Vinegar or Vodka Dosing

[Icewing726]

So I asked this question before and decided to finally undertake a dosing regimen. Then when I was looking for a good schedule I saw a comment that dosing vinegar would take a long time to drop nitrates and to do vodka. Then I read that vodka is a bigger risk for fish.

Opinions?

Whats worked for you all?

Any good schedules you could link?

[mcgyvr]

Both work quite fast...vinegar seems to be cheaper, easier to acquire and seems to have less chance of causing a cyano bloom..
I use vinegar on all new tanks until they no longer need it
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....arine-aquarium
Schedule in the link above...follow it...enjoy

[Icewing726]

Sounds good, I'll keep a log an post the results.

[Uncle99]

I carbon dose with NoPox, two years now, absolutely no problems encountered, keeps nitrates for me at 5ppm, 10ml daily dose in 70g, 1000 ml is $29 CDN, vodka little more expensive than NoPox cause of CDN taxation, vinegar I don't use, bad experience in the past.

[Icewing726]

Originally Posted by Uncle99

I carbon dose with NoPox, two years now, absolutely no problems encountered, keeps nitrates for me at 5ppm, 10ml daily dose in 70g, 1000 ml is $29 CDN, vodka little more expensive than NoPox cause of CDN taxation, vinegar I don't use, bad experience in the past.

Care to share the bad experience?

[Uncle99]

Sure, a bad case of cyano occurred after 4 months using vinegar, in a tank that was about 8 months old at the time, but I cannot prove it. It could be coincidental as well.
Many people use vinegar and are very successful, but these days I stick with the brands only as "piece of mind".
Since changing to NoPox, I have encountered only a reduction and maintain of 5 ppm nitrate.
Just a gut feeling I suppose..whenever something can do the same thing for 30 times less cost, I get worried there's a contra coming...

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by Uncle99

Sure, a bad case of cyano... but I cannot prove it. It could be coincidental as well.

Coincidental it is..

[NikonN8]

I used to hook up a gallon jug of vinegar to a doser. It worked really well for gradually increasing the dosage from nearly nothing to a fairly consistent addition several times a day. If that would be an option for you, go for it.

[Daddyrawg]

Originally Posted by Uncle99

I carbon dose with NoPox, two years now, absolutely no problems encountered, keeps nitrates for me at 5ppm, 10ml daily dose in 70g, 1000 ml is $29 CDN, vodka little more expensive than NoPox cause of CDN taxation, vinegar I don't use, bad experience in the past.

I started dosing nopox on my 6 month old 90 gal.. only doing 4 ml a day..
wonder if I should up the dos or just keep it at that..mainly for algae management. is dosing a low dosage ok?

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by Daddyrawg

I started dosing nopox on my 6 month old 90 gal.. only doing 4 ml a day..
wonder if I should up the dos or just keep it at that..mainly for algae management. is dosing a low dosage ok?

Dose as needed to maintain the desired nutrient levels..
A low maintenance dose is totally fine given you aren't driving nutrient levels too low and starving the system..

[Uncle99]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Dose as needed to maintain the desired nutrient levels..
A low maintenance dose is totally fine given you aren't driving nutrient levels too low and starving the system..

Yes, I agree with Mcgyvr, but changes should be implemented VERY slowly.
NoPox, or carbon dosing in general is a management tool which can be very effective in lower nitrates.

Nitrates levels are the resultant of the balance/imbalance of the import/export function.

Firstly, you may want to set a realistic target for nitrate, mine is 5ppm to 10 ppm, started at 40 ppm when the tank was young. I started with the recommended amount from Red Sea, and then tested once per week. I increased the dose by only 1ml and then tested. If it dropped I maintained this dose until it stopped decreasing, then if not in target, again increased by 1ml. At the same time my load was increasing as I was adding fish, so I added another 1 ml. I kept doing this for about 6 months until one time, I got to target of 5ppm and it stayed there. In the end, I started at 5ml and today I do 12ml. This dose has not changed now in a year and testing I only do monthly or so. Once Imwent to 13ml and nitrate went to zero, so back to 12ml.

As with anything in this hobby, slow small changes is best, test and retest.
Make sure your skimmer is running 24-7.

I hope this might help you, carbon dosing is important to me as I run no sump, my export abilities without carbon dosing are limited.

Yet I am extremely pleased with the results.

Your post talks about low dose OK. I would say the dose should equal what is needed to,maintain a normal nitrate range...(I keep corals)....again for me anything under 10ppm is fine, but zero is not.

For algae issues Phophates and light have the greatest impact and while I do see NoPox lowering phosphates, the impact is much lower.....for this I use Lanthium Chloride and Rowa.....if you maintain phosphates at say .02-.04 ish, have a photoperiod around 8-9 hours, do water changes and remove with a brush, over time, algae will die, it will change from strong and green to pale and easy to remove. The bad thing about this process us that it takes time, the good thing is once there, if water stays consistent, it does not return. You can chemically treat fast, but it just comes back.