Vinegar dosing

[DarthRaiderBob]

Looking to start vinegar dosing, have an 80 gallon aquarium. Is 20ml a day too much to start with? I've read some of the threads and saw 18.8ml listed for week 1. Wondered if it would hurt to start at 20 and adjust from there. Nitrate sitting around 25 consistently with weekly 25% water changes. Going to be using a jebao dc4 dosing pump any recommendations on how to setup the program to work best? I was going to program it to dose 10 times per day.

 

[Tinnerito]

Looking to start vinegar dosing, have an 80 gallon aquarium. Is 20ml a day too much to start with? I've read some of the threads and saw 18.8ml listed for week 1. Wondered if it would hurt to start at 20 and adjust from there. Nitrate sitting around 25 consistently with weekly 25% water changes. Going to be using a jebao dc4 dosing pump any recommendations on how to setup the program to work best? I was going to program it to dose 10 times per day.

Bump. Never done it but I've read it can be risky if done wrong. Good luck!

 

[purpfish]

No harm in starting small, imo

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

I've never done it either but it sounds like folks have it pretty well figured out with charts and such available.

 

[Ziggy17]

I started with 20 and I currently dose about 35 into my 80g (total volume). Dose 15 at 1000 and then 20 at 1700. It also keeps my PH from going past 8.5.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

Good to know. I'm not exactly sure how this dosing pump sets up. Seems like you can only program the amount and how many times a day and how many days a week it doses. Not sure I can program specific times. It was with the tank when I bought it and I haven't used it other than to make sure it works.

 

[Miami Reef]

From here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-vodka-and-vinegar-dosing-charts.1024056/

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

From here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-vodka-and-vinegar-dosing-charts.1024056/

I was looking at that earlier. Great information. I was going to post in the thread, got busy and forgot I wanted to post there so just started a thread. I'll be using it alot. Thanks for linking it for me!!

 

[Dan_P]

Looking to start vinegar dosing, have an 80 gallon aquarium. Is 20ml a day too much to start with? I've read some of the threads and saw 18.8ml listed for week 1. Wondered if it would hurt to start at 20 and adjust from there. Nitrate sitting around 25 consistently with weekly 25% water changes. Going to be using a jebao dc4 dosing pump any recommendations on how to setup the program to work best? I was going to program it to dose 10 times per day.

Spreading the dose out will minimize the dip in oxygen when the bacteria quickly consume the dose.

At 20 mL of vinegar per day, the theoretical nitrate reduction is 0.5 ppm. You might not detect a daily change with most hobby kits and might not see a change after several days if nitrate production is keeping up with nitrate consumption dosing this amount. Going to a higher will be the only way to see a reduction.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

I figured I would end up at a higher dose over time. Looking to start slow because I've never dosed so, I'm not very confident in my skills or the dosing pump I have as I have never used it before and it is used. It did work fine during calibration so keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Dom]

Looking to start vinegar dosing, have an 80 gallon aquarium. Is 20ml a day too much to start with? I've read some of the threads and saw 18.8ml listed for week 1. Wondered if it would hurt to start at 20 and adjust from there. Nitrate sitting around 25 consistently with weekly 25% water changes. Going to be using a jebao dc4 dosing pump any recommendations on how to setup the program to work best? I was going to program it to dose 10 times per day.

I don't feel a Nitrate of 25 requires intervention.

When I dose distilled vinegar, I do so by adding it to my ATO, 1 cap full for every 5 gallons. On a 135 gallons, my NO3 sits around 17.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

I don't feel a Nitrate of 25 requires intervention.

When I dose distilled vinegar, I do so by adding it to my ATO, 1 cap full for every 5 gallons. On a 135 gallons, my NO3 sits around 17.

25 isn't super high but, I know my history with nitrates and if I don't do something now it will be 50 before I know it and algae will be rampant. It's a cycle that I've been through many times. Time to try something different as I'm already doing 25% water changes weekly.

 

[Ziggy17]

20ml won’t harm you system. Start there, keep it there, whatever you prefer or what your water is telling you. One thing I will say though, if you can’t trust your pumps, either buy new ones or dose manually. No point using them just because you have them. I think Jeb is fine for dosing. I know a few guys that run them and they have no complaints. I’m pretty sure that is what my Simplicity dosing heads are, just white labelled. But same factory.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

20ml won’t harm you system. Start there, keep it there, whatever you prefer or what your water is telling you. One thing I will say though, if you can’t trust your pumps, either buy new ones or dose manually. No point using them just because you have them. I think Jeb is fine for dosing. I know a few guys that run them and they have no complaints. I’m pretty sure that is what my Simplicity dosing heads are, just white labelled. But same factory.

It's not that I don't trust them, it's just new to using them and wanting to watch them work for awhile before going all in. Like I said they are new to me but from someone I trust implicitly. I wouldn't have them if he didn't believe they were in full working order.

 

[Dom]

25 isn't super high but, I know my history with nitrates and if I don't do something now it will be 50 before I know it and algae will be rampant. It's a cycle that I've been through many times. Time to try something different as I'm already doing 25% water changes weekly.

It is good to be proactive. I would dose the ATO and monitor until you get the number you want.

As I mentioned previously, dosing 1 cap of distilled vinegar into my 5 gallon ATO on 135 gallons keeps my NO3 at around 17.

I refill the ATO every two days, so that is a total of 3.5 cap fulls per week.

A cap is 10ml, so that makes it 35ml, weekly.

Hope this helps.

Dom

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

It is good to be proactive. I would dose the ATO and monitor until you get the number you want.

As I mentioned previously, dosing 1 cap of distilled vinegar into my 5 gallon ATO on 135 gallons keeps my NO3 at around 17.

I refill the ATO every two days, so that is a total of 3.5 cap fulls per week.

A cap is 10ml, so that makes it 35ml, weekly.

Hope this helps.

Dom

Thanks Dom. Advice is much appreciated.