Carbon dosing vinegar and vodka combined

[bbpros2b]

Just to update this post for future use. So I got my no3 down to 5-10 ppm. I stopped dosing straight vinegar then went into nopox around September, then again nothing much was happening (I thought I had too many (14 fish total), I now have 9 fish total), so I went ahead and rehomed some fish. Then I waited another few weeks then again nothing was happening, but then my biggest break through was when I upped my alk to 9.0 from 7.0. My PH was finally around 8 then I saw a steady drop in no3 each week.

I read the relationship between no3 and alk and how it interact with one another so that’s what made me upped my alk. Now everything is steady and back on track. So my advice if your alk is low trying raising it to an 8-9. I was dosing 14.5 ml a day in my 130 gallon system (100 display and 30 for the sump) but since it came down I have cut back to 7.5ml

A few wc but nothing major, haven’t done one in about two weeks. It took about 3 month for nopox after I corrected my own issue so keep that in mind if you want to use nopox. It’ll work but it’ll need some help on your end

Here’s my recent test

no3-7ppm
Po4- .06
Alk-9
Cal-420
Mag-1320
Ph-8
Temp-89
Salinity-1.024-25

Does that say your temp is 89? Must be a typo. Reason I ask is because I know bacteria multiply fast at higher temps but I never heard of 89 degrees. My other question is why aren’t my nitrates dropping lol? Seriously though I’m having the same issue with vinegar been dosing about 3 months I’m up to 70ml a day in a tank with exactly 82 gallons of water. My nitrates are 25 but will creep up over 2 weeks to about 40 then I have to do a water change. I don’t want to raise the vinegar more and have it lower my Ph because my PH at its highest is 8.1 and lowest is 7.9 does DIY NOpox at a 50/50 solution vinegar and vodka lower PH as much as vinegar? I dose vinegar spread out over 24 hrs to reduce the ph drops

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

DIY NOpox at a 50/50 solution vinegar and vodka lower PH as much as vinegar? I dose vinegar spread out over 24 hrs to reduce the ph drops

Overall, the pH lowering of all carbon dosing methods is about the same per organic added since they all end up as CO2 (which lowers pH).

Vinegar front loads its pH lowering, with less later, while vodka only lowers it later. If you spread the dosing out over many hours, you likely won't see a difference.

But if you dose once a day, then the initial drop will be proportional to the amount of vinegar used in that dose.

One way around that is to saturate vinegar (or NOPOX) with calcium hydroxide to eliminate any pH lowering. I did that when I start3d vinegar once a day, but stopped it when I went to dosing via a pump spread over the light cycle.

 

[bbpros2b]

Overall, the pH lowering of all carbon dosing methods is about the same per organic added since they all end up as CO2 (which lowers pH).

Vinegar front loads its pH lowering, with less later, while vodka only lowers it later. If you spread the dosing out over many hours, you likely won't see a difference.

But if you dose once a day, then the initial drop will be proportional to the amount of vinegar used in that dose.

One way around that is to saturate vinegar (or NOPOX) with calcium hydroxide to eliminate any pH lowering. I did that when I start3d vinegar once a day, but stopped it when I went to dosing via a pump spread over the light cycle.

This makes Great sense! I ordered some Kalkwasser because I didn’t have any because I normally dose soda ash and calcium as a two part rather than Kalkwasser. So should I put 2 teaspoons kalk in a gallon of vinegar and continue dosing the straight vinegar mixed with Kalk? Right now I dose 70ml vinegar daily spread out over 24hrs which keeps my PH at the low at night of 7.9 and high of 8.1 PH when lights been on all day. I do realize the kalk will raise my calcium level and alkalinity level so I will make adjustments in my two part dosing to adjust for the raise from Kalk In the vinegar. Does this sound right with the vinegar and Alk? I would just put them in my ATO but it only tops off 1100ml a day for evaporation. The reason I want to add Kalk to the vinegar is because I need to keep going higher on the vinegar dosing without affecting my PH to see the nitrates drop

 

[bbpros2b]

Overall, the pH lowering of all carbon dosing methods is about the same per organic added since they all end up as CO2 (which lowers pH).

Vinegar front loads its pH lowering, with less later, while vodka only lowers it later. If you spread the dosing out over many hours, you likely won't see a difference.

