Dosing Vinegar

Biggar

Biggar

New member
Anyone still doing this method to lower Ns and Ps?

I think im going to try it, ran biopellats for about 6 months and it did help bring down nitrates, but corals did not look happy. Especially zoas.

I have kinda high PH from running kalk in ato, so I thought i would try to kill 3 birds with one stone.

I will use BRS 1.1 ml per minute drip system and wondering how much to start with.
 
I've been adding vinegar to my kalk RO jug for a few months now. My nitrates were always between 25-40ppm. Within a month my nitrates were less than 10 and after 2 months they are now between 1-2.5ppm. If you dose to much you will see an increase in algae so you need to decide how much to dose for your tank. There are lots of threads on reef chemistry. Ill see if I can find a few. I went with vinegar instead of vodka because I think vodka had a higher chance of getting cyano. I run my kalk separately from my ATO so I don't overdose in case a float switch fails.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index...ar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2134105
 
Crackem said:
I've been adding vinegar to my kalk RO jug for a few months now. My nitrates were always between 25-40ppm. Within a month my nitrates were less than 10 and after 2 months they are now between 1-2.5ppm. If you dose to much you will see an increase in algae so you need to decide how much to dose for your tank. There are lots of threads on reef chemistry. Ill see if I can find a few. I went with vinegar instead of vodka because I think vodka had a higher chance of getting cyano. I run my kalk separately from my ATO so I don't overdose in case a float switch fails.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index...ar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2134105
Click to expand...


Thanks

Just tested Phosphates. At .08
Nitrates- 5

How many mls do you think would be a good start in this situation?

Did you rely solo on vinegar? or combine with GFO, Etc?
 
I've been running a gfo reactor 24/7 with high capacity gfo from brs. My phosphates were thru the roof and now at 0.06-.08

I can't tell you how many ml to use but I'm sure someone else might be able to either here or in reef chemistry. I've had an increase in algae on my glass since dosing vinegar and will be lowering my dose gradually.
 
Biggar said:
Anyone still doing this method to lower Ns and Ps?

I think im going to try it, ran biopellats for about 6 months and it did help bring down nitrates, but corals did not look happy. Especially zoas.

I have kinda high PH from running kalk in ato, so I thought i would try to kill 3 birds with one stone.

I will use BRS 1.1 ml per minute drip system and wondering how much to start with.
Click to expand...

Mike how many times are you and i going to have this conversation? We spoke months ago about this!!!!
 
Biggar said:
Anyone still doing this method to lower Ns and Ps?

I think im going to try it, ran biopellats for about 6 months and it did help bring down nitrates, but corals did not look happy. Especially zoas.

I have kinda high PH from running kalk in ato, so I thought i would try to kill 3 birds with one stone.

I will use BRS 1.1 ml per minute drip system and wondering how much to start with.
Click to expand...

If you're inclined you can use the N03 P0x from Red Sea. It's a balanced carbon system. I use it and keep ogliotrophic levels of N03 and P04 in my system. It's just easier than screwing around with a correct balance of VSV.

--->http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Care-NO3...UTF8&qid=1369107245&sr=8-1&keywords=no3+po4-x

I add 8ml a day to my 180.

The issue regarding zoanthids "not looking happy" is irrelevant to the issue of carbon dosing. It could have been any other number of myriad factors. You're just using an alternate system by using VSV or another organic carbon source.

Corals take up inorganic nutrients, so removal of organic phosphate and nitrate don't matter to the coral itself. The problem however can readily be a drop in Ph. When dosing carbon, the growth of bacteria that removes your nutrients also removes oxygen in the process which will drive your Ph down quite a bit. Keep that in mind.
 
Last edited:
AquamanE said:
Mike how many times are you and i going to have this conversation? We spoke months ago about this!!!!
Click to expand...


Hey Eddie,

We spoke about dosing alk and calc 2-part

Also, we spoke about an ATO, which im glad I bought.

Not dosing vinegar.

I would love to hear your experience though

FoxInSox said:
If you're inclined you can use the N03 P0x from Red Sea. It's a balanced carbon system. I use it and keep ogliotrophic levels of N03 and P04 in my system. It's just easier than screwing around with a correct balance of VSV.

--->http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Care-NO3...UTF8&qid=1369107245&sr=8-1&keywords=no3+po4-x

I add 8ml a day to my 180.

The issue regarding zoanthids "not looking happy" is irrelevant to the issue of carbon dosing. It could have been any other number of myriad factors. You're just using an alternate system by using VSV or another organic carbon source.

Corals take up inorganic nutrients, so removal of organic phosphate and nitrate don't matter to the coral itself. The problem however can readily be a drop in Ph. When dosing carbon, the growth of bacteria that removes your nutrients also removes oxygen in the process which will drive your Ph down quite a bit. Keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

Ill check it out. I want to get my nitrates and phosphate to zero

My PH is usually high 8.2-8.5 due to my ATO dumping 12-13ppm kalk water all day long.
 
Biggar said:
lol..... We are still breaking up.

Must have killed you to be away from me for a week.

Mike :love1: Josh

Welcome back.
Click to expand...

