vinegar dosing poll

[madadi]

If I can request vinegar dosing reefers to divide their daily dosage in ML by total system water volume. I would like to see what is the average ML dosing per gallon and what is your experience at that rate.

My system is 170gallons and I dose around 60ml vinegar per day. Its a relatively new system almost 6 months. My rate is .35 ML per gallon 60/170

I have a small amount of algae on rocks and green algae film on the glass needing to be cleaned every other day. New SPS frag encrusting fine but no growth visible yet, Color not pale but a little on the brown side. LPS growing well and colored up nice.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I used to dose. By gradually increasing the dosage I ended up at 1/2 tsp/g... 2.5 ml/g of kalk water.

 

[Curtis1]

I firmly believe in Vinegar dosing. I even re-use the vinegar after I have used it to clean my equipment. I have a 75 gal tank w/ 25 gal sump. I estimate that I have around 70 actual gal SW. I was dosing 45ml per day at full strength. I used it for cleaning some equipment and added some RO/DI to it so it is a tad bit diluted/weaker than before. But that is ok, as I was starting to get too much white bacteria on my glass. You'll know when you hit that point. The tank starts taking on a light cloudy blueish white appearance till you use the algae magnets to clean it off. So I kept up the usual 45ml dose with the diluted vinegar. I definitely notice a difference in my pod populations with the dosing. I also try to dose earlier in the day when the oxygen levels in the tank are higher. I have a super FAT Mandarin to show the proof !!! She is a little pig !!! I also have two different Chromis and one of my Wrasse, that have figured out about the pod populations on the viewing panes. So far with the dosing, the populations are kept in check, strong and healthy.

 

[madadi]

I have to admit, im a little surprised, I thought the average dose was much lower. hope more people join in on the poll. you think its actually increasing your pod population?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I did my vote (>1) based on the tank volume since I'm not sure that my unusually large sumps and refugia really should be counted.

For my tank with a 120 gallon display, 400 mL vinegar/day was too much. The water because cloudy and several creatures appeared suboptimal. I currently dose something like 150 mL per day, or maybe a bit less.

FWIW, I have never been able to stop the growth of macroalgae using vinegar, even at high doses.

 

[madadi]

I was worried about having macros in the sump and dose vinegar at the same time. I'm glad they can be done together. I like to think my algae in the sump on reverse light cycle has some positive effect on O2 levels at night, if not at least pH. It could be just in my head.

Thanks for your input Randy. That is a very high amount of vinegar and most reefs would get a bloom. You trying to pickle your corals?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

At 400 mL/day they may have been pickled. Here's a thread on what happened when the dose was too high:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1813810

 

[Yogre]

I was dosing 93ml into about 200gal estimated system volume (0.5ml/gal). I have a ton of bacterial slime growing in my sump, and I'm getting some cyano on the sand in my display.

I'm going to try gradually reducing the dose to see what happens. If I get a big algae outbreak, I'll ramp back up again.

 

[madadi]

is algae on the glass a good indicator how well your vinegar dosage is doing for your system? if I have to clean it every day as opposed to once every week or every few days. anyone else use this indicator? if you watch your corals, but the time your corals show some signs it might be too late.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

is algae on the glass a good indicator how well your vinegar dosage is doing for your system?

It wasn't for me.

From my thread above on my very high doses:

"Also, the green algae on the glass seemed to grow faster! "

 

[Bilk]

I dose 45ml in a net of 190g. It's done in 5 doses of 9ml using a GHL dosing pump. It seems to be keeping nutrients in check. I still need to clean the glass at least every other day, but usually do it each day. Not sure what kind of measure that is for this, but that's basically it.

I'm wondering how people dose and if they feel multiple doses or a single bolus dose is better. Or does it make a difference?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've dosed manually and I now dose with a BRS 1.1 mL/min dosing pump on a timer. The latter is less work, but I've not otherwise noted a difference just based on the dosing method.

 

[madadi]

Bilk our dosage is very similar in amount. I do dose with a pump and I split it up 4 times per day. 15ml at a time. I can split it further but I'm lazy. Id like to think smaller dosages maybe has a more constant effect on oxygen levels in the tank and nutrients. But its just speculation. Some day when im rich I would love to get a probe that measures oxygen levels for my apex. not sure how accurate they are. anyone know if they are reliable?

 

[dkeller_nc]

I made it up to about 1 mL/gallon in each of my display tanks for about 3 weeks (nitrate was >30 ppm in one, and nearly 80 in another), but once the nitrate concentration crashed and I got lazy for a week or two, I discovered that dosing wasn't necessary any longer.

I resumed dosing at the rate of about 0.1 mL/gallon after a couple of months of NO3 < 1 ppm in both tanks as a precaution, but I'm not sure that even that small amount is needed.

 

[madadi]

I don't think I ever plan to get that high but I do plan to maintain at .1 or so. do you guys think clean water also will mean less detritus down the road?

 

[dkeller_nc]

Since detritus is typically composed of insoluble organic compounds, possibly mixed with precipitated calcium carbonate/phosphate, I wouldn't think it would make all that much difference.

 

[madadi]

I was hoping that the increased bacterial population feeds on it and can brake it down. I guess It will be filter socks forever haha

 

[the green goby]

Wow you guys dose a lot. I just started maybe a month ago dosing 2 ml in 37g and I didn't plan on going higher. Vinegar helped algae grow in my tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Vinegar helped algae grow in my tank.

Can you clarify what you mean?

 

[the green goby]

Vinegar helped algae grow in my tank.

Can you clarify what you mean?

My algae scrubber didn't start taking off until I started dosing a carbon source. Also started getting algae in my display which I haven't had for years.