Any one around here carbon dosing? if so, what is your method? IE…vodka, bio-pallets, vinegar, sugar or any others. How is it working for you? any recommendations on what type?
I use Bioactive salt, but its more expensive than other methods, but it is safest one.
How long have you been using it? does it keep your PO4 and NO3 low or at zero? what is the brand? and are there other brands?
i do a hap hazzard mix of vodka dosing an vinegar in the kalwasser. i cant say im real regular or precise on it, but it helps. along with lots of sand cleaning, it has helped me get rid of some cyano and invasive macro algae problems. just starve em out. and now the corals are looking better too.
What is your regiments on vodka dosing? and how about the vinegar with kalwasser? do you dose with both at the same time? if so how much?
[quote=“reefman66, post:3, topic:3428”]
How long have you been using it? does it keep your PO4 and NO3 low or at zero? what is the brand? and are there other brands?[/quote]
It’s TropicMarin Bioactive salt, both are undetectable on test kits. But I don’t think it’s due to salt, most of my filtration in relies on DSB, and the rest (Refuge, carbon dosing, skimmer and LR and WC) are supplemental. I am experimenting with skimmer off line but most likely will put it back on, as theory of carbon dosing is based on active removal of bacteria by the skimmer. After 4+ weeks without skimmer I am staring to see excess diatoms build up on sand bad, test kits still read all zeros but I suspect something is off.
[quote=“Rosti, post:6, topic:3428”]
[quote=“reefman66, post:3, topic:3428”]
How long have you been using it? does it keep your PO4 and NO3 low or at zero? what is the brand? and are there other brands?[/quote]
It’s TropicMarin Bioactive salt, both are undetectable on test kits. But I don’t think it’s due to salt, most of my filtration in relies on DSB, and the rest (Refuge, carbon dosing, skimmer and LR and WC) are supplemental. I am experimenting with skimmer off line but most likely will put it back on, as theory of carbon dosing is based on active removal of bacteria by the skimmer. After 4+ weeks without skimmer I am staring to see excess diatoms build up on sand bad, test kits still read all zeros but I suspect something is off. [/quote]
What are you dosing? vodka or vinegar?
Bioactive salt is form of carbon dosing. Sorry for short answer, but iam getting my butt kiked in my favored carokan variation and only have 25 min to go.
Draw agreed. Any way, Tropic Marin makes bioactive salt (http://www.tropicmarin-usa.com/BIO-ACTIFbro.PDF). Best salt just got better and more expensive. Read about it, RC has thread on it. I like it.
[quote=“Rosti, post:8, topic:3428”]
Bioactive salt is form of carbon dosing. Sorry for short answer, but iam getting my butt kiked in my favored carokan variation and only have 25 min to go.[/quote]
I see. Thanks for sharing Rosti.
I mix my kalwasser in a 6 gallon IO bucket. first i put in 2 1/2 cups of vinegar, then disolve 5 rounded tablespoons of Mrs. wages pickling lime, stir and then fill to top with 6 gallons of RO water, mix, cover and let settle. i dose about a quart a night to each of my 75-100 gallon systems. in the morning i might dribble a few ML of vodka into each also.
[quote=“kaptken, post:11, topic:3428”]
I mix my kalwasser in a 6 gallon IO bucket. first i put in 2 1/2 cups of vinegar, then disolve 5 rounded tablespoons of Mrs. wages pickling lime, stir and then fill to top with 6 gallons of RO water, mix, cover and let settle. i dose about a quart a night to each of my 75-100 gallon systems. in the morning i might dribble a few ML of vodka into each also.[/quote]
WOW, is that a recomended dosage of 2 1/2 cups per 6 gal? I thought it was just a few ML per gal.
You dose a quart each night. Is that per tank or a quart for all of your tanks? if per tank how much for each tank. And you dose with vodka or vinegar at night?
Thanks Keptken
By adding white vinegar to kalkwasser, Ken is giving Kalkwasser a boost. Substantially more calcium hydroxide (Kalk) than usual will dissolve in water when mixed with vinegar. As side benefit dissolved carbon source promotes denitrification.
