Randy's vinegar dosing limit. I found it!

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

-If you have to dose so much vinegar a day , isn`t it better then to dose pure acetic acid ?
It would save you the hassle to buy so much bottles of vinegar every week ...

Well, one gallon of vinegar costs $2.59 and lasts about 10 days at the super high dose, and maybe 3 weeks at the current dose, so expense and bother is not a big deal. My dosing pump sucks it directly from the gallon jug.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Twice I tried to include vinegar in the regimen and both times had to stop because even small additions of 1ml per 50 gal per week caused a bloom of (bacteria?) white slime.

The bacteria have to grow somewhere. I have a lot of live rock in the refugia downstream of the vinegar dosing, and also a cannister filter of GAC, and I expect nearly all the bacteria grows there, so I never see any.

 

[7thheaven]

When I dose 40ml of vinegar in my 100gal tank, there was green film in glass,
When water change 15%, dosing 60ml daily and MB7 once, I could find white film in glass.

I do not dose MB7 daily but I think MB7 can boost the bacteral growth.
HTH Now I maintain the quantity of vinegar and do not dose MB7 daily.


I am still watching to my tank. What I am thinking is right.

 

[kcrush4989]

Do you have a bare bottom tank?

what is the difference iof you have a bare bottom tank? I have just started(about a month ago) vin. dosing. I do have a bare bottom that i keep really clean. I have very high flow, 3 k4's and an mp10 in the tank and a mag 12 return. I have an octo 110 skimmer soon to get a bb pump and a 50g sump with a ton of cheato. I beleave to sump was the reason for my slight cyno problem. Its not out of control but i dont want to see any.

 

[JMalone81]

When I dose 40ml of vinegar in my 100gal tank, there was green film in glass,
When water change 15%, dosing 60ml daily and MB7 once, I could find white film in glass.=QUOTE]

Is the white film bad? What does it mean?

 

[kcrush4989]

When I dose 40ml of vinegar in my 100gal tank, there was green film in glass,
When water change 15%, dosing 60ml daily and MB7 once, I could find white film in glass.=QUOTE]

Is the white film bad? What does it mean?

The white film is good aslong as it doesn't turn into a white cloud. It is the bac that is accomplished from carbon dosing.

 

[Reefer08]

How about white strings? Ive got a TON in my sump all over my equipment. Corals are looking healthy though. I know its recommended to cut dosage in half if this becomes visible but if I don't and continue my dosing regiment will the white strings go away??

 

[7thheaven]

When I dose 40ml of vinegar in my 100gal tank, there was green film in glass,
When water change 15%, dosing 60ml daily and MB7 once, I could find white film in glass.=QUOTE]

Is the white film bad? What does it mean?

Hi..

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16159393&postcount=1540

1) Bacterial Blooms (slimy white strings) = too much bacteria, decrease vodka dosing

HTH

 

[capnfritz]

No, 3" of sand.
Thanx for all the answers.

 

[3D-Reef]

I feel your pain. I have tried about every combination of everything to halt my cyno and bryopsis. The only time I saw my bryopsis and cyno receding was when alkalinity got real low in my tank. It fell below 7.0 for a couple of weeks and I went whow, what is happening. I am now trying to keep it around 7 dkh to see if this has long term affects. I have also decreased my photo period and increased the flow a little in the tank. Any or all of these things could be helping but the jury is still out.

FWIW, when I tried vinegar, awhile back, it got worse not better.

I'm beginning to think it is just old tank syndrome. A tank that has been set up a long time is bound to start having these issues. I'm sure there is another answer, just have not found it yet, no matter how much I read.

I've had the same experience and I started low dosing of MB7.Now a couple months later the cyano has cleared up,no more cyano.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, I've slowly backed all the way down to about 44 ml per day, spread over the daylight hours. Things look much better. I did not realize how cloudy the water had gotten, presumably with suspended bacteria.

The RBTA's are largely back to normal, but I did loose one that I'd had for only about a month (not sure if that is related or not, but it could well be). The H. crispa seems back to normal.

The cyano is largely gone.

The green algae on the glass is growing more slowly again.

The soft corals are expanding fully again.

All in all, looking good, and I may add some new livestock (anemones and/or fish) in the next few days.

 

[HighlandReefer]

Randy, good to hear things are back to normal.

I noticed when my nitrate hit zero using a Salifert Nitrate Kit, I had to back off on the amount of vinegar I was dosing by about 1/2 due to increased bacteria growth. I'm curious if this is the same for you?

I don't understand why bacterial growth would increase when nitrate hits a very low nitrate & phosphate reading? The same has been reported with vodka.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know why that would be. I started with low nitrate last I measured, so I can't really say how it has changed during dosing (and I've not tried to measure nitrate once since dosing).

 

[HighlandReefer]

One possibility that comes to mind would be a switch in bacterial species that are braking down the ammonia, nitrite and any nitrate (if it makes it to nitrate). At least that was reported in the one article I had noted. When the levels of nitrate and nitrite change, so did the bacterial. I just remembered that.

 

[banzai75x]

Glad I found this thread. I didn't realize that cyano came with overdosing. My bioload is non-existent as I had an ich outbreak so I only have snails. I am on week 4 of vinegar dosing and only doing about 25 mls a day. But I now start to see Cyano which I never had before. I guess I need to back off that a little bit too

Tank is 100g

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Backing of is a fine plan, but your dose is a lot lower than mine.

 

[Edward Smith]

Hello

What would be your recommendation for initiating vinegar dosing? My goal is to control phosphates and use less GFO. It's a 300g total volume softie system that runs on a ETSS 1400.

I would like to mix the vinegar in my kalk solution. Twenty gallons kalk water is prepared every 4-5 days with a 3g of evap replacement a day (I know, huge = Zeroedge connected to the system).

How much vinegar should I add to the 20g of prepared kalk?

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't prefer to add it in limewater because I prefer to add it during the daytime only (when O2 and pH is highest), but many folks do add it in limewater.

I'd start at 20 mL per day and ramp up to 50 mL per day in 2 weeks. Then decide based on how the tank looks whether you want to raise or lower the level from there. Determine how much limewater you add each day and then multiply it up to the 20 gallons you make at once.

 

[Edward Smith]

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Let us know how it works out.