Carbon Dosing Questions

Rmckoy

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Once you raise nitrates (and you should go very slow and test) the higher nitrates should lower phosphates a bit. Just go slow
Nitrates should be much highter than phosphates. Ratio of N to P should be like 30 to 150 they say.
I don’t really know if that ratio is 100% accurate

so if I have 30ppm nitrates , I should have 0.9 ppm phosphates ?

Ideally .
I try keeping my phosphates around .03-.05 and nitrates 5- 15
 

Lovefish77

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I don’t really know if that ratio is 100% accurate

so if I have 30ppm nitrates , I should have 0.9 ppm phosphates ?

Ideally .
I try keeping my phosphates around .03-.05 and nitrates 5- 15
Thanks but your ideal ratio seems much higher than the numbers I mentioned.
 

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Reason for carbon dosing:
I've got gha on rockwork. The no3 reads low due to uptake of no3 fron gha. If it was truly 1.5 I don't think I'd have gha. Also have cyano now. I've heard carbon Dosing alleviates those problems.


Carbon dosing can make cyano worse.
 

JohnMzreef

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Just dosing the mb7 alone will reduce nitrates and phosphates as essentially …. You’re increasing the nitrifying bacteria that consume and transform these nutrients .
Not sure what point you are trying to make here.. Are you saying that adding vodka in addition to mb7 is not necessary? Well all I can tell you is I melted all the gha out of my tank in about a week with my method and I maintain it in the way I described. It doesn't take much vodka at all. The methods on the internet that describe huge doses are way over the top. Just microdose.
Cyano is a symptom of low nitrates and high phosphates
Maybe, although some would say the cyano is feeding on the organics(carbon). Not sure we really know.
Yes I just tested and nitrate is 0 phosphate is 0.12.
Yes my experience has been that nitrate dosing is necessary if you want to keep all the corals in a mixed reef happy.
 

Rmckoy

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Not sure what point you are trying to make here.. Are you saying that adding vodka in addition to mb7 is not necessary? Well all I can tell you is I melted all the gha out of my tank in about a week with my method and I maintain it in the way I described. It doesn't take much vodka at all. The methods on the internet that describe huge doses are way over the top. Just microdose.

Maybe, although some would say the cyano is feeding on the organics(carbon). Not sure we really know.

Yes my experience has been that nitrate dosing is necessary if you want to keep all the corals in a mixed reef happy.
What I was saying is combining the 2 is excessive. Essentially it’s your system , but with everything . Try one thing and wait to see how it works .
throwing every option possible can end up making things worse .
 

Koh23

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I'm planing on dosing winegar, everywhere says that u should use 5%, but i can only find 9% white alcohol winegar....

So is this ok, do i need to dilute it some more before adding to tank, or just use less? Thanx!
 

Rmckoy

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I'm planing on dosing winegar, everywhere says that u should use 5%, but i can only find 9% white alcohol winegar....

So is this ok, do i need to dilute it some more before adding to tank, or just use less? Thanx!
Vinegar is 5% acidic acid .
regular white vinegar that’s available in grocery stores .

because vinegar is only 5% there is a dosing chart

or buy a cheap bottle of vodka from a liquor store . The amount dosed will be significantly less
 

Koh23

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Rmckoy.. our white winegar is 9%, nobody makes 5%...

And i read that winegar is "better" than votka, many votka users experience problems with cyano......
 

Rmckoy

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Rmckoy.. our white winegar is 9%, nobody makes 5%...

And i read that winegar is "better" than votka, many votka users experience problems with cyano......
That’s odd …
Wonder why it’s 9%

I have also read posts from others experiencing cyano or even Dino from dosing vinegar .
Essentially what you’re doing is increasing the population of bacteria to consume nitrates and phosphates .
Either way . Adding carbon in many different forms achieves the same result .
its easy to over dose which will end with zero of one or both nutrients
It’s gradual at first but if the bacteria’s population increases rapidly it can consume a lot .
 

Rmckoy

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That’s odd …
Wonder why it’s 9%

I have also read posts from others experiencing cyano or even Dino from dosing vinegar .
Essentially what you’re doing is increasing the population of bacteria to consume nitrates and phosphates .
Either way . Adding carbon in many different forms achieves the same result .
its easy to over dose which will end with zero of one or both nutrients
It’s gradual at first but if the bacteria’s population increases rapidly it can consume a lot .
I have only used vinegar and nopox for carbon dosing .
I couldn’t imagine sharing vodka with my fish and the cost of vodka here is a lot more expensive compared to vinegar .
For $1.99 for a 4L jug of vinegar it lasts a very long time .
Keeping in mind . Vodka is more pure and effective .
@Randy Holmes-Farley had a old article regarding carbon dosing and a comparison between the different carbon sources ( vinegar, vodka or granulated sugar )

the dosing chart at that time was designed using vodka but to use vinegar was a calculation for dosage
 

Koh23

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A long time ago, i'd say 2011, i experimented with mix of sugar and votka, have great results considering nitrates and pshosphates, but cyano all over the tank. Of course, common knowledge and practical experience back then was very little, everyone had some opinion and method, but winegar was always a mistery. Of course i tried pellets, but with no results and many problems....

Now i'm back in reefing, and considering whinegar.... Versus chaeto, or, building algae scruber....

Not sure wich way to go....
 

Rmckoy

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A long time ago, i'd say 2011, i experimented with mix of sugar and votka, have great results considering nitrates and pshosphates, but cyano all over the tank. Of course, common knowledge and practical experience back then was very little, everyone had some opinion and method, but winegar was always a mistery. Of course i tried pellets, but with no results and many problems....

Now i'm back in reefing, and considering whinegar.... Versus chaeto, or, building algae scruber....

Not sure wich way to go....
Just my opinion .
if you can achieve the results you want without carbon dosing . I would go that route .
IMO carbon dosing just opens another container of issues to possibly happen .
Been there and took forever to get out of the cyano outbreak that was the result of dosing .
Ends up trying to fight one issue with another .

I will say .
since adding cheato , rowaphos and carbon
I can feed 10x more without worrying about increasing nutrients .
I have to dose nitrates and still feed heavy to keep some nutrients .
 

JohnMzreef

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What I was saying is combining the 2 is excessive.
Not sure you read my posts carefully. What I use is a "microdose" of vodka (about 0.05 ml per 25 gallons per day). A liter of vodka lasts forever and definitely cheaper than dosing mb7 alone. Maybe mb7 contains a carbon source? We aren't privy to the ingredients other than it contains "bacteria".
In other terminology you could think of one as the "probiotic" and the other as "prebiotic".
Anyhow, the op should just pick a carbon source of which there are many, pick a bacteria source of which there are many, then proceed carefully. Be sure to tune your lights and flow so that you have good coralline algae growth. Don't sweat it if you get a little a bit of cyano on your glass. It's better than a whole lot of green algae on everything. A skimmer helps on a big tank although you may end up turning it off. Occasional water change for a small tank.
 

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Not sure what point you are trying to make here.. Are you saying that adding vodka in addition to mb7 is not necessary? Well all I can tell you is I melted all the gha out of my tank in about a week with my method and I maintain it in the way I described. It doesn't take much vodka at all. The methods on the internet that describe huge doses are way over the top. Just microdose.

Maybe, although some would say the cyano is feeding on the organics(carbon). Not sure we really know.

Yes my experience has been that nitrate dosing is necessary if you want to keep all the corals in a mixed reef happy.


Cyanobacteria can take nitrogen from the atmosphere, therefore they are phosphate limited in our tanks.
 
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