Carbon Dosing?

[Cliff]

So who here carbon doses?
I have in the past used bio pellets I did not like them; even with a new vertex pellet reactor i still could not get them to tumble right.
I used sugar dosing years ago but the funny thing about that is that it was drawing bees into my house; and I have a friend that comes over all the time who is allergic so I quit that lol.
I m now dosing vodka. Seems to be helping.
So my question is. Who is dosing carbon and what are you using?

 

[Neopimp]

Brs dual reactor with bio pellets. It is modded to reverse the flow through the reactor. No problem with tumble using the brs pellets.




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[Neopimp]

I have to think that it in junction with the huge chaeto ball is doing it's job since I hardly change out water and the phos and nitrates are not obscene.

Yes would be better with more freq water changes


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[pulpfiction1]

seems to me bio pellets is actually a form of carbon dosing,i did the vodka thing after a stretch of sugar dosing,had excellent results with both,now i use pellets and life is easier as i only top them up every few months now as opposed to the daily regime of the others,i do find i toss in a spoon of sugar now and then

 

[4Hummer]

Dosing vinegar in the tank. And vodka in me!

 

[Cliff]

Nice; that's how it should b done.

 

[chrisstevens]

I dose vinegar, and im seeing good results.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Ive read a few articles that sugar dosing,vodka and vinegar, someone seemed to run into some sort of unexplainable issue. I think curiousphil had a similar issue dosing...vinegar?? Had bubbling tissue on his sps. If it were me id stick with something that has a good track record like biopellets.

 

[theyangman]

I have done a bit of reading lately on bio pellets as they now have been on the scene for quite some time now, and the results seem very mixed. Some people have great sucess and others have had their tanks go sideways. Now with everything in our hobby we obviously have to take information with a grain of salt. No two systems are alike and therefore hard to say why somethings seem to work for others while others dont. The most common thing I am reading is that people who DO have sucess with pellets, have it dialed in perfectly in regards to tumble. Once upon a time I was a believer that they needed to tumble violently. Not sure where I got that, but from all the videos I saw and such I started to think that was how they were supposed to be.

the first mistake people seem to make is not following the package directions. Not soaking them long enough for them not to "float". When they float they usually clump up near the top, they then start to trap mulm and this is nasty and counter productive. Secondly you don't need them whirling around like its a blender. It's almost like GFO, you want a slight "boil" to em. Enough movement so any stray particles can be flushed back out, and optimally the drainage is aimed near the skimmer so it can do it's job in getting rid of any unwanted gunk.

Without getting into the whole monoculture issue which is another can of worms, these are the two most common misktakes it seems people are making, and those who are suceeding with pellets are advising. But once again, like I said earlier take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Cliff]

What about these bio cubes that u just place in your sump? Anyone use these?

 

[AdInfinitum]

I currently use pellets, supplemented with vinegar (cheaper than vodka, less risky than sugar plus the acetate ions have positive effects).

I have experimented with many forms of carbon over the years and regardless of the path you choose, I firmly believe that a blend of different carbon sources is always most effective as well as negating any monoculture issues.

I have tried the bio-cubes on a smaller scale and like the product however IMO they are cost prohibitive for large systems.

 

[jroovers]

I found bio pellets worked well on my 120. Never tried any other form of carbon dosing as pellets just seem to be the easiest in that you don't have to worry about manually adding a shot of vinegar, vodka etc., or risk overdosing on a doser if it messes up. In setting up my new 45, I'm not sure that I will run them, as I plan on skimming very heavy.

Tony has some valid points, I think people don't use them properly or are too impatient to gradually ramp up the amount they are using, and that accounts for hating on pellets. This is what I've found:

- Pellets/carbon dosing is for REDUCING NITRATES. Regardless of the mechanism of what bacteria does what and feeds off of what, this is the goal of carbon dosing
- You only need a fraction of what is recommended on the packaging - I used about 200 ml on 145 gallons of system water, anymore was counter productive
- Too much carbon feeds cyanobacteria, and creates an issue that needs to be rectified (the obvious is to back off the pellets). The other potential factor is too much flow as Tony noted. I found mine were best at a slow roll. Basically enough flow so they were moving around and not stationary, but definitely not boiling.

