Who's Carbon Dosing?

Who's Carbon Dosing & With What?

  • I'm curious, what's carbon dosing?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Not me--not in a million years!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I tried it but stopped.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Vodka--some for me, some for the tank.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Vinegar--my tank smells like a salad.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Vitamin C--my fish have never gotten a cold.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Bio-pellets--something new.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, dosing but none of the above.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Puffer,

So what are the effects by me using VC not recommended? Have been using this product for last 6 months and just wondering if I should still proceed..

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DanSreef said:
My neighbor also did pellets and his nitrate dropped right away....imo too quickly. ..
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Yep, that's me. I have a 90G and my trates were around 20ppm. I use a simple (and cheap) TLF 150 reactor with a little 300gph pump. I also replaced the foam discs with a thin mesh to increase flow and decrease clumping. Long story, short, I only started w/ half the bag of pellets (a bag is usually 400ml) and my trates went from 20ppm to zero in 3 days. Needless to say, that caused a disturbance with my fishes. They didn't go back to their normal selves for about a week. (The corals seemed happier almost instantly.) I've been doing it for about a year and have only recently opened a new bag of pellets to top-off. They may seem expensive at first but these things last forever. (and the price has dropped significantly from a year ago.)
 
Using the pills it not recommended. That product is not buffered (pH of 4!) & contains fillers you don't want added to your system. I drop in 1 tsp of buffered pure crystaline sodiym ascorbate (pH 7.1) 1-2x/day, into my sump. No reactor needed. I also don't think the amount you are using will have much affect, considering I'm dosing mush higher amounts with the pure product.
 
hmm the vitamin c dosing sounds interesting. The hubby and I won the biopellet reactor at the swap and think we will be adding it to the 90 as soon as we buy the pump but am also liking the effects the vitamin c is giving you guys. If we use the biopellet reactor will dosing vit C as well be too much?
 
Would this be overkill for a 28g? I have been reading on vodka dosing and this seems much easier, I already have an oversized skimmer(cpr bakpak rated to 55g) for it and am considering adding one of the nano sized UV lights as well. I recently had my phosphates and nitrates jump up quite a bit(bioload didn't change, actually lessened since i had one of the 3 fish go carpet surfing, feeding has remained the same) which led to me losing several sps.
 
i actually been vodka dosing due to high phosphates and trates well not high but not zero its a long begining process but seem to be working since doing this testing water and using ro i seem to be taking control i am doing everything the same feeding small amounts daily and wtaer changes about every ten days unless i get froggy then do one with left over ro water and start new batch i only noticed one sps get a melted tip continued dosing with sharp eye and it grew over its been a month still uping dosage as directed to and waiting for 0 across board to find daily dosage can see definite changes in water clarity and corals seem to be doing alot alot better kinda late on this post but hope it helps
 
You're not supposed to use UV with carbon dosing. Your just gonna be killing off the bacteria that you're trying to multiply
 
ColaAddict said:
You're not supposed to use UV with carbon dosing. Your just gonna be killing off the bacteria that you're trying to multiply
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Well not always..

That all depends on the contact time/flow thru the UV and the wattage of the lamp. Faster flow rates means less celluar damage to whatever is in contact with the UV light.
 
I still want to dose carbon, but haven't found what will be the safest/easiest to use. :/
Price isnt an issue, so I dont mind spending the extra money for the 'reef version' of what is possibly the same thing at grocery stores.
My sps tank is pretty much algae/nitrate/phosphate free though.
Whatever I decide, I am going to use like 1/5 - 1/4 of the recommended dose. I want to do a little carbon dosing, because I just want to help everything out a bit, not go for a dead-set 0/0. Too afraid of overdosing and losing even a single coral.

Right now I am probably going to just buy some quality biopellets, throw them in a media bag, and place them in a medium-high flow area of my sump (with the rest of my media).
Is is going to be less efficient? Probably.
Is it still going to make a positive difference with alot less risk? Probably. :)

Theres also new products such as the liquid from Thrive Aquatics.
http://reefbuilders.com/2012/05/18/biostimulant-thrive/

Not sure how many more companies make a similar carbon dosing liquid specifically for reefs.
 
Greg said:
I still want to dose carbon, but haven't found what will be the safest/easiest to use. :/
Price isnt an issue, so I dont mind spending the extra money for the 'reef version' of what is possibly the same thing at grocery stores.
My sps tank is pretty much algae/nitrate/phosphate free though.
Whatever I decide, I am going to use like 1/5 - 1/4 of the recommended dose. I want to do a little carbon dosing, because I just want to help everything out a bit, not go for a dead-set 0/0. Too afraid of overdosing and losing even a single coral.

Right now I am probably going to just buy some quality biopellets, throw them in a media bag, and place them in a medium-high flow area of my sump (with the rest of my media).
Is is going to be less efficient? Probably.
Is it still going to make a positive difference with alot less risk? Probably. :)
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I wouldn't recommend BP for you IMO.. Especially in a media bag, but I could be wrong as things are always changing on how BP are being used.. Try to use vodka and vingar, which is PITA and not KISS.. But it works and you have total control vs a reactor. But their are new models now that control the flow out and still have the BP tumbling.. Its great but with a nice price $150 - $250.. I will post a link for an example on the model soon..
 
Here is the link.. Hope you get the idea with the model.. This is what you want and have total control on much gets cleaned IMO
 
I'm still crossing my fingers on a completely safe biopellet hybrid from Seachem that is sold already in a media bag (just like some of their other products). Seachem always seem to make a better-hybrid-unconventional version of what else is out there, I dont think they would come out with just plain biopellets now...

From what I have read on biopellets its better/safer to run them in a media bag. Unless you want 100% efficiency and willing to risk sps rtn to get it.
All the trials came to the same conclusion: The more flow, the more chance for rtn. People tried lowering the flow, but eventually gave up, put it in a media bag and called it a day.
Even if its 20% as efficient in a bag, thats good enough for me! :D
20% more than I have now!

I think I would try Thrive Aquatics version, or another companies before vodka/vinegar. Thats just me.

Btw no link. :p
 
Greg, I've heard of people getting burnt tips running bp's if their alk. is over 8 and I've heard of people losing color due to the ulns but I have not heard about RTN issues. Where did you find your info?
 
Pretty much just google, every forum. I read quite a bit.

I heard the burnt tips and alk 8-9 also. However this was the case when placed in a reactor.
Im thinking of using 1/5 the recommended dose and using a media bag. Probably equivalent 1/10 dosage in a reactor. I just want to give a little boost instead of trying to go ulns.
Im even debating putting only 3-5 pellets in a bag and tossing in my sump. It has to help a little.
 
Pufferpunk said:
I'm still thrilled with the results of dropping in a tsp of VC every night. I think it's about 4 1/2 years now.
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I have started dosing vitamin c per your recommendations. It has been about a week and i like it so far. I have one angel with hlle and I have seen noticeable improvement. That was a pleasant surprise. I was simply carbon dosing to lower my nitrate. I can't imagine why you would dose anything else. I am sold. Thanks Pufferpunk.
 
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