Carbon dosing: how long to see results in my nitrate and phosphate

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yep, that’s the article I used. So how fast can I increase my dose and what dose should I start with given my parameters? I’m worried that at theamounts the article recommends it will take a long time to get up to a dose that starts to show improvements.

It might. You can probably double the uptick rate without issue.

 

[Hal3134]

Great! Will dosing Prodibio Biodigest ( in addition to Vibrant) help speed things up?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Great! Will dosing Prodibio Biodigest ( in addition to Vibrant) help speed things up?

I don’t know since I’m not sure how they make it.

 

[csb123]

I have a high nutrient load 300 gallon mixed reef. Right now I dose 50ml DIY NOPOX daily. It takes about 2-3 weeks after a change in dosage to evaluate its effects.

 

[Hal3134]

I've been dosing about 6 weeks now. I've increased the dosage to 20 ml per day (on 300g water volume). Nitrates are still running at 50. I also started using my GFO reactor and have decreased Phosphate to .25. I wish I saw some progress on the nitrates.

 

[greekspec2]

I've been dosing Tropic Marin Reef Actif in a small tank for awhile, it's a mild form of carbon dosing and in less than a week I went from .10 to 0 were it's stayed.

Zero side affects and SPS started growing at an excellerated rate with PE during the day and no mariculture SPS lost.

 

[Hal3134]

FWIW, my NO3 is 25-50, so that's a slight reduction from 50 that it tested at last week. I'm dosing 25ml of vodka daily. I know this is a quicker rate of increase than some articles suggest but I haven't seen any ill effects on the tank. No bacterial bloom or anything else. I did dose 2 ampules of Biodigest last week, so that may also be contributing. Vibrant is still being dosed every other week on a maintenance routine.

PO4 is down again this week to 0.1 (from 0.25). I brought by GFO reactor online 2 weeks ago with 2 cups of GFO. I'm amazed by how quickly it brought down my PO4. The BRS calculator suggested that I use 4 cups, but I can't fit that into my reactor, and it now appears that I don't need that much.

My toadstool leather remains with zero polyp extension. Similarly, my single red mushroom remains shrunken. I'm hoping now that my PO4 is controlled and the nitrate is dropping they will start to show signs of life. If not then I need to look to other reasons why they are not happy.

 

[twf0369]

FWIW, my NO3 is 25-50, so that's a slight reduction from 50 that it tested at last week. I'm dosing 25ml of vodka daily. I know this is a quicker rate of increase than some articles suggest but I haven't seen any ill effects on the tank. No bacterial bloom or anything else. I did dose 2 ampules of Biodigest last week, so that may also be contributing. Vibrant is still being dosed every other week on a maintenance routine.

PO4 is down again this week to 0.1 (from 0.25). I brought by GFO reactor online 2 weeks ago with 2 cups of GFO. I'm amazed by how quickly it brought down my PO4. The BRS calculator suggested that I use 4 cups, but I can't fit that into my reactor, and it now appears that I don't need that much.

My toadstool leather remains with zero polyp extension. Similarly, my single red mushroom remains shrunken. I'm hoping now that my PO4 is controlled and the nitrate is dropping they will start to show signs of life. If not then I need to look to other reasons why they are not happy.

Thanks for documenting. Do you have any updates? My issue is very similar to yours. Same water volume and same numbers. What was your reasoning to choose vodka over vinegar? Good Luck!

 

[Hal3134]

NO3 is 1. PO4 is .03. Yay! Has been this way for 2weeks now. I did 2x 40g waterchanges one week apart too. I used vodka because you dose about 1/8 the volume of vinegar. That would have been just too much vinegar from a volume perspective. I switched out the GFO for carbon about two weeks ago too.

 

[Sharir]

I’m interested in trying vinegar. I’m just curious if it’ll make any impact that vodka didn’t. The blind spot for me in this hobby is what happens to nitrates after they get converted from NO2. I think they can turn into nitrogen gas and get expelled from the water? As far as I know, carbon dosing won’t do that. Any idea?

I have seen many people who have been dosing vodka suffer from cyano. But others seen not the reaction. Why that is I do not know but vinigar dosing does not cause cyano blooms as far as my experience goes.

 

[Sharir]

Note that carbon dosing only reduces nutrients after 4-7 weeks this is because the bacteria that use the organic carbon have to be skimmed out of your system to remove the nutrients. If you are not skimming then the nutrients most likely will stay in your tank.

 

[ScottR]

I have seen many people who have been dosing vodka suffer from cyano. But others seen not the reaction. Why that is I do not know but vinigar dosing does not cause cyano blooms as far as my experience goes.

I tried vinegar a bit. But my pH was already low so it didn’t seem worth continuing.

 

[Hal3134]

Correction to my stats: NO3=0.2, PO4=0.03.

for comparison,
1 week ago. NO3=0.5, PO4=0.03 (did 15% waterchange after this)
2 weeks ago, NO3=1.0, PO4=0.03. Removed GFO from 7 weeks ago and added carbon in a reactor.
3 weeks about, NO3=25, PO4=0.03 (Did 15% waterchange after this)
4 weeks ago, NO3=25-50, PO4=0.1
5 weeks ago, same readings as 4 weeks ago
6 weeks ago, NO3=50, PO4=0.25
7 weeks ago, started using GFO in a reactor at half recommendEd dose
8 weeks ago, NO3=50-100, PO4=1.0
9 weeks ago, started vodka dosing
10 weeks ago, NO3=50-100, PO4=1.0

I started vodka dosing 2 months ago. I never saw any cyano.

 

[Bill Urbanski]

I don’t know since I’m not sure how they make it.

Randy. I have a 260 gallon mixed reef. Mostly softies and mushrooms. My angels seem to eat anything else. I have been dosing vinegar for a couple years now and my nitrates would always stay 5-10. Recently I've noticed an increase in nitrates to around 25. I'm currently dosing 100ml per day of vinegar. Should I raise my dose to try and lower the nitrates? I'm thinking the cause is over feeding and a large fish load. Appreciate your thoughts on this.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy. I have a 260 gallon mixed reef. Mostly softies and mushrooms. My angels seem to eat anything else. I have been dosing vinegar for a couple years now and my nitrates would always stay 5-10. Recently I've noticed an increase in nitrates to around 25. I'm currently dosing 100ml per day of vinegar. Should I raise my dose to try and lower the nitrates? I'm thinking the cause is over feeding and a large fish load. Appreciate your thoughts on this.

I'm not sure how easy it is to dial the nitrate down, but I might up the amount to, say 110 ml per day and see where you stand after a week or two. 25 ppm is not a big problem.

 

[Bill Urbanski]

I'm not sure how easy it is to dial the nitrate down, but I might up the amount to, say 110 ml per day and see where you stand after a week or two. 25 ppm is not a big problem.

Thanks Randy. I'll raise to 110 today and give it till February and see what the number does.