Thinking about carbon dosing...

[ridetheducati]

Bacteria Count

[pizzaguy]

Plus 1 on the water clarity comment. In the last 2 weeks I have went from 100 to 10 nitrates and my water is much clearer. I was just telling surf & turf that this morning.

Edited May 28, 2013 by pizzaguy

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Did you start carbon dosing too?

[pizzaguy]

No. I did 50% water changes 6 times. Plus a series of 40 gallon changes before that. It did not start dropping at all until I started the big water changes.

[Sharkey18]

In what time frame did you do all the water changes? 

[pizzaguy]

A 2 week period.

[Sharkey18]

Wow. Nice results though. I have also become aware that I am not changing enough water at each change. Was already thinking about increasing the volume of the change, now I definitely will. 

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Ok so my nitrates are finally becoming low enough where I need to depend on one of the test kits. I will post a pic next, I am looking for opinions on which one to rely on. The saliferts to me always worked great. When this tank was running well last year I could only see a hint of nitrate viewing it from the side. The seachem test, is it going to read clear? The color strip doesn't really ever turn clear like the saliferts does.

 

On another note I should have lowered my nitrates some with a large waterchange before I started dosing because they were around 20, and I started lowering my alk at the same time because of a few burnt tips. The colors in a few acros look bad because of this I think, as well as my blue tort started to recede at the base. The nitrates started slowly lowering last week so I am going to stick to this dose (31ml a day) until the nitrates are almost clear on one of the charts, I will probly trust the saliferts. Though I would like some opinions on this.

Thanks for everyone's help again.

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

 

[ridetheducati]

Ok so my nitrates are finally becoming low enough where I need to depend on one of the test kits. I will post a pic next, I am looking for opinions on which one to rely on. The saliferts to me always worked great. When this tank was running well last year I could only see a hint of nitrate viewing it from the side. The seachem test, is it going to read clear? The color strip doesn't really ever turn clear like the saliferts does.

 

On another note I should have lowered my nitrates some with a large waterchange before I started dosing because they were around 20, and I started lowering my alk at the same time because of a few burnt tips. The colors in a few acros look bad because of this I think, as well as my blue tort started to recede at the base. The nitrates started slowly lowering last week so I am going to stick to this dose (31ml a day) until the nitrates are almost clear on one of the charts, I will probly trust the saliferts. Though I would like some opinions on this.

Thanks for everyone's help again.

 

Disclaimer:  The following comments below are from a non-authoritative source; therefore what you are about to read may not be of this space and time.

 

1.  What carbon source are you using?

2.  How long have you been dosing the carbon source?

3.  A common practice is to increase the carbon source until nitrates reach zero, and then cut the amount in half (maintenance levels).  Nitrate levels can drop to zero in two weeks, so take your time when increasing the carbon levels.  This will help combat STN events.

4.  Recommend getting the water parameters to NSW range prior to beginning the carbon dosing regimen because SPS will/can react negatively to change, as you know.  Alkalinity 6.5 dkh - 8 dkh.  

5.  Stick with the test kits you are most familiar and trust and only cross-reference a test when you see an anomaly. 

[swimmatte]

I've been battling a nasty nitrate problem since I started my tank. Very recently I was discussing my feeding habits with an employee at Aquarium One and he suggested that I start dosing Brightwell Reef BioFuel. I've always been skeptical about dosing products like this but I was desperate. I started dosing this product weekly and noticed a drastic reduction in my nitrate levels almost immediately.

 

Anyone else ever use it?

 

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/reefbiofuel.php

 

[swimmatte]

Disclaimer: This stuff produced the nastiest, most foul smelling skimmate that I've ever seen.  Stinks up the entire room when emptying the cup.

[ridetheducati]

Disclaimer: This stuff produced the nastiest, most foul smelling skimmate that I've ever seen.  Stinks up the entire room when emptying the cup.

 

Disclaimer:  The following comments below are from a non-authoritative source; therefore what you are about to read may not be of this space and time.

 

Although I do not know what is in Biofuel, it is a carbon source like vodka, vinegar, sugar, Zeovit, Red Sea Reef Foundation, Reef Energy, Fauna Marin, Probiotic, to name as few.

 

Understand the biology and how it works, in the wrong hands, it can cause a complete crash.

[swimmatte]

Disclaimer:  The following comments below are from a non-authoritative source; therefore what you are about to read may not be of this space and time.

