Thinking about carbon dosing...

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Wow saliferts are the only ones I like so far. So does the seachem read lower levels of nitrate, or have a better scale to color chart, than salifert? What do you mean saliferts kits are badly made?

[basser9]

Get the seachem low nitrate and you will see what i mean.

I think they test in the same nitrate range.

Edited May 21, 2013 by basser9

[taiscici]

I found it speeds up the process by dosing bacteria such as brightwell bacter7.

[basser9]

Whats in that stuff.

Edited May 22, 2013 by basser9

[ridetheducati]

Probably fish poop.

[taiscici]

It's actually live bacterias that will help speed up your carbon dosing purpose.

 

Complex system of non-pathogenic aerobic and anaerobic microbes, as well as natural enzymes, specifically formulated to establish biological filtration in new aquarium set-ups, and to enhance the rate of nitrification, denitrification, and organic waste degradation in marine and freshwater aquaria through complete nutrient remineralization.

[BowieReefer84]

nevermind

Edited May 22, 2013 by BowieReefer84

[taiscici]

Does LaCl3 lower your nitrates?

[BowieReefer84]

Does LaCl3 lower your nitrates?

no

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

What do you guys mean it speeds up the process? And how does that benefit you?

[BowieReefer84]

nevermind

Edited May 22, 2013 by BowieReefer84

[taiscici]

I don't know but something like this I think

Dosing carbon - increase biobacteria

Biobacteria - help reduce nitrate and phosphate

Biobacteria needs carbon to survive and multiply

 

Dosing mb7 will increase biobacteria so it will speed up the cycle and help reducing nitrate and phosphate faster rather than have to wait 1-2 mos for the cycle to work.

 

[ridetheducati]

nevermind

+1

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Ok so adding bacteria makes the cycle more efficient. Do you guys add the bacteria constantly? I would think once the bacteria is in the tank there would be no need to add more.

[ridetheducati]

Ok so adding bacteria makes the cycle more efficient. 

 

I do not subscribe to that theory.

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Yea I have read loads of conflicting opinions on the topic of adding bacteria while carbon dosing. Has anyone done studies on it to prove it does anything?

[taiscici]

You only need to add when you begin dosing. I think it's perfectly fine if you don't its just takes longer for bacteria to build up. One exception is if you overdose carbon and you don't have enough bacterias in your tank to consume then you might have problem.

 

Here post that someone had good experience with mb7 dosing, there are many more articles about mb7 dosing you just have to google it.

 

http://sw33trid3-my-reef.blogspot.com/2011/10/vodka-dosing.html?m=1

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

I really appreciate everyone tips!

 

I think I will just update my progress here. So I am up to 25 ml a week. I think the nitrate decrease I saw was from the cheato growing better. I have no used any gfo for a week and my phos. are still .02! Sweet! I think it is part of the cheato growing well. So nitrates are about 15 with the saliferts kit, and I have done no waterchanges recently besides the one a week or so after I started dosing vinegar. I am feeding a tad more than normal too. I was thinking I would slowly up my feeding times and amounts as the nitrates near zero.

 

The only difference I can see in the tank so far is a couple frags looking a little lighter, like the purple bonsai. Also the water has been clearer looking. A random millie frag (hitchhiker on a coral) that i finally fragged off and put in good light is blowing up all of a sudden. In the sump where my cheato is there is a bunch of red slime algae sheeting on the glass and starting to get onto the cheato. I need to prune it back so the flow increases. I put a maxijet 1200 in the return section of the sump because there was skim like bubbles on the waters surface. Which I would get before but it got so bad the float switch would get covered. The skimmer likes to skim really well randomly, most of the time at night. I am hoping this stabilizes, it's still the same color but smells a little better It seems like now is the time where I will need to keep a close eye on things. As of now I am dosing the vinegar in three separate doses once at 12, 3 then 5 o'clock. I am not sure how to get my reefkeeper2 to dose more than 3 times a day. But for now I guess thsts good enough right?

 

I am also in limbo about how I am going to maintain the big three this summer. But I will talk about that in my build thread I guess...

 

Last thing is, if I end up wanting to dose vodka as well, what steps do I use to safely impliment it? I was only considering it if the vinegar dose starts to be a little much.

[basser9]

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/116-vinegar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium

 

My experience with vodka and red slime problems had me 

 thinking that it was CARBON its self that fueled the slime

 explosion but the science points to vodka as the problem

 and not just that it adds carbon.

Vinegar seems safe as it pertains to red slime.

 

This article also touches on BIO-PELLETS and its

 fueling of RED SLIME.

 

This article and the science behind it has got me

 to dose vinegar but i would be very carful with any

 dosing of any other carbon types because of fueling

 RED SLIME.

Edited May 27, 2013 by basser9

[Sharkey18]

I've also started dosing vinegar. 

[Origami]

I dosed vodka for over 6 months and never had a problem with cyano during that time. I've also dosed table sugar and vinegar (separately) beforehand. Cyano is a primitive life form and can sustain itself using numerous forms of nutrients. The first place I typically look, though, is dissolved organic compounds (DOCs) - that is, carbon sources. Skimming, unfortunately, does not remove all DOCs. That leaves these available for export by some other means whether it's cyano, other bacteria, granular activated carbon, oxidizers (ozone, UV) plus skimming, or some other means. Cyano may also be a sign of inadequate, immature or poor diversity in your biological filtration. Sometimes bacterial supplements can help address the problem.

[Sharkey18]

+1

[basser9]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2101969&page=2

 

RANDYS article and this thread really can enlighten anyone as it has me

 as to why its not carbon that fuels red slime.......very important read.

[ridetheducati]

I read a paper that indicated that protein skimmers remove approximately 20-30% of bacteria from the water column.  I thought skimmers were a little more efficient in removing bacteria.  My school of thought is to have a strong skimmer to effectively remove the excess bacteria/nutrient collecting troops, which is why we carbon dose.  Although the numbers did not look promising, I will continue to advocate strong skimming when carbon dosing.  I will forward the link if I can find it.  

[basser9]

 

Heres the chart from the study and the 2 skimmers sanjay used

 it is in the study you are talking about but sanjays was done on

 his big reef and the rest of the study was done artificially.

Look closely at that chart the tall beckett downdraft was a rockstar the needlewheel

 was very bad.

I have a etss 1000 beckett modded skimmer run off a dc10000 pulling 85 watts

 sanjays study has proven what i saw on my own tanks that a needle wheel

 can not handle a heavy fish load like a downdraft.

Add carbon dosing in and you are looking at a tank crash on his tank if he ran the RED DRAGON

 and didnt do extra heavy water changes.

Sanjay used GAC and still the TOC were spikeing with the red dragon skimmer very scary

 if you have a large heavy stocked reef and carbon dose.

Edited May 28, 2013 by basser9