that I would literally strip everything from my tank and cause catastrophe.

Not to Derail the thread, but can you please tell me your CA, Alk, MG and Ph numbers? Also what lights and spectrum are you running?

 

[JGT]

I do not use a UV because I do not want to kill circulating bacteria, but the period right after dosing isn't going to be a lot different than 12-18 h later, so I don't think you can easily time it in relation to dosing.

Sorry, my bad. When I say dosing period, I mean the weeks during which you are ramping up the vinegar until you start to see your NO3 start to decline, not the hours during or after each dose.