My carbon dosing experience and questions

[enthb]

To start off with my tank is a 90 gallon that is filled with a significant amount of rock and a few softies and a 25 gallon sump. I run a 9410 dc Tunze skimmer that seems to do really well and pulls out quite a bit. I have a mandarin, fox face, Kole tang, 6 line, lawnmower Benny, and 2 pajama cardinals. I started dosing vinegar about 8 month ago. I started with a very small dose and built up very slowly trying to prevent any negative effects. I have now built up to a dose of 166ml per day and the nitrates are still slowly climbing.

I started Have trouble with white slime build up a while back so haven’t increase the dosage for about 6 weeks As I dont want it to get worse with clogging pumps, return lines and power heads. Now my dilemma is what to do next. I really don’t want to go higher on the vinegar. Should I start adding in some vodka? Should I decrease the amount of vinegar if i do? Should I completely switch carbon sources? Also if I should empl one of these other methods what would be the best wat to transition? Thanks a lot for your help.

Also my phosphates are currently .47. I also feed twice a day. Probably a little more than I should but nothing crazy.

 

[jackson6745]

You didn't mention anything about water changes. If you're not doing them, it's time to start. Build up of nutrients is an easy problem to fix. You're running into very high carbon dosing amount which brings on so many issues when it doesn't go well. I would say, manually remove organics more, rely on carbon dosing less.

 

[Rob3D2018]

You didn't mention anything about water changes. If you're not doing them, it's time to start. Build up of nutrients is an easy problem to fix. You're running into very high carbon dosing amount which brings on so many issues when it doesn't go well. I would say, manually remove organics more, rely on carbon dosing less.

but some of us don't do water changes... is there another solution besides the water changes?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

but some of us don't do water changes... is there another solution besides the water changes?

Solution to what?