Hello, I've been dosing vinegar as a method of lowering my nitrates and i am dosing quite small quantities for my tank. Tank is a 75g with a 38g sump. Right now i'm at 7ml daily and already have slime everywhere, how can i control this problem? it has happened to me with nopox too but it was much worse. I know of people that have this problem but usually on high dosing quantities, at 7ml i don't think i am even close to half what my tank size recommends. Is there any way i can battle this?? Thanks
Vinegar dosing
- Thread starter gaby_scan
- Start date
Nitrates are still at 20ppm, i had a good amount of slime but was most prominent in the dt. Although there was quite a bit in the sump too. After i stop nopox it went away.
Daddi0
Active member
Something doesnt seem quite right. I can dose 1ml vinegar per gallon of water in my reef per day without a major bloom. Currently dosing approx. 90ml per day on a system that is almost twice as big as yours. Are you running a skimmer? Distilled white vinegar? For me, when I have high bacteria growth, it starts in the "high flow" areas. I can see it growing in mats on powerheads and when I shut down my sump return pump, the backflow is a cloud of snot.
Cheers! Mark
Cheers! Mark
Yes, swc skimmer and yes distilled white vinegar 5%...i had always had this when i carbon dose, as a matter of fact the slime started when i was just dosing 3ml. I don't get why this happens in my system and as you said you dose high amounts on yours and nothing happens.
I have a u.v but is been off for various months.
Daddi0
Active member
If this was my reef:
Presuming you have some phosphates to balance out the nitrates? I would not worry about the slime and would ramp up the carbon dosing til you have full blown snot (keeping an eye on nitrates of course) At this point you can back off the dosing and the slime should be gone. Besides being a bit annoying to look at, the snot is not harmful for a reef. Once you begin to back off on your dosing the snot should disappear pretty quick. And make sure you are getting a good wet skim. Also, be mindful of how much food you add to the tank, a lot of us tend to over feed.
Cheers! Mark
Feel free to shoot me a pm if you have any questions
Presuming you have some phosphates to balance out the nitrates? I would not worry about the slime and would ramp up the carbon dosing til you have full blown snot (keeping an eye on nitrates of course) At this point you can back off the dosing and the slime should be gone. Besides being a bit annoying to look at, the snot is not harmful for a reef. Once you begin to back off on your dosing the snot should disappear pretty quick. And make sure you are getting a good wet skim. Also, be mindful of how much food you add to the tank, a lot of us tend to over feed.
Cheers! Mark
Feel free to shoot me a pm if you have any questions
Daddi0
Active member
The vinegar is not removing nitrates. The vinegar fuels bacterial growth which use nitrates/phosphate and nitrates/phosphate are removed from your reef by skimming the bacteria out. When you are dosing vinegar, keep an eye on your nitrates and adjust dosing as needed. For most of us, once you get rid of the high levels of nitrates, you back off the dosing to a maintenance dose to keep your levels steady.
In a perfect world you would have enough live rock/sand, good flow, and minimal feeding that your reef can process nitrates/phosphate without the addition of a carbon source.
Cheers! Mark
In a perfect world you would have enough live rock/sand, good flow, and minimal feeding that your reef can process nitrates/phosphate without the addition of a carbon source.
Cheers! Mark
