Quote:
Originally Posted by bertoni
I certainly agree that carbon dosing sometimes seems to fail. We could test the hypothesis about the direct consumption of ammonia by putting a bit of rock in a container with a skimmer, etc, and feeding it some nitrate. There's going to be little ammonia created if there's no food added. If the nitrate disappears, that could be due to denitrification or more direct consumption of nitrate, and less likely to be ammonia uptake. I'd need to think about this for a bit, though.
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My experience with my other tank, a 10 gallon AIO, has been excellent, both with NOPOX and more recently (perhaps 3 months now) with vinegar. NO3 undetectable by Red Sea Pro Kit and PO4 very low at 0.02ppm with Hanna ULR Phosphorus checker.
No scientific or chemistry background, no formal methodology followed here, but from my own experience and observation, it seems to me that vodka, NOPOX and vinegar carbon dosing work.
It is with my 25 gallon (20 dp + 5 sump) that I'm having this challenge of getting the NO3 below 5ppm after switching from "DIY" NOPOX (vodka + vinegar + RO mix). PO4 is OK at 0.02ppm. Perhaps Randy can give some feedback about it?
Would be nice getting to the bottom of this "inconsistency" in the vinegar dosing table when comparing small vs. large volumes.