Dosing vinegar

[HighlandReef]

Hi, was wondering what type of vinegar you guys are dosing?
I am assuming it's the distilled white vinegar but figured I better check
Thanks,
Chris

 

[Tyrrell109]

Why do you dose vinigar? sorry, im newbin around :bigsmile:

 

[litenyaup]

Why do you dose vinigar? sorry, I'm newbin around :bigsmile:

+1 never heard of dosing vinegar....heard of using it to clean things when disassembling a tank or selling a used item......

 

[_Alex_]

Ya only reason i could see doing so would be to lower ph.....

 

[_Alex_]

Ya only reason i could see doing so would be to lower ph.....

 

[MoneyPit]

People dose vodka, did you mabye mean that ?

 

[Paul_N]

Vinegar is also a carbon source. Some people dose just vodka or just vinegar or just sugar and glassbox made the v/s/v (vodka/sugar/vinegar) mix popular. Like stated above too much vinegar can drop the ph.

Oh and to answer the original question, it is distilled white vinegar...:bigsmile:

 

[MoneyPit]

That tells ya I don't dose vinegar huh. I learn something new everyday. :bigsmile:

 

[Paul_N]

I never knew either until I started dosing vodka and reading up on carbon dosing...:bigsmile:
I tried the v/s/v mixture and had issues so I tried every combo between the three including each individually and eventually settled on vodka with MB7. The idea is that each different carbon source feeds a different strain of bacteria so you mix the three for diversity. You can't get any more diverse of a bacteria population than using a product like MB7 or Biodigest.

 

[jcom]

I dose a carbon source combo of vodka, vinegar, and corn sugar. 225ml vodka/25 ml vinegar/10 ml sugar ratio.

 

[HighlandReef]

Thanks boys!
Yes it is for carbon dosing
I am planning on a 75/25 mix
75% vodka and 25% vinegar
Also Vinegar cleans equipment very well

 

[Captain Nemo]

Holy Crap! I would have never thought to put vinegar, vodka, hydrogen peroxide, or anything else like that! I would lose sleep sooooo bad! thinking I just successfully killed all my inhabitants and corals!

 

[beaslbob]

Holy Crap! I would have never thought to put vinegar, vodka, hydrogen peroxide, or anything else like that! I would lose sleep sooooo bad! thinking I just successfully killed all my inhabitants and corals!

+1

Especially when all these dosing schemes are to lower nitrates and phosphates anyway.

Just balance the tank with plant life like macros, maintain unmeasureable nitrates and phosphates and in the process also consume carbon dioxide and return oxygen. Not to mention bio accumulating nasties like copper as well, then exporting those by harvesting.

but some people actually do the dosing to cut down on the light bills growing the macros.

my .02

 

[Tyrrell109]

That tells ya I don't dose vinegar huh. I learn something new everyday. :bigsmile:

Im tellin ya.

 

[stunreefer]

You can't get any more diverse of a bacteria population than using a product like MB7 or Biodigest.

I agree, unless you mix them too I mix Biodigest, MB7 and ZEObac to ensure I'm gettign the greatest diversity of bacteria additions (I rely mainly on biodigest, using the other two very sparingly).

The thought behind using additional carbon sources is to feed the different bacteria starins (as mentioned) to ensure we don't create a monoculture (single dominant strain) of bacteria. I add bacteria from several sources to prevent this. With that said, the "monoculture" event is just in theory, and I have never heard/read/seen it actually happen.

 

[phi delt reefer]

I agree, unless you mix them too I mix Biodigest, MB7 and ZEObac to ensure I'm gettign the greatest diversity of bacteria additions (I rely mainly on biodigest, using the other two very sparingly).

The thought behind using additional carbon sources is to feed the different bacteria starins (as mentioned) to ensure we don't create a monoculture (single dominant strain) of bacteria. I add bacteria from several sources to prevent this. With that said, the "monoculture" event is just in theory, and I have never heard/read/seen it actually happen.

stun - interesting approach with the multi strain - how long have you been dosing the bacteria "trifecta"? How are you liking the results?

 

[Paul_N]

I agree, unless you mix them too I mix Biodigest, MB7 and ZEObac to ensure I'm gettign the greatest diversity of bacteria additions (I rely mainly on biodigest, using the other two very sparingly).

The thought behind using additional carbon sources is to feed the different bacteria starins (as mentioned) to ensure we don't create a monoculture (single dominant strain) of bacteria. I add bacteria from several sources to prevent this. With that said, the "monoculture" event is just in theory, and I have never heard/read/seen it actually happen.

Interesting idea. I never thought of mixing the different brands. I initially started off with Biodigest, that worked very well, and switched to MB7 since I found a big jug cheap online. Agree on the theory issue.

For me I dosed because I had issues when I started my tank. I came from a FOWLR system using tap water. Hind sight being 20/20 I should have just emptied the tank and started from scratch. My N and P were through the roof (nitrates were 180+)and I tried macro but was seeing very little results after a couple months. Vodka/Biodigest got my numbers down in no time. I initially was only going to do it temporarily but after seeing the results and the fact that I could feed heavily, stuck with it. After I was into dosing I also couldn't keep macro anymore. They just kept dying off.

Nothing better to clean reef stuff with than vinegar...1smile1

 

[schminksbro]

I started carbon dosing because my refugium section in my sump wasn't large enough to keep up with my bio load. I (like Paul) have tried vodka/sugar/vinegar both alone and in combo. I have settled on vodka along with microbacter 7. I had issues with both sugar and vinegar. I am very happy with the results of carbon dosing after over a year in an sps dominated tank.