Carbon dosing and scrubbers

[Garf]

Would have thought there was no need to separately dose carbon sources considering the screen algae is already producing sugars and Aminos, or at least do not dose the full prescribed amounts.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Well I can ask my expert about that possibility. He speaks at club event and major national events all across the nation and is a renowned carbon dosing expert in the reef community. Oh yeah and he has 2x L2s and soon an L3 on his tanks. So he's exploring these types of questions and scenarios, which to my knowledge have not been explored.

[BearHill]

Well I can ask my expert about that possibility. He speaks at club event and major national events all across the nation and is a renowned carbon dosing expert in the reef community. Oh yeah and he has 2x L2s and soon an L3 on his tanks. So he's exploring these types of questions and scenarios, which to my knowledge have not been explored.

Thats exciting! I hope to hear more about his experiences! Thank you! For the time being im going to try and dose small amounts and see where it gets me...without running a skimmer.

[kerry]

I normally dose at least 50ml of vinegar and 2 tps of calcuim hydroxide (kalk, lime powder, pickling powder) per gallon. I dose about a gallon of this per day to my 40G. I have done this for a long time.

[Bilk]

I normally dose at least 50ml of vinegar and 2 tps of calcuim hydroxide (kalk, lime powder, pickling powder) per gallon. I dose about a gallon of this per day to my 40G. I have done this for a long time.

You dose 1 GALLON of vinegar per day in a 40 g tank?

[kaskiles]

50 ml vinegar per day. It's just carried in with a gallon of RO/DI and 2 teaspoons of kalk...

[tebo]

Well a few months ago I made a mistake in my tank, the point is that I shot no3 over 25ppm and phosphates just rose from 0.01 to 0.06 ppm, three months after my ats running alone could not lower no3 20ppm, therefore use the vsv, achieved after a month down to 5ppm NO3

Right now I use a maintenance dose of 25ml in 1700lts, I'm perfectly fine with my ats and never used and skimmer, but if we have to note that in the area of the sump into a foam, but still not retired

regards

PD:So if there are bacteria everywhere
PD2:ahh I forgot the dose was lowered 50ml

[Woody Gap]

60ml seems like an awful lot, but you didn't state what the carbon source is. It's also my opinion that a skimmer and dosing go hand in hand.

Carbon source is vinegar. Think I am going to add a small skimmer (tunze 9004) and see if I can find the right balance.

[Bilk]

Carbon source is vinegar. Think I am going to add a small skimmer (tunze 9004) and see if I can find the right balance.

in all the reading I've ever done on carbon dosing and in my experience dosing carbon, a skimmer is a must and part of the equation. It's the method of export needed to effectively utilize dosing as a means of reducing nitrates and phosphates. I dosed vodka and at much lower quantities as it's carbon component is much higher than 5% white vinegar. Vodka is 80 proof or 40% alcohol by volume.

This is a well written article by two knowledgeable reefkeepers and scientists. Your dosing seems excessive by any measure and without skimmer seems like a disaster in waiting. Well good luck and I hope the article helps.

Edit:

I'm guessing I misinterpreted your dosing, but it wasn't exactly expressed well. So you're mixing a solution that consists of 60ml vinegar with 5g of ro water? That would make more sense. But then you need to explain how much of that solution you're dosing per unit volume of the total system including the sump. I think a lot of people don't understand they system volume. A 75 gallon tank isn't 75 net gallons. It's more like 65g. then the sump volume needs to be added to it based on the operating level. Basically calculate cubic inches of each vessel and convert to gallons. You can do it right in the Google search bar. #cubic inches = gallons

Knowing the real system volume makes a big difference especially when dosing any substance.