First, a little anecdote.
I dosed 15mL of a DIY NOPOX (75% vinega; 25% vodka) in my 260 gallon tank. It dropped my nitrates to undetectable and I even had to dose about 10ppm a few times to get nitrates from going too low.
Fast forward to today, I am currently only using vinegar and I just started dosing around 100mL per day. I went from 60mL and I really am seeing no reduction in nitrates, if anything, it’s slowly climbing
I did the math, on a carbon bases, the amount if carbonI’m dosing is higher with vinegar only than the vodka/vinegar mix.
It almost seems like the denitrifying bacteria in my tank preferred the vodka?
Or maybe the cryptic sponges that I have are outcompeting the bacteria for carbon?
Or maybe I just need to be more patient for the denitrifying bacteria to populate (are there different types of denitrifying bacteria that prefer different carbon sources?)
I dosed 15mL of a DIY NOPOX (75% vinega; 25% vodka) in my 260 gallon tank. It dropped my nitrates to undetectable and I even had to dose about 10ppm a few times to get nitrates from going too low.
Fast forward to today, I am currently only using vinegar and I just started dosing around 100mL per day. I went from 60mL and I really am seeing no reduction in nitrates, if anything, it’s slowly climbing
I did the math, on a carbon bases, the amount if carbonI’m dosing is higher with vinegar only than the vodka/vinegar mix.
It almost seems like the denitrifying bacteria in my tank preferred the vodka?
Or maybe the cryptic sponges that I have are outcompeting the bacteria for carbon?
Or maybe I just need to be more patient for the denitrifying bacteria to populate (are there different types of denitrifying bacteria that prefer different carbon sources?)