Palting
New member
We're still waiting for the OP to give us some info, such as the nitrate test results, but...
Organic carbon dosing, including pellets, tends to reduce nitrate disproportionately more than phosphate, leaving phosphate behind in many instances when nitrate is gone for reasons that we understand well. That's one reason that folks using organic carbon dosing often also use GFO to mop up remaining phosphate.
FWIW, I prefer viengar to pellets. I don't really see any advantage to pellets. The theoretical advantage of confinign the effect to the pellet surface seem to not hold up in reality, as folks have often gotten cyanobacteria remote from the pellets.
Vinegar is easier to control and change doses at will, you can control the time of day of dosing to keep the effects on O2 and pH when you want them, and I think many more types of bacteria and other organisms readily consume acetate (from vinegar), while cyano tends to be somewhat less pleased with acetate than with some other organic carbon sources.
Thank you!
