Carbon Dosing

[txg8gxp]

The chemisty side of reef keeping is something that keeps me interested in the hobby, with that said I thought a discussion of carbon dosing would be nice. Anything from vodka, vinegar, sugar, bio pellets or anything new that might be out there. I have always thought this was a good article on vodka dosing basics.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php
So, what do you guys think? What have you tried? What good and or bad have you learned?

[SoLiD]

Good Read...

[Europhyllia]

I really wish CoryDude would get off his behind and start posting more about his ideas about interfering with the cycle in the middle versus managing the end product. He's very convincing.

[cowboy572]

I have read the article as well. It's what got me to start dosing when I had my 110 tall. Saw some good results. You just have to stay on top of things. RC had a good write up as well on carbon dosing.

[txg8gxp]

I would be interested in listening. It's not like i'm asking about dosing to try to calm down a cycle or anything just planning/learning for future setup.

I really wish CoryDude would get off his behind and start posting more about his ideas about interfering with the cycle in the middle versus managing the end product. He's very convincing.

I ran a BP reactor in the past, had good luck with it ( I guess ) I didn't feed much, so to be honest I probably would have been fine without them and just do a WC more often. My next setup may involve way more feeding so I'm looking at different options to help take care or that kind of issue. The solid carbon dosing (biopellets) is a easy simple way to take care of it, but volka/vinegar dosing seem nice for one simple reason, lack of reactor/pump. I guess you could use a dosing pump for volka, but that just don't sound safe to me. I would rather do it by hand with a good syringe or something like that. It still seems that more people use volka over vinegar, maybe it has just been more widely used for longer. The things I read about people dosing vinegar over volka come down to cyano. Ethonal is suppost to feed cyano were acetate doesn't ( I believe ). I'm just thinking that volka/vinegar versus biopellets would be nice just because lack of extra equipment allowing more sump space for larger skimmer, etc.

[avilamillar]

I have tried Reef Biofuel from Brightwell Aquatics in 2 tanks with great success. The company says it has the same effects as vodka dosing but it doesn't have any risks like vodka does

[CoryDude]

I went the ultra carbon dosing method last year with the Hiatt. 10lbs of carbon dosing to be exact. Too many problems IMHO. Trying to keep large populations of bacteria seemed to cause more problems than it solved. Sure, my nitrates were near zero, but the corals didn't look right, and I had problems with algae too. I know I'm not the only one that has this problem either. I've seen many people complain about pale corals when using pellets and zeo products.

I don't have any science to back it up, but it seems if you interrupt your tank's natural nutrient progression, then the corals react abnormally to their abnormal environment. I don't know if it's an interruption in the food chain starting at a bacterial level, but something seems to go amiss when you use hyper bacteria filters.

I've had more luck using a sulfur nitrate reactor than pellets. Since no3 is the end result of feeding your tank, it seems to make more sense to clean up the leftovers then interrupting the meal in mid-course.

I have been really pleased dosing probidio's biodigest. I dump a vial in every few months. I mainly use it to keep biodiversity in my bacteria cultures. The skimmer produces a foul sludge and corals don't seem have a problem with it.

[txg8gxp]

Interesting, Could you go into alittle detail on a sulfur nitrate reactor please. I don't know anything about it, I'll have to do alittle research on the subject.

I went the ultra carbon dosing method last year with the Hiatt. 10lbs of carbon dosing to be exact. Too many problems IMHO. Trying to keep large populations of bacteria seemed to cause more problems than it solved. Sure, my nitrates were near zero, but the corals didn't look right, and I had problems with algae too. I know I'm not the only one that has this problem either. I've seen many people complain about pale corals when using pellets and zeo products.

I don't have any science to back it up, but it seems if you interrupt your tank's natural nutrient progression, then the corals react abnormally to their abnormal environment. I don't know if it's an interruption in the food chain starting at a bacterial level, but something seems to go amiss when you use hyper bacteria filters.

I've had more luck using a sulfur nitrate reactor than pellets. Since no3 is the end result of feeding your tank, it seems to make more sense to clean up the leftovers then interrupting the meal in mid-course.

I have been really pleased dosing probidio's biodigest. I dump a vial in every few months. I mainly use it to keep biodiversity in my bacteria cultures. The skimmer produces a foul sludge and corals don't seem have a problem with it.

[Europhyllia]

One thing about sulfur reactors: when you burb it put a rubber band SUPER tight around your finger. That's so you don't get side tracked and forget to close the valve. 9 times out of 10 I forget to close the valve when I burb the reactor and then I am really glad it stands on tile floor

[CoryDude]

Its just a calcium reactor, but with a sulphur based media. Since you have a very slow flow in/out of the reactor, this allows the water to become oxygen depleted. Denitrifying bacteria colonize the sulphur media and consume nitrates and convert it to nitrogen as a by-product.

Because the depleted oxygen levels reduce the ph levels inside the reactor, you also add a layer of aragonite inside the reactor to help buffer the water exiting the filter. Like everything else in this hobby, they started in Germany at public aquariums in the 90's and slowly caught on as word spread about their effectiveness.

If you properly size one, they can be very effective.