jason2459
Well-known member
At your tank volume I don't seen any issues with that.
Another Vinegar question, please advice I have searched:)
- Thread starter Paalk
- Start date
Any suggestions on how much I should increase the dosage to in week 2 guys? From 40ml to 80-90ml maybe? Appreciate any input...
Most settle in at a dose of 0.4 to 0.8 ml per gallon of 5% vinegar or it's equivalent. That's around 0 .07ml to 0.15ml of 7% per liter or 74 ml to 148ml for your 1000l. If it were my tank I'd amp it up from the 40ml 7% vinegar in 20ml weekly increments and keep it at a 100ml for a few weeks an observe for any bacterial bloom or slimy bulidup before going higher.
Each tank is different and the amount you settle on may vary .The range noted seems to be the most common from the reports I've read.
Personally, I dose 80 ml of vodka plus 36 ml of 80 proof vodka( 40% ethanol) for the 650gallon system. . The later is roughly 8 times as strong as the vinegar; so, my total dose in terms of carbon content is roughly equivalent to 0.6ml of 5% vinegar per gallon.
The vinegar even at that relatively low level*80ml 5% vinegar for 650 galllons) does bounce the pH down about 0.1 units when dosed at once but it recovers in an hour or so. Timed dosing for vinegar in signifcant volume is important since it drops a lot of CO2 when it hits the water. 24 increments sounds very good. The ethanol can be bolus dosed without the pH spike but both have the same effect on pH over time ;in my case - .15 pH units.
It may take some time, months in some cases to reduce an initial high NO3 level. I find it easier to take the nitrate down with a series of water changes or a sulfur reactor and then use organic carbon dosing at a maintenance dose to manage new inputs from feeding.
Most settle in at a dose of 0.4 to 0.8 ml per gallon of 5% vinegar or it's equivalent. That's around 0 .07ml to 0.15ml of 7% per liter or 74 ml to 148ml for your 1000l. If it were my tank I'd amp it up from the 40ml 7% vinegar in 20ml weekly increments and keep it at a 100ml for a few weeks an observe for any bacterial bloom or slimy bulidup before going higher.
Each tank is different and the amount you settle on may vary .The range noted seems to be the most common from the reports I've read.
Personally, I dose 80 ml of vodka plus 36 ml of 80 proof vodka( 40% ethanol) for the 650gallon system. . The later is roughly 8 times as strong as the vinegar; so, my total dose in terms of carbon content is roughly equivalent to 0.6ml of 5% vinegar per gallon.
The vinegar even at that relatively low level*80ml 5% vinegar for 650 galllons) does bounce the pH down about 0.1 units when dosed at once but it recovers in an hour or so. Timed dosing for vinegar in signifcant volume is important since it drops a lot of CO2 when it hits the water. 24 increments sounds very good. The ethanol can be bolus dosed without the pH spike but both have the same effect on pH over time ;in my case - .15 pH units.
It may take some time, months in some cases to reduce an initial high NO3 level. I find it easier to take the nitrate down with a series of water changes or a sulfur reactor and then use organic carbon dosing at a maintenance dose to manage new inputs from feeding.
First of all, thank you guys for all the good answers you have given me regarding this topic. I have a lot more insight in vinegar dosing now.
It's been two weeks now and I am up to 80ml pr. day. Now I can see that a white film is building up on the glass pane of the DT. This is normal right, bacteria? Does this mean that I should not ramp up my dosage any more on my third week?
It's been two weeks now and I am up to 80ml pr. day. Now I can see that a white film is building up on the glass pane of the DT. This is normal right, bacteria? Does this mean that I should not ramp up my dosage any more on my third week?
I wouldn't raise it.
The bacteria have to grow somewhere, and it is unlucky if they are visible in the display tank. Mine never were, but I dose upstream of a big rock-filled refugium.
The bacteria have to grow somewhere, and it is unlucky if they are visible in the display tank. Mine never were, but I dose upstream of a big rock-filled refugium.