Thats correct Rosti. a good description. the dose is based on the particular uptake of any given tank. i have a bunch of tanks set up as 3 separate systems of about 75-100 gallons total per system. like i said i drip about a quart per system per night. that just works our for mine. yours will no doubt be different. so you drip and monitor and test the next day to see if you are keeping alk and calcium and ph steady, or if its dropping or rising. then adjust your dose amount accordingly.
the amount of vinegar, 2 1/4 cups. did i say 2 1/2. ? whatever, is a recipe i got from RC threads . like i said, im not particular about measurements. with 24 quarts of lime water, and 18 oz of vinegar thats only 3/4 oz per quart dose. vinegar is only 5% acetic acid. and acetic acid is only 40% carbon by weight. so the amount of carbon in a 1 quart dose is 18/24=0.75 oz, times 5% = 0.0375 oz times 40%carbon = 0.015 oz of carbon into a 100 gallon system. thats not too much. about 4 tenths of a gram of carbon or less than half an ML.
about 8 drops of carbon.
Vodka is a bit more than 10 times as potent as vinegar. its 40% ethanol, and ethanol is 52% carbon. so you dont need to add very much vodka.
[quote=“kaptken, post:4, topic:3428”]
i do a hap hazzard mix of vodka dosing an vinegar in the kalwasser. i cant say im real regular or precise on it, but it helps. [glow=red,2,300]along with lots of sand cleaning[/glow], it has helped me get rid of some cyano and invasive macro algae problems. just starve em out. and now the corals are looking better too. [/quote]
Ken,
Out of curiousity, how do you clean your sand?
Doug
syphon vacuuming sand gets the detitus out. plus all the fine silt we make when sanding coraline off the glass. that is like talcum powder. perfect for making anerobic mud.
Thanks for the info Kaptken. I’m gonna start slow with the vinegar and kalkwasser. Test the water each week and see the outcome.
[quote=“kaptken, post:16, topic:3428”]
syphon vacuuming sand gets the detitus out. plus all the fine silt we make when sanding coraline off the glass. that is like talcum powder. perfect for making anerobic mud.[/quote]
Does that mean you’re running a shallow sand bed? Are you using sand, or coral chunks for the bed?
I’ve been away from the hobby for almost two years now, and I want to get back in again, but I want to take advantage of any new stratagies. I was running a live sand bed, with mixed sand and corals bits, about two inches deep, but I had critters in the sand that I assumed were eating the detritus. If I ever tried to vacumed it, I would have pulled up alot of the sand in the process most likely.
Thanks for your advise.
Doug
Oops. You need a bit more info. I mostly run plenum type deep sand beds. that means i use the seafloor special grade aragonite about 2-4 mm grain size. not fine, oolithic sand. i mix it with half crushed coral, a bit larger grain size up to 0.25 inch i guess. costs less for crushed coral. so my sand beds are 4 inches deep over the plenum with medium to course grain aragonite gravel. that can be vacuumed.
fine sandbeds are a different bio function than a plenum. the plenum sand bed wont go anerobic unless it gets real clogged up with detitus and fine coraline dust. so it can be syphoned without too much harm, now and then. fine sand is dificult to vacuum. but if it’s just a shallow bed, you can stir it up and filter the muck out of the water with an HOT micron filter. i do that too. and with 50-100 micron filter socks.
after a quick vacuum stirring, the plenum sandbed will re establish its biology in a week or so, but deep fine sand beds take longer. I have to say i have had bad luck with fine, DSBs. they always sour on me and grow cyano. and make my corals cringe from ammonia. they do not like to be disturbed. But many reefers do just fine with them. It’s a mystery to me.
I’m dosing a combination of vodka and vertex bio pellets. I started the vodka at a dose of .2ml per day, and slowly increased it by .2ml a day once a week. I stopped at 4ml because I was seeing results in the tank. I never had N03 or P04 in detectable levels. Real scientific stuff here, I know.