What do we really know about vinegar (carbon) dosing?

[Reza’s Mixed_Reef]

I dose ethanol below my deep sand bed and I totally control my NO3 concentrations that way but the PO4 - nada

The major control of my NO3 is not done by bacteria growth - its done by bacteria that use NO3 as an electron acceptor in oxygen free environment - ethanol is the electron donor in the same process - neither act as building blocks in this process.

However the whole process start with that ethanol act as an organic carbon source for heterotrophic bacteria in such a high grade that they consume all oxygen - In this process some organic carbon, NO3 and PO4 will be transformed into biomass - but not so much. When oxygen is limited or absent - some heterotrophic bacteria swing over and use NO3 instead for oxygen in the metabolism - hence convert NO3 into N2 gas (with help of some other steps but N2 is the final waste) This is the major part of NO3 reducing in my reversed flow DSB

I have always been sceptic to the claim that heterotrophic bacteria is able to take up so much dissolved PO4 and NO3 that it makes a difference.

On the contrary - if DOC is available, the bacteria will be able to eat more solid organic matter - and thus release both NH3/NH4 and PO4 from their organic origin (proteins and phosphorus organic compounds) in the solid organic matter

Sincerely Lasse

Could you explain the doses and a little bit more about this method? It sounds very interesting.. greetz Reza

 

[Lasse]

Could you explain the doses and a little bit more about this method? It sounds very interesting.. greetz Reza

What do we really know about vinegar (carbon) dosing?

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...

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The flow is around 200 L/hour. Area of the sand bed is 10 * 1,7 dm = 17 dm2 and the depth is around 1.7 dm. Sand volume - around 30 L. I dose around 20 ml 8 % ethanol a day

Sincerely Lasse