That could help, yes. Keep scraping it off the glass and letting it grow somewhere else should hopefully move it permanently. If it doesn't, switching to a different type of organic (like vodka) may also help.
I hope I don't have to switch to vodka though. Over here the prices are hillarious one bottle of vodka 70cl cost around $40:spin2:
I'd hold at 80 or maybe drop it to 70 if slime is showing up.;wait a few weeks and amp it up again slowly if you think your system can benefit from more of it.
I also have remote unlit areas with deep sand and extra live rock. I don't get the film noted at the levels of dosing noted in my earlier post. I dose vodka( cheap here: $14 for 1.75 liters) in the sump ;so it spreads out all over. I spread the vinegar to several locations including some upstream of the remote sand bed and extra rock If I go much higher some bacterial growth shows up here and there throughout the system.
I also have remote unlit areas with deep sand and extra live rock. I don't get the film noted at the levels of dosing noted in my earlier post. I dose vodka( cheap here: $14 for 1.75 liters) in the sump ;so it spreads out all over. I spread the vinegar to several locations including some upstream of the remote sand bed and extra rock If I go much higher some bacterial growth shows up here and there throughout the system.
Mrs. Music
New member
Hi everyone! Is there an article about vinegar dosing you all could point me too? Thanks you.
I found the links...but if there are others you would suggest I would love to read them.
I found the links...but if there are others you would suggest I would love to read them.
It's easier for me to keep them separate .
I'm not entirely confident using the vinegar with the kalk won't interfere with some of the purifying precipitation that usually occurs in fully saturated limewater and don't need the boost above the 2 tsps per gallon I use anyway.
I bolus dose the vodka which is the majority of the carbon source and my system is used to that daily burst.
I do use a liter meter for limewater dosing from a still reservoir ,currently set at 16 liters per day for the 650 gallon system. I'm really picky about constant alk and organic carbon dosing and don't wan't to complicate it.
I'm not entirely confident using the vinegar with the kalk won't interfere with some of the purifying precipitation that usually occurs in fully saturated limewater and don't need the boost above the 2 tsps per gallon I use anyway.
I bolus dose the vodka which is the majority of the carbon source and my system is used to that daily burst.
I do use a liter meter for limewater dosing from a still reservoir ,currently set at 16 liters per day for the 650 gallon system. I'm really picky about constant alk and organic carbon dosing and don't wan't to complicate it.
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Ok, Bertoni I'll leave it as is for a while.
TMZ, not slime exactly but rather white "algae" looking stuff on the glass after a couple of days. Hard to explain but before I started vinegar I got a green/brown carpet of algae on the glass after two days, now that has changed. When I scrape the glass now it takes about 2-3 days before I see this layer of white stuff on the glass. Mind you it doesn't look slimy at all now it just look like white "algae"
TMZ, not slime exactly but rather white "algae" looking stuff on the glass after a couple of days. Hard to explain but before I started vinegar I got a green/brown carpet of algae on the glass after two days, now that has changed. When I scrape the glass now it takes about 2-3 days before I see this layer of white stuff on the glass. Mind you it doesn't look slimy at all now it just look like white "algae"
Hi again guys, here is a Small update with a question attatched. My nitrates is stil sinking, I'm down to 8ppm now from 50ppm in three months. And that is excellent!
So to the question would you think it's safe to remove my automatic Aqua Medic nitrate filter from the tank? Will the vinegar keep the nitrates in check all by their lonesome at the existing dose which is 110ml?
So to the question would you think it's safe to remove my automatic Aqua Medic nitrate filter from the tank? Will the vinegar keep the nitrates in check all by their lonesome at the existing dose which is 110ml?
It might do fine with just the vinegar at 110ml for 1500l ,your water volume, IIRC( ca 395 gallons). I use about double that amount of organic carbon in a mix of vodka and vinegar( equivalent to about 368 ml of 5% acetic acid vinegar for 650 gallons /2470 liters) but each tank is different.
How is the PO4 ?IME, it goes first. Do you know where it is now?
How is the PO4 ?IME, it goes first. Do you know where it is now?
