These are just some thoughts I had when I recently started carbon dosing. You have all read it before; the idea is to add a carbon source, which feeds the otherwise carbon-limited population of bacteria, which causes a reduction in N and P. And bacteria get skimmed out by the skimmer. But how much scientific evidence is there for this mechanism?
Just one observation: Why does the skimmer go bonkers when vinegar dosing? When I added bottle bacteria before, this did not happen. Does vinegar act as a flocculant instead? Also, the sheer mass of skimmed bacteria must be really high to reduce N and P significantly. When you have a refugium, you can grab a couple of handfuls of chaeto, and its dry weight is considerable. We know approx. the N and P content of chaeto and, hence, we know how much N and P we are removing. But if you were to dry out the skimmate, I wonder if you would get a lot of dry-weight substance out. Perhaps many of the organisms that you grow with vinegar do not need to leave via the skimmate? Then, you could imagine binding up N and P in sponges and rock-bound bacteria. Anyhow, these are some thoughts to start a critical discussion. References to literature would be useful. @Randy Holmes-Farley @Lasse @taricha @Dan_P.
Just one observation: Why does the skimmer go bonkers when vinegar dosing? When I added bottle bacteria before, this did not happen. Does vinegar act as a flocculant instead? Also, the sheer mass of skimmed bacteria must be really high to reduce N and P significantly. When you have a refugium, you can grab a couple of handfuls of chaeto, and its dry weight is considerable. We know approx. the N and P content of chaeto and, hence, we know how much N and P we are removing. But if you were to dry out the skimmate, I wonder if you would get a lot of dry-weight substance out. Perhaps many of the organisms that you grow with vinegar do not need to leave via the skimmate? Then, you could imagine binding up N and P in sponges and rock-bound bacteria. Anyhow, these are some thoughts to start a critical discussion. References to literature would be useful. @Randy Holmes-Farley @Lasse @taricha @Dan_P.