Carbon dosing all at once or in increments throughout the day?

[reefluvrr]

I have been using a doser to carbon dose a small amount every 15 minute through out the day for a total of 4ml each day.
(In my case I use Tropic Marin Elimi-NP)

I suspect that this may not be the best way to reduce Nitrate/Phosphate as I am only growing a smaller population of bacterial throughout the day rather than growing a big population all at once during the day.

Can anyone share their experience if you have done it both ways and found one way work better than the other. Maybe it doesn't matter.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have been using a doser to carbon dose a small amount every 15 minute through out the day for a total of 4ml each day.
(In my case I use Tropic Marin Elimi-NP)

I suspect that this may not be the best way to reduce Nitrate/Phosphate as I am only growing a smaller population of bacterial throughout the day rather than growing a big population all at once during the day.

Can anyone share their experience if you have done it both ways and found one way work better than the other. Maybe it doesn't matter.

Gradually and monitor levels as you go along
Dropping no3 and po4 can lead to Dino

 

[mdb_talon]

I really dont think it matter much. Whether you do the dose once a day or split it up in the case of carbon dosing. I dont think splitting it up causes any issues though and makes sure there is a constant source throughout the day. Not sure what size tank you have but 4ml dont sound like much i think more likely the issue is needing larger dose(though it does take time so only increase gradually over a period of weeks and keep monitoring)

 

[reefluvrr]

Not sure what size tank you have but 4ml dont sound like much i think more likely the issue is needing larger dose

I have only a 40 gallon tank. I have been using Tropic Marin Elimi-NP for close to 1.5 years now.
Maybe I do need to up my levels again, but whenever I do, I get the white film of bacteria growing on the glass...

 

[george7523]

I have been using a doser to carbon dose a small amount every 15 minute through out the day for a total of 4ml each day.
(In my case I use Tropic Marin Elimi-NP)

I suspect that this may not be the best way to reduce Nitrate/Phosphate as I am only growing a smaller population of bacterial throughout the day rather than growing a big population all at once during the day.

Can anyone share their experience if you have done it both ways and found one way work better than the other. Maybe it doesn't matter.

I've also been dosing elimi-NP for couple of months. I also test phosphate before dosing and 2, 6 hour after dosing. And I noticed notable phosphate decrease as quick as 2 hours. Depending on how much I dose, phosphate decrease by 0.1 if I dose 3ml and 0.2 if dosed 6ml. But after 6 hour, phophate rises again, I suspect from auto feeding flakes. I thought it takes 2 weeks before phophate reduction would take place. How come phophate is reduced so quickly ? And is this phophate fluctuation normal ? How often should I test for phosphate ? Can testing phosphate daily record phosphate fluctuations that occurs naturally either with or without carbon dosing ? If so, how can we test to find out what exactly is the actual effect of dosing elimi-NP ? My display is 13 gal mixed reef sump 20 gal and frag tank 4 gal with skimmer

 

[Dan_P]

I have been using a doser to carbon dose a small amount every 15 minute through out the day for a total of 4ml each day.
(In my case I use Tropic Marin Elimi-NP)

I suspect that this may not be the best way to reduce Nitrate/Phosphate as I am only growing a smaller population of bacterial throughout the day rather than growing a big population all at once during the day.

Can anyone share their experience if you have done it both ways and found one way work better than the other. Maybe it doesn't matter.

It does not matter how much you dose at one time unless one large dose irritates the aquarium inmates and then spreading it out is the way to go.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I dosed vinegar and spread out the dosing during the light cycle to reduce the downward pH shift on dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can testing phosphate daily record phosphate fluctuations that occurs naturally either with or without carbon dosing ? If so, how can we test to find out what exactly is the actual effect of dosing elimi-NP ? My display is 13 gal mixed reef sump 20 gal and frag tank 4 gal with skimmer

One would need to run the aquarium for a while with no dosing of that product, and monitor phosphate carefully. Then dose the product for a while and monitor phosphate. If the goal is to understand details of any effect, one may need to test multiple times a day and for an extended period.

I personally doubt such an effort is worth it unless you particularly enjoy testing.