Help with Vinegar Dosing Starting Dose ???

[ravi197699]

Hello RC Good Morning,

I have 350 gal DS and 275 gallon sump and after i deduct rock and sand i am left with more or less 500 gal water volume, My nitrates are 35 and Phosphates are 0.13 both are Salifert readings, Please if someone can help with what starting dose I should start with? I have SPS and LPS mix in my tank,

Thank you so much in advance,

Rav

 

[drauka99]

Well in a 100 gallon volume I started with 5 and then after a week doubled the dose. After that i went up in 10% increments as needed.

To extrapolate that, I would think 25ml for a starting dose would be more than safe. PH does take a good bit so you would be best to have a doser spread that out through the day. I dissolve kalk in mine to lessen the PH hit but there is still a minor dip

I did not start seeing white bacterial film on the glass till I hit 70ml a day.

 

[ravi197699]

Thank you for your reply druka99, So i can start with 25ml /day and I have dosing pump that I can use to use to dose small amounts in a day, I am using pure distilled vinegar 5% and do i need to dilute the vinegar? and how do I mix kalk in vinegar so it does not effect my PH?

 

[bif24701]

Thank you for your reply druka99, So i can start with 25ml /day and I have dosing pump that I can use to use to dose small amounts in a day, I am using pure distilled vinegar 5% and do i need to dilute the vinegar? and how do I mix kalk in vinegar so it does not effect my PH?

I would not do kalk unless you are already adding it to your ATO. If you are then you can just add some vinegar to your top off water or use the dossier. 25 ml is very conservative so you will be safe there, do not dilute. Diluting the vinegar will invite bacteria to grow.

 

[drauka99]

No dilution needed. The Kalk is solely to help negate the lowering effect of the vinegar on the ph. You will be dosing such a small amount of vinegar/kalk it will have a negligible effect on alkalinity or calcium.

All you will need to do is mix the kalk powder into the vinegar in a container, I simply add a few cups of kalk powder into the vinegar dosing container, mix and let it settle out before i begin to use it.

For your volume and the use of a dosing pump you don't really need to even worry about adding kalk to the vinegar, with the doses spread to every hour or even 2 hours you should see very little if any effect from the vinegar. its much more noticeable if you are dosing manually a couple times a day as I was when I began.

I personally will continue to add the kalk to mine, just because that's how I have always done it.

 

[Xxero]

 

[ravi197699]

So no need to dilute the vinegar?? just start dosing right from the bottle with dosing pump?

 

[droth335]

So no need to dilute the vinegar?? just start dosing right from the bottle with dosing pump?

Right. I buy the large jugs (1.5 gallons?) at Costco and just swap them out when they get low.

 

[ravi197699]

Thank you dorth335, I will start dosing this weekend and based on chart above and water volume of my tank 500 gallons I should start dosing 16.0ml but I will start with 12ml and spread this volume over day 1ml/hr and take it from there, I will test Nitrates and Phosphates every week..