- Joined
- Jan 5, 2019
- Messages
- 1,572
- Reaction score
- 902
Yeah I’m sure it was the GFO. The water does look a little cleaner today maybe the vinegar helps maybe not but no bad effects yet from the vinegar.The GFO lowered the P
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Yeah I’m sure it was the GFO. The water does look a little cleaner today maybe the vinegar helps maybe not but no bad effects yet from the vinegar.The GFO lowered the P
Thanks for the reply. I do know the danger of bacteria blooms. I’m running an Oxadator and a wooden air stone from outside air with good surface movement. I’m a big fan of the bacteria method from elegant corals for Dino that uses vodka. This is my first time using vinegar and I don’t want to cause a cloudy water bloom but would like to know how much vinegar is too much?There's been a good deal of debate about the Redfield Ratio, which purports to suggest that the molar ratio of the elements carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in living creatures in the world's oceans is a constant of 106:16:1. I don't mean to start a debate about the accuracy of those numbers - there's endless discussion of whether the actual numbers really apply to the rather strong difference between heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton.
However, there's something to be said about interpreting the RR as the amount of phosphorus required for the growth of microorganisms is sharply lower than the amount of carbon and nitrogen. Without actually doing the calculations this morning, though, I'd say that 0.46 ppm of phosphate should be well above the level that it would limit the growth of bacteria in your system. Instead, I would think that the limiting element is probably carbon in the form of easily accessible organic acids/sugars (i.e., in your case, vinegar).
I would suggest SLOWLY increasing the daily dose of vinegar to perhaps 8 mL per dose, and hold it there for a couple of weeks. As you may already be aware, the danger with carbon dosing, whether it be in the form of vinegar, sugar or ethanol, is adding too much and causing a bacterial bloom that sucks all of the oxygen out of the water and kills your inhabitants. That danger would be particularly acute on a tank without a skimmer that depends on diffusion of oxygen through the limited top surface level of the tank.
Lots of good information thanks. One more question what time of the day do you dose vinegar?FWIW, I'm at the end ramp down stages of carbon dosing (vinegar, no skimmer or other aeration), having brought NO3 down from ~24 to 4 ppm in a little less than 2 months. Basically, after much reading on the topic, I decided on a conservative dosing of 0.5 ppm vinegar/10g of water volume/day (ramp up for the 1st week was simply half this amount) and this proved sufficient to gradually bring NO3 down in my system to my target range of 2-4 pp). To help remove the bacteria from the system, I used my normal maintenance consisting of a 10% weekly water change plus a gravel vac and a filter sock temporarily attached to my pump's outlet tube on water change day (biofilm and detritus removal).
I didn't notice any coral issues day or night (as expected). What I did notice is that instead of having my typical very thin brown/green algae layer on my glass after 3-4 days, it was replaced by a similarly thin layer of white biofilm (especially noticeable in the last two weeks). The amount of nuisance algae in general has declined somewhat, possibly due to reduced PO4 levels (always have been undetectable in this system of 12+ years). Water clarity has been exceptional. I've been very careful to keep the feeding of the system very consistent (same foods on the same days at the same amounts) during this period to see if the dosing was making the difference as opposed to any changed variable(s) in the system.
For the next week I'll be cutting the vinegar dosage in half and will check at the end of the week if NO3 is holding steady. Assuming no rise, I will stop dosing the following week and monitor NO3 weekly for a few weeks to see if the NO3 level stays stable, or not.
Naturally, every system will be different and possibly require more carbon to achieve similar NO3 reduction. But I hope that a first-hand account proves useful.
Lots of good information thanks. One more question what time of the day do you dose vinegar?
Do not use denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol is alcohol mixed with other chemicals to make it poison.Is denatured alcohol ever used for carbon source?
Is there any other carbon sources around the house besides vinegar and vodka that are reef safe?Do not use denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol is alcohol mixed with other chemicals to make it poison.
Table SugarIs there any other carbon sources around the house besides vinegar and vodka that are reef safe?
Any reported problems with using sugar? Is using multiple carbon sources good idea?Table Sugar
Any reported problems with using sugar? Is using multiple carbon sources good idea?
I don’t want to jinx myself but I never had Cyano problem in this tank. My macro tank that I feed the fish has Cyano and I never use carbon in that tank.I haven't carbon dosed with sugar, so I'm probably the wrong guy to comment on that.
Some people report cyano with certain carbon sources, but I'm not sure if that makes sense to me.
Any reported problems with using sugar? Is using multiple carbon sources good idea?