vinegar dosing

[diesel444]

Is it ok to dose vinegar at one time per day at mid light cycle or not have po4 of 1 and no3 of 20. I do water change once a week and run bio pellets.
Tank 180 with about 100 gal sump sro 5000 skimmer and about 400 lb of live rock from an 6 year old aquarium the rock went from tank to tank in an hour the system has been up for 4 months an everything looks good except the po4 and no3.
So my ? is can I dose once a day with vinegar or should I try to use my auto topoff to do the dosing for me if I use auto topoff where do I start.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I prefer to dose vinegar slowly, but it can be dosed once per day. If you are worried about the pH drop, you can mix solid lime into it until there is excess solids on the bottom. The pH will then not drop on addition.

 

[diesel444]

What about using precision ph buffer

 

[diesel444]

What is a start point search doesnt work cant find chart for dosing vinegar

 

[bertoni]

Vinegar has about 1/8 the amount of carbon per unit volume as vodka, so you could use the vodka charts and multiple by 8.

 

[Dre59]

Im confused I thought bio pellets helped with issue above and no need for carbon dosing..

 

[bertoni]

Bio-pellets seem to be hit or miss, like a lot of the carbon dosing schemes.

 

[richardhao]

Will it be ok to dose vodka if you are already running a bio pellet reactor and dosing vinegar? They say vinegar affects the ph, so will it be much better to stop vinegar and just use vodka and bio pellets?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What about using precision ph buffer

You mean to offset any pH drop? Not a good plan as the alkalinity will get too high. Buffers are not a very good way to boost pH.

 

[diesel444]

So if I use lime to offset ph what kind of lime and who sells it is it lime like the feedmill has or fleet farm?
How much do I need?

 

[diesel444]

Do I mix the lime and vinegar in ro water or how do I do this

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Lime = calcium hydroxide = kalkwasser mix. You can buy it as pickling lime if you want, but "Lime" from an agricultural supply place may actually mean calcium carbonate, which you do not want.

I did vinegar dosing that way for a while, but now I just dose it straight. The pH drop not much of a concern unless you dose a lot all at once

 

[bif24701]

Do I mix the lime and vinegar in ro water or how do I do this

Same question, I do not have a dosing pump yet so very interested in mixing it with lime.

Is it lime+vinegar? Or
RO+lime+vinegar?

 

[diesel444]

What about using a drip to dose vinegar and ro water and only put in what I want to dose per day and drip over 4 hours of mid light cycle.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When I refer to vinegar plus lime I mean sold calcium hydroxide added into straight vinegar until there is solid excess on the bottom.

If you refill that RO + vinegar drip every day, that's a great plan. Diluted vinegar stored too long can go bad as bacteria consume it.

 

[bif24701]

When I refer to vinegar plus lime I mean sold calcium hydroxide added into straight vinegar until there is solid excess on the bottom.

If you refill that RO + vinegar drip every day, that's a great plan. Diluted vinegar stored too long can go bad as bacteria consume it.

Great thanks Randy. I should have a 4 way doeser in a few weeks but for now I'm going mix it with the lime.

 

[diesel444]

Ok thanks should I run carbon when dosing and what is safe or best for alk/dkh# Im at 12.2 should I drop it down to 8 or so so tips dont burn on sps.

 

[bertoni]

I would run carbon. For adding alkalinity, baking soda is fine, once the level has dropped to the point where some dosing is needed. A 2-part is an easy way to get started with calcium and alkalinity dosing in general:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

 

[diesel444]

I have 2 part but should I keep alk down when dosing

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't think that is necessary unless you are driving nutrients especially low (like ULNS low), but there is no harm in keeping it in the 7-8 dKH range if that would alleviate your concerns.