How To Switch From Vinegar To Biopellets

[TORX]

As my recent DIY is up and running, I am wondering how I should taper off the vinegar. I am currently running 2 cups which is a little more then half of what I will need in full on the 1 cup per 50 gallons of water volume. I was dosing a whopping 28ml of vinegar a day to keep nitrates down in my tank. I am far from a guru on pellets other then general knowledge. Anyone have any suggestions? I think that they are different methods so I should not just kill vinegar all together.

 

[AdInfinitum]

The fact that you have been dosing carbon should mean that the bacteria will colonize the pellets much more quickly than normal. When I switched from vinegar to pellets I held my dosing steady for a couple of weeks until I started to get some Cyano then backed off the vinegar fairly quickly. IMO vinegar/vodka is better for lowering nitrates, the pellets are better suited to maintaining low levels. Pellets + high nutrients = major Cyano outbreak!!!

 

[TORX]

The fact that you have been dosing carbon should mean that the bacteria will colonize the pellets much more quickly than normal. When I switched from vinegar to pellets I held my dosing steady for a couple of weeks until I started to get some Cyano then backed off the vinegar fairly quickly. IMO vinegar/vodka is better for lowering nitrates, the pellets are better suited to maintaining low levels. Pellets + high nutrients = major Cyano outbreak!!!

I will keep dosing until the weekend. Did you go full out on how many pellets right off the hop or stick to the new set up guidelines?

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[AdInfinitum]

I went to the full amount and it worked well but at the time I had been using pretty heavy doses and was just ready to cut back since nitrates had finally hit the level that I was looking to maintain.

 

[heath]

The fact that you have been dosing carbon should mean that the bacteria will colonize the pellets much more quickly than normal. When I switched from vinegar to pellets I held my dosing steady for a couple of weeks until I started to get some Cyano then backed off the vinegar fairly quickly. IMO vinegar/vodka is better for lowering nitrates, the pellets are better suited to maintaining low levels. Pellets + high nutrients = major Cyano outbreak!!!

How long did it take you to get the levels to where you wanted them...

 

[Stnbrgn]

Are you planning on using a recirculating Biopellet reactor