 

Although I do not know what is in Biofuel, it is a carbon source like vodka, vinegar, sugar, Zeovit, Red Sea Reef Foundation, Reef Energy, Fauna Marin, Probiotic, to name as few.

 

Understand the biology and how it works, in the wrong hands, it can cause a complete crash.

 

I certainly agree that dosing ANYTHING, but especially certain things like this can cause major issues.  While I know you can't trust everything you read, but this product is advertised as a safer method than vodka, vinegar, etc.....

 

Also, I meant to say that I dose this daily, not weekly.

[treesprite]

Dosing something that unlocks trapped nitrate in rock and sand causes cyano outbreak, even if there was no cyano problem before the dosing. If people had stuck with the dosing instead of giving it up at the first sign of cyano, they'd realize that the issue was only a temporary effect. 

 

I have dosed just vinegar for a brief time, then after several months, just vodka for a brief period. Then I started Biodigest (bacteria not carbon) without carbon source for a couple years. Now I dose both the carbon source (VSV -  vodka sugar vinegar combo) and Biodigest.  Dosing the VSV  supposedly improves diversity in bacteria populations, and the Biodigest dosing ensures at least whatever bacteria is in there.

 

I over-feed my tank.

Edited June 9, 2013 by treesprite

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Woah that's a lot of dosing! Why did you switch from one to another and then finally decide on using all of them?

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Two month update...

 

I cut my dose in half around a week and a half ago (before I added the ozone). The nitrates are back to where they used to run, around .02 or .05. Phosphates fluctuated a lot since I basically stopped using the gfo except maybe once a week. The cheato gets pulled maybe 1/4 of the sump weekly. It would be more if I would flip and pull it apart more often, but coming home with copper hands from work makes me neglect it. It was somewhat hard to keep the skimmer set because it kept increasing skim. The skim has not turned black yet at all, even when I ran it dry. I am really hoping the skim stabilizes and picks up, I might not be feeding enough.

I am hoping to get the tank back on auto mode now. I just need to keep my hands out of it, mostly everything in the tank is new so I am basically starting over except for a couple favorites so it should be fun to watch which ones take off!

[Mattiejay6]

This topic has me so confused... I was thinking about buying the BRS dual reactor carbon and gfo, but after reading all this I have no idea what to do...

[jimlin]

Two month update...

I cut my dose in half around a week and a half ago (before I added the ozone). The nitrates are back to where they used to run, around .02 or .05. Phosphates fluctuated a lot since I basically stopped using the gfo except maybe once a week. The cheato gets pulled maybe 1/4 of the sump weekly. It would be more if I would flip and pull it apart more often, but coming home with copper hands from work makes me neglect it. It was somewhat hard to keep the skimmer set because it kept increasing skim. The skim has not turned black yet at all, even when I ran it dry. I am really hoping the skim stabilizes and picks up, I might not be feeding enough.

I am hoping to get the tank back on auto mode now. I just need to keep my hands out of it, mostly everything in the tank is new so I am basically starting over except for a couple favorites so it should be fun to watch which ones take off!

wow, surprised u are still able to grow chaeto while carbon dosing. my macro algae gets covered with clear slime which i think eventually eats the algae. the algae turned white. maybe i have to relook at my setup.

[nbgen12]

This topic has me so confused... I was thinking about buying the BRS dual reactor carbon and gfo, but after reading all this I have no idea what to do...

Running activated carbon in a reactor and carbon dosing are two totally different things.

 

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[Mattiejay6]

Oh..

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Well, parts get some slime but mainly the walls under the cheato are coated. I try to break up and pull the parts that get covered. Small weekly waterchanges and keeping the cheato pruned will probly be key to running our setup this way. I feel like if I try rock and flow in the sump I will get red slime in our display.

[ridetheducati]

Oh..

 

Carbon dosing = food for bacteria

 

Granular Activated Carbon = Granular Activated Carbon

[nbgen12]

It's pretty easy to get things mixed up in this hobby the first times your reading of it...

 

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[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Well, parts get some slime but mainly the walls under the cheato are coated. I try to break up and pull the parts that get covered. Small weekly waterchanges and keeping the cheato pruned will probly be key to running our setup this way. I feel like if I try rock and flow in the sump I will get red slime in our display.

But each day it keeps looking more like I will eventually not be able to grow the cheato efficiently. I thought if I kept my dose low and my nitrates near .5 or 1 I would still be able to keep the cheato fuge. We will see. I am even thinking about cutting a few more off my dose to see if it helps. I am preparing to change the fuge to all rock and flow though, anyone have opinions on what might work best?