But if you dose once a day, then the initial drop will be proportional to the amount of vinegar used in that dose.

One way around that is to saturate vinegar (or NOPOX) with calcium hydroxide to eliminate any pH lowering. I did that when I start3d vinegar once a day, but stopped it when I went to dosing via a pump spread over the light cycle.

Is it safe to add 2-3 tsp kalk to 1 gallon of 5% vinegar with no water and just dose the vinegar as I normally do ? Just to help reduce the Ph drop from dosing hourly

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is it safe to add 2-3 tsp kalk to 1 gallon of 5% vinegar with no water and just dose the vinegar as I normally do ? Just to help reduce the Ph drop from dosing hourly

I’d add enough that no more dissolves. Let the excess sit undosed on the bottom. Remember 5% vinegar is 95% water, so you are making a calcium acetate solution out of the venigar.

 

[bbpros2b]

I’d add enough that no more dissolves. Let the excess sit undosed on the bottom. Remember 5% vinegar is 95% water, so you are making a calcium acetate solution out of the venigar.

thank you Randy that makes total sense. Really appreciate your help! I’ll start with about 3 tsp then and continue to add to the vinegar until no more disolves after shaking it up

 

[Backreefing]

Hello been a long time. But I was doseing a lot of vinegar but with little results. On my smaller aquarium I purchased a 4-5” monti cap and a day or two later noticed a drop in nitrates. So I got a idea to
1 did a large water change to reduce nitrates to a reasonable level below 20 ppm
2 I got on Facebook a couple of montipora caps and put them in the 90 gallon with the one from my small aquarium
3 continued vinegar doseing but dialed back about half .
Then I monitored my nitrates and success nitrates stayed below 2.0 ppm . I’m certain the montipora caps helped bring down the nutrients ( nitrates ) .

 

[Backreefing]

What ended up happening I’m at 70 ml vinegar daily on an 82 total gallon system. And nitrates are not dropping

Hello been a long time. But I was doseing a lot of vinegar but with little results. On my smaller aquarium I purchased a 4-5” monti cap and a day or two later noticed a drop in nitrates. So I got a idea to
1 did a large water change to reduce nitrates to a reasonable level below 20 ppm
2 I got on Facebook a couple of montipora caps and put them in the 90 gallon with the one from my small aquarium
3 continued vinegar doseing but dialed back about half .
Then I monitored my nitrates and success nitrates stayed below 2.0 ppm . I’m certain the montipora caps helped bring down the nutrients ( nitrates ) .

 

[CBonito]

If you turned yourself on to phytoplankton dosing, it'll change your whole outlook.on managing exports.

But I'm not writing up dozens of paragraphs on the subject bc its well documented in past stuff I wrote

.

This is what I'm doing.

 

[bbpros2b]

Hello been a long time. But I was doseing a lot of vinegar but with little results. On my smaller aquarium I purchased a 4-5” monti cap and a day or two later noticed a drop in nitrates. So I got a idea to
1 did a large water change to reduce nitrates to a reasonable level below 20 ppm
2 I got on Facebook a couple of montipora caps and put them in the 90 gallon with the one from my small aquarium
3 continued vinegar doseing but dialed back about half .
Then I monitored my nitrates and success nitrates stayed below 2.0 ppm . I’m certain the montipora caps helped bring down the nutrients ( nitrates ) .

This is excellent advice! I decided to cut back my carbon dosing today a little and I am going to do a few water changes to try and get my nitrates down to about 10 and then see if it’s easier to maintain keeping them at 10 rather than bringing them down to 10 by carbon dosing too much. This last week I carbon dosed 82ml in 82 gallon basically 1ml per gallon and I see a little bacterial bloom coming not so much in the water but a tiny sheen on the glass so I’ll take that as a sign that I’m getting to high on the dosing. I am going to cut back to .5ml per gallon for a couple weeks and do a couple water changes to bring nitrates down to 10. The crappy thing is that even at dosing 82ml vinegar a day over two weeks my nitrates have went from 25 to 35. So I’m assuming that I need to take my 3’ Zebra Eel out and put in my predator tank because I just have way to much fish with 22 fish and 3’ eel in 82 total gallon system tank and sump (Tons of live rock around 150lbs and 3” sand bed) . And To your Point I have an 8” Montipora cap in the tank as well. But don’t have much room for more??