Vinegar dosing

[mamedina]

Considering dosing vinegar in an attempt to combat an algae outbreak. Basically just wondering did it work for you?

 

[sfin52]

let's look at the numbers. can you please post them. What is your light cycle.

 

[mamedina]

Nitrates and phos all testing zero but obviously there more than that considering the algae. Light cycle was about 7 hours white and 9 blues but I have since cut that down to about 5 hours for both in an attempt to rid the algae. Using Chinese BB lights

 

[sfin52]

Can you post a pic

 

[WWIII]

Vinegar doesn't magically get rid of algae unfortunately. It will eventually lower nitrates, which can lead to less algae. Do you have any herbivores in the tank or other critters that like to eat algae? Pics would help, how bad is it?

 

[Eddie Rogers]

Be careful your flirting with Dino territory.

How big is the tank?
how long has it been running?
Fish?
clean up crew?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

What @WWIII said. Dosing vinegar might get rid of the phosphates/nitrates, which will starve the algae. It can lead to other problems though. While hardly universal, lots of really difficult problems can arise from nutrients so low that algae can't thrive. Dinoflagellates are one of them, starving corals another. It would be a lie to say or even imply that vinegar causes these things, but an algae outbreak solution ought to be more thought-out than simply getting rid of the nutrients.

I would personally look into growing more desirable algae elsewhere, such as chaeto in a refugium or reactor, or turf algae in a scrubber.

 

[mamedina]

Be careful your flirting with Dino territory.

How big is the tank?
how long has it been running?
Fish?
clean up crew?

It’s a 75 with a 40 gal sump with skimmer and fuge . It’s been running for 8 months. Have 2 Vanderbilt chromis 1 small clown 1 mandarin 1 yellow tang 1 lawnmower blenny and 1 Melanurus wrasse. CUC consists of a pincushion urchin 12 asters snails and a handful of nassarius and cerith snails

 

[mamedina]

What @WWIII said. Dosing vinegar might get rid of the phosphates/nitrates, which will starve the algae. It can lead to other problems though. While hardly universal, lots of really difficult problems can arise from nutrients so low that algae can't thrive. Dinoflagellates are one of them, starving corals another. It would be a lie to say or even imply that vinegar causes these things, but an algae outbreak solution ought to be more thought-out than simply getting rid of the nutrients.

I would personally look into growing more desirable algae elsewhere, such as chaeto in a refugium or reactor, or turf algae in a scrubber.

I have chaeto in the sump but there is also a fair amount of hair algae in the sump as well