New to carbon dosing and have a question...

[DavidinGA]

New to carbon dosing and have a question...


I have heard some people say that there is a correlation between dosing and improved sps color that is not simply because of decreased NO3/PO4 levels; true?

If so, how or what is happening to improve colors beyond simply maintaining lower NO3/PO4 levels?



I am musing the idea of trying carbon dosing myself and my levels are zero NO3 and 0.06 PO4. So I'm not looking to use carbon to lower those levels primarily but if I can improve sps color I'm game...





Also, does everyone daily dose carbon?

I came across this post:

"the goal for me was to keep Vodka's influence heavy but allow for a few days in between to allow the tank to build up nutrients again before dosing the Vodka and increasing the bacteria to remove them, i've noticed the best results when dosing only 2-3 times per week, the dosage is 1 drop per 30 gallons, thus not to overdose but to dose enough to have an effect without saturation"


Any merit to that guys idea?



Thanks

[oscarinw]

I'm also entertaining the idea of carbon dosing but I have heard of opposite results where coloration is lost after carbon dosing so I'm on the fence about this. There's a great thread on skimerless system with carbon dosing. Worth the read. The guy uses vinegar and his point is to produce bacteria as nutrition for all the filter feeders... Sounds plausible too. I'll be paying attention to the answers you get here.

[DavidinGA]

I wonder if people are just going too far with the carbon dosing and that perhaps under-dosing would be better?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by DavidinGA

I wonder if people are just going too far with the carbon dosing and that perhaps under-dosing would be better?

Some People do indeed keep increasing the levels and pushing there nutrients to low , but you can only carbon dose so much at a time , it's either used By animals and exported or ends up in a bacterial bloom that is mostly visible.

There is payoff to be had and the process is very efficient and natural , like any took there are risks involved though and a good understanding of how it works prior to trying it goes a long way

Carbon dosing shouldn't replace any major filtratration but be one of a few different approaches or attacks.

I prefer vinegar but ethanol mostly does the same job

Carbon dosing is all about consistency in dosing , patience and export. It takes a few weeks to months sometimes to see the effects and going to fast or not doing it properly can have negative side effects.of course not all tanks are prime candidate for carbon Dosing.

With that said the benefits are many if applied right

[DavidinGA]

I am currently running a mature ats system...can I dose carbon and run my ats? I assume at some point if I continue to raise the dosing levels the turf will stop growing, right?

[Paaty]

Make sure to start slow and increase dose amount slowly.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by DavidinGA

I am currently running a mature ats system...can I dose carbon and run my ats? I assume at some point if I continue to raise the dosing levels the turf will stop growing, right?

Yes you can , you should be ale to fine tune the carbon dosing simply by dosing less as well there's things you can do to help boost your ats performance , I think it comes down to available n and p and which of the two uptakes become more efficient , both the bacteria and the algae are limited to available resources and similar ones

[hkgar]

If you read the dosing instructions found here:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...nftt/index.php

you will find that you increase slow and can get pretty high , but when success dis achieved the dose is cut in half.

Substitute vinegar for vodka at a 8 times the vodka rate. e.g. 1ml vodka = 8 ml vinegar

I am dosing a 200 gallon system and got to 180 ml viegar per day. I cut in have and have reduced it even more to about 60 ml/day. I use a BRS dosing pump now, controlled by an APEX controller to spread the dosing periodically over 10 hours as vinegar does tend to lower ph a bit.

[jda]

The bacteria that you are targeting to grow will need N along with the P. If you only have high P, then GFO might be a better solution. Otherwise, you can really drive the N too low and damage your reef.

[hkgar]

Originally Posted by jda

The bacteria that you are targeting to grow will need N along with the P. If you only have high P, then GFO might be a better solution. Otherwise, you can really drive the N too low and damage your reef.

Aren't reefs generally betterr off with some of both NO3 and PO4? Around 3 -5 Nitrate and .02 to .03 phosphate?

[jda]

Depends on if you believe the guy on the message board, or the ocean. In the ocean, N is less than .03 and phosphate around .005 - both well below the margin for error on a hobby grade test kit.

Personally, I like both tests to be "clear" on salifert... this way, I know that I have some, but not too much. Most of the truly outstanding captive reefs that I have seen have unmeasurable amounts of each.