Transition from Carbon Dosing (vinegar) to Bio-pellets

[CJWilliams]

Hello,

I've been carbon dosing vinegar for the last weeks and I'm finally seeing my nitrates drop (from 30-35 down to 16). I'm wanting to switch from vinegar to bio-pellets. Any guidance or experience for this transition?

Currently dosing 75mL vinegar in approx. 135 gallon total volume.

Plan to start with 1 cup of bio-pellets for the first month or two (BRS pellets state 1 cup per 50 gallons). Should I continue the vinegar, cut the dose in half during the initial stages or stop altogether?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Pellets can take a long time to ramp up, so I’d keep both for a while.

Why are you switching?

 

[CJWilliams]

Pellets can take a long time to ramp up, so I’d keep both for a while.

Why are you switching?

Really just to take away a manual process. I could add a dosing pump, but right now I'm dosing it manually twice a day. As I understand bio-pellets are set and forget other than making sure they are always tumbling (not clogged up) and replenished every few months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Really just to take away a manual process. I could add a dosing pump, but right now I'm dosing it manually twice a day. As I understand bio-pellets are set and forget other than making sure they are always tumbling (not clogged up) and replenished every few months.

Ok, I’d ramp up pellets while reducing vinegar dosing to keep nitrate about where you want it. I’m not sure if the pellets will be able to completely replace the vinegar, but they may.

 

[PeterErc]

I switched from vinegar back to pellets.

My experience is that 1 cup per 50 gallons is too many pellets.
I suggest starting off with smaller amount pellets

The 150g total volume has been successful with 1 cup of pellets. Vinegar was continued for a while, don't know exactly.

Watch to see that nitrate doesn't drop too low, which is why vinegar is a better method of controlling the dose. If things get too wonky don't hesitate to pull pellets, stabilize with vinegar and restart. You will know when/if corals start looking to pale

Little late but hope it helps

 

[CJWilliams]

I switched from vinegar back to pellets.

My experience is that 1 cup per 50 gallons is too many pellets.
I suggest starting off with smaller amount pellets

The 150g total volume has been successful with 1 cup of pellets. Vinegar was continued for a while, don't know exactly.

Watch to see that nitrate doesn't drop too low, which is why vinegar is a better method of controlling the dose. If things get too wonky don't hesitate to pull pellets, stabilize with vinegar and restart. You will know when/if corals start looking to pale

Little late but hope it helps

Appreciate the reply. I did end up starting with 1 cup of pellets and I've slowly dialed back the vinegar dosing. I kept getting slime that was clogging up my mesh between the skimmer section and return pump section.

 

[mariano]

Hey @CJWilliams, I was wondering how is your tank doing with the bio-pellets? I just ordered bio pellets and a reactor, so was looking for some insight.

 

[CJWilliams]

Hey @CJWilliams, I was wondering how is your tank doing with the bio-pellets? I just ordered bio pellets and a reactor, so was looking for some insight.

Sorry for the late reply. So carbon dosing vinegar was doing pretty well, worked the nitrates from low 30's down to the teens over the coarse of a month or so. Then I added 1 cup of biopellets and intended to keep dosing vinegar, however I was getting slime building up the bubble trap right before the return pump. This would raise the water level in my skimmer chamber and overflow it. That was annoying so I stopped dosing vinegar.

So then my nitrates started creeping back up to the low to mid 20's. They've come back down to the low teens now with some frequent cleaning and water changes. I just put another cup of BioPellets in the reactor this weekend after running 1 cup for 9.5 weeks or so. So I'll continue to monitor it.