VINEGAR DOSING

[Empress Of Mermaids]

I've been dosing vinegar for a couple of years now and it works great! My nitrates never climb above 2. For the past week or so I have stopped doing it because i installed a calcium reactor and was told that I should stop carbon dosing because of pH problems. I'm not sure if I want to stop dosing vinegar since it's been doing such a great job controlling nitrates.

So here's my question: At what PARAMETERS should I NOT dose vinegar? And by looking at my current parameters is it ok to still dose vinegar?

My current parameters are:
dKH is 9
Ca 450
NO3 2 (holding steady for 2 years)
PO4 .06 - .09
Mg 1400
pH in CR 6.88
pH in DT 8.15
Sg 1.026

 

[C. Eymann]

I'd say as long as the dosing is during the photo period your pH shouldn't dip too bad, how many ml's of vinegar are you dosing? how big of tank?

I ran a calcium reactor + kalk reactor and I dosed vinegar into my ATO reservoir, that way it enhanced my kalkwasser saturation a bit and didn't impact my pH much. Using kalk + calcium reactor allows you much less CO2 usage as you dont have to have reactor pH set as low to keep up with demand, it basically allows you to run a less "aggressive" tune.

 

[smartwater101]

I'm of the mind that carbon dosing should never be done unless its an "emergency" when nutrients get away from you. Proper feeding and water change regimes, skimmer, and a fuge should keep things in line.

Thats said: if it works for you and you've found a balance its a positive thing. You could just slowly pull back on the dosing to see how it affects your nutrients instead of stopping completely.

 

[Empress Of Mermaids]

I'd say as long as the dosing is during the photo period your pH shouldn't dip too bad, how many ml's of vinegar are you dosing? how big of tank?

I ran a calcium reactor + kalk reactor and I dosed vinegar into my ATO reservoir, that way it enhanced my kalkwasser saturation a bit and didn't impact my pH much. Using kalk + calcium reactor allows you much less CO2 usage as you dont have to have reactor pH set as low to keep up with demand, it basically allows you to run a less "aggressive" tune.

My dosing vinegar regime varies. Sometimes I dose 10ml and when i see nitrates start to creep up, I dose a little more. But never more than 40ml a day. Sometimes I get lazy and don't dose at all (especially on weekends).

My system is 240 DT and 75 sump. Not much in the sump except skimmer, chaeto, a roll of rigid floss that I clean every couple of days (instead of filter socks) and return pump.

How much kalk do you add to your ATO? I was thinking of doing the same. My ATO is only 20 gallons.

 

[Empress Of Mermaids]

I'm of the mind that carbon dosing should never be done unless its an "emergency" when nutrients get away from you. Proper feeding and water change regimes, skimmer, and a fuge should keep things in line.

Thats said: if it works for you and you've found a balance its a positive thing. You could just slowly pull back on the dosing to see how it affects your nutrients instead of stopping completely.

The main reason i dose vinegar is to feed the bacteria in the biopellet reactor. Sometimes I use Microbacter 7 just to change it up a bit. Nice tank.

 

[Empress Of Mermaids]

I'm of the mind that carbon dosing should never be done unless its an "emergency" when nutrients get away from you. Proper feeding and water change regimes, skimmer, and a fuge should keep things in line.

Thats said: if it works for you and you've found a balance its a positive thing. You could just slowly pull back on the dosing to see how it affects your nutrients instead of stopping completely.

Smartwater, are you in LA? What's going on there? Is the power out? Is it being evacuated? I'm really concerned.

 

[smartwater101]

Smartwater, are you in LA? What's going on there? Is the power out? Is it being evacuated? I'm really concerned.

I'm on the otherside of the hill so the fires never come down to the West Hollywood area. I'm not sure of the extent of it yet.

 

[Empress Of Mermaids]

I'm on the otherside of the hill so the fires never come down to the West Hollywood area. I'm not sure of the extent of it yet.

Thanks for sharing that and glad you're okay. I just hope they get the fires under control soon. Stay safe.

 

[C. Eymann]

My dosing vinegar regime varies. Sometimes I dose 10ml and when i see nitrates start to creep up, I dose a little more. But never more than 40ml a day. Sometimes I get lazy and don't dose at all (especially on weekends).

My system is 240 DT and 75 sump. Not much in the sump except skimmer, chaeto, a roll of rigid floss that I clean every couple of days (instead of filter socks) and return pump.

How much kalk do you add to your ATO? I was thinking of doing the same. My ATO is only 20 gallons.

I don't add kalk to my ATO, I push my ATO going through a kalk reactor