You will never get rid of me and luckily i had a lot of work, 2 bdays and the swap to get ready for so it wasn't too bad. Also after the 30 or so texts saying they missed me messing with you made me a little sad lol. But I'm back so get ready!
 
IME: I started it and ran it for a few months with great results. It out competed my cheato so I eventually pulled it and decided to just run vingear and GFO occasionally. I eventually had to ramp up my dosing to a rather high amount and ended up having adverse effects.

Some of my smaller fish had very labored breathing and eventually perished. (there could have been other effects from tank mates but it played its part)

I believe my demise was that it worked well for awhile and when I had small algae outbreaks I eventually ramped up to a high level. I eventually had a minor tank crash where a few corals perished.

My take is that it could be beneficial, I do not see it as a sole solution for lowering nitrates and phosphates and be aware it can out compete other nutrient export methods.

I have since gone back to just using cheato and Ulva for primary nutrient export, occasionally running GFO when I want.
 
Biggar said:
Hey Eddie,

We spoke about dosing alk and calc 2-part

Also, we spoke about an ATO, which im glad I bought.

Not dosing vinegar.

I would love to hear your experience though
Click to expand...


Sorry Mike.... when i saw the mention of kal, and BRS dosers, thats what i thought you where talking about even thought the topic is vinegar, DUH.

No carbon dosing experience here. I control No3 and Ph04 with carbon, gfo, and 30-40% water changes per month. My thoughts on it are...i wont use unless I SEE NO OTHER WAY!!

KISS, and SPS are my mottos.

KISS=keep it simple stupid
SPS= stability produces success

I also believe in "if it aint broke, dont fix it". I avoid the hooply of the year when it comes to reefkeeping.
 
Last edited:
AquamanE said:
Sorry Mike.... when i saw the mention of kal, and BRS dosers, thats what i thought you where talking about even thought the topic is vinegar, DUH.

No carbon dosing experience here. I control No3 and Ph04 with carbon, gfo, and 30-40% water changes per month. My thoughts on it are...i wont use unless I SEE NO OTHER WAY!!

KISS, and SPS are my mottos.

KISS=keep it simple stupid
SPS= stability produces success

I also believe in "if it aint broke, dont fix it". I avoid the hooply of the year when it comes to reefkeeping.
Click to expand...


Just tryin to keep to with the new trends.... or old
 
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php?vm=r&s=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2210947

Started adding vinegar to Kalk top off to saturate water with more kalk.
Had great results with nitrate reduction as well. Bio Pellets were running when vinegar was started and pellets have since been taken out.

Problem I had with carbon dosing is nitrate would be stripped from water leaving PO4 behind, started dosing some sodium nitrate a couple weeks ago. PO4 went from .11 to
.03 in a week. Have to test for phosphate again this week and see, NO3 is 3-5ppm

Very pleased with the results so far, tank could come crashing down tomorrow.

Vinegar is 3 bucks a gallon, sodium nitrate is 9 bucks a pound shipped.
Hope never to see GFO or other snake oils again

read up, and if you jump, go slow
 
dadummy said:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php?vm=r&s=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2210947

Started adding vinegar to Kalk top off to saturate water with more kalk.
Had great results with nitrate reduction as well. Bio Pellets were running when vinegar was started and pellets have since been taken out.

Problem I had with carbon dosing is nitrate would be stripped from water leaving PO4 behind, started dosing some sodium nitrate a couple weeks ago. PO4 went from .11 to
.03 in a week. Have to test for phosphate again this week and see, NO3 is 3-5ppm

Very pleased with the results so far, tank could come crashing down tomorrow.

Vinegar is 3 bucks a gallon, sodium nitrate is 9 bucks a pound shipped.
Hope never to see GFO or other snake oils again

read up, and if you jump, go slow
Click to expand...


I run a refugium 24/7 and gfo.

I had problem with nitrate coming above 10ppm. I have since tried biopellets which brought nitrates down to 2.5. Corals suffered imo.

Took pellets offline for about 2 months, nitrates slowly creeping up over 5ppm again.

Im now trying vinegar. 30mls a day to start.

GFO- $50.00+ per gallon. Vinegar= 3.00

I may get rid of the refugium in future. Well see what happens.
 
Mike instead of all this...why not try natural resources like other types of macro algae etc. It seems like your parameters are low enough where you don't need anything. Under 10ppm I think is great especially with the bioload of fish you have. And if you reduce nitrates or PO4 too fast the other will be affected to the point where it will go higher...need to maintain a balance from everything I have read.
 
gatoralum69 said:
Mike instead of all this...why not try natural resources like other types of macro algae etc. It seems like your parameters are low enough where you don't need anything. Under 10ppm I think is great especially with the bioload of fish you have. And if you reduce nitrates or PO4 too fast the other will be affected to the point where it will go higher...need to maintain a balance from everything I have read.
Click to expand...


Using natural resources provide diminishing returns as you need to have a very large refugium or amount of macro algae to equal what carbon dosing provides.


With your vinegar dosing, please remember that GFO will inhibit bacterial growth of the system and needs to be removed/ramped down with dosing. Also consider balancing your additive. Vodka/Sugar/Vinegar for example
 
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