ReefsandGeeks
New member
I've been throwing an idea around in my head and wanted to get some input before just jumping in. I've been dosing vinegar for a long time to keep nitrates low and it ahs always worked great for me. I, however, have always had problems keeping pH in a normal range. I'd have been lucky to get it up to 7.8 normally, with it normally being closer to 7.4 or so. Recently I added some pH buffer until I was into the 8s, but as expected, my alk was too high. I've been trying to think of a way to continue carbon dosing, but without decreasing the pH of my system.
One idea I came up with was to dissolve some crushed coral or Ca reactor media in the vinegar prior to dosing the tank. This would raise the pH of the vinegar solution, and also double as a Ca and alk source for the tank (I think). I'm not sure if the alk and Ca would precipitate out of the vinegar solution or not, but surely the pH would rise. I'm also not sure if this would counteract the carbon dosing benefit of the vinegar as it dissolves the media.
In addition to adding the reactor media to the vinegar, I was also wondering if there could be any benefit to mixing coral food in vinegar just prior to broadcast feeding the tank. My thoughts are that the acidic vinegar would just start to digest the food a bit so the coral may have an easier time processing it. This one is a bit more abstract, but I have tried it twice now and may get slightly better PE after this vs mixing the coral food with just tank water. That could very well be the placebo effect though, and of course I've only tried it twice so far.
One idea I came up with was to dissolve some crushed coral or Ca reactor media in the vinegar prior to dosing the tank. This would raise the pH of the vinegar solution, and also double as a Ca and alk source for the tank (I think). I'm not sure if the alk and Ca would precipitate out of the vinegar solution or not, but surely the pH would rise. I'm also not sure if this would counteract the carbon dosing benefit of the vinegar as it dissolves the media.
In addition to adding the reactor media to the vinegar, I was also wondering if there could be any benefit to mixing coral food in vinegar just prior to broadcast feeding the tank. My thoughts are that the acidic vinegar would just start to digest the food a bit so the coral may have an easier time processing it. This one is a bit more abstract, but I have tried it twice now and may get slightly better PE after this vs mixing the coral food with just tank water. That could very well be the placebo effect though, and of course I've only tried it twice so far.