I think people put too many pellets online at once, cause their nitrates to plummet and stress out their coral or starve them, promote cyano bacteria growth, decide they've had poor results and then complain that the pellets are to blame. My advice for anyone considering pellets or other sources of carbon dosing would be first measure your nitrates and determine if its a problem. Also, know what levels of nitrate is an issue - 5 ppm of nitrate is not necessarily a bad thing even in an SPS tank. If your nitrates are ok, but you want to increase your feedings, consider carbon dosing as more feeding is likely to lead to more nitrates. When you go online, start with no more than 1/4 of the recommended amount as per common instructions. Monitor nitrate levels over a couple of weeks (I think people skip this part). Slowly adjust upward if needed - i.e. don't bump up if your nitrates are at 0! Keep monitoring nitrates as you bump things up slowly, over weeks, not days!

In short, I think pellets and carbon are a great source of reducing nitrates and is one more nutrient control tool in the box, allowing us to feed fish more heavily without adverse effects to corals or promoting algae growth, within reason. However, like everything else, they have to be implemented with an understanding of what they are for. Similar to over/under feeding and skimming, they are something that can be out of whack and need to be adjusted based on testing and careful observation. You simply don't put a reactor online with 500 mls of pellets in it because the package says so and your local LFS guy says its will make your coral colours more pretty.

 

[theyangman]

When the pellets are roaring, they are sloughing off the material too fast, and if your skimmer can't keep up, you're ASKING for a huge cyano outbreak. People don't seem to see it being user error and only see the result, therefore pellets are junk.

It is something that needs to be dialed in very gradually, dumping 1000ml of pellets into a reactor on day 1 and firing it up will cause your tank to turn red within a day.

 

[saltyair]

I started with vinegar about 2 years ago got up to 45ml It really works ( level out at 20mls)

I did jump to all in one bio-pellets 5 months ago - made classic mistakes put to many at once and ran to fast. Now I have them dialed in. My no3 less 5 and po4 .03

 

[yveterinarian]

I am currently in the process of doing the Vodka dosing. It is still early days yet but the Nitrates are beginning to come down. The phosphates are taking longer to respond but last week they started so I'm optimistic that they will continue to fall.

 

[TORX]

Vodka works...or at least it did for me. It was a pain though, unless you have it on a doser. I went to biopellets for ease of use.

 

[Pistol]

I dosed vinegar throughout the day and night with a brs doser with good results and little effect on ph, it is great at controlling no3 but not so much with po4, vodka is 8x more potent than vinegar and can be bolus dosed but the results should be the same.

 

[onecansay]

I must agree with those that say that bio pellets need to be introduced slowly. I did so BUT used chaeto at the end of the sump process before even introducing the pellets.

I draw into the pellet reactor first, which feeds into the PS and then ALL water is passed through the chamber of chaeto before returning to DT.

Clean up crew has to look for food, and when the DT gets fed, they go wild.

I only clean my glass rarely, mostly to keep Coraline in check.

I have experimented with this process and have found my phosphates spike when I do not change out the floss I use as the last stage of filtration to grab any chunks that may try to pass through. When the floss begins to get REALLY brown the P04 spikes. Therefore for this system, change the floss and all is well.

My sump is doing well, as to say not much buildup of algae of any kind. Yes, did have an outbreak of cyano once inside the chaeto but removed and all stayed good.

Not sure what I am trying to explain here but I do know with a GOOD bio pellet REACTOR you can achieve a quality system.

Once again YOUR tank IS your tank. KISS is what has done stead for me.

DT has softies, LPS and SPS thriving together.

onecansay

PS: WEEKLY WATER CHANGES. 5 PERCENT is what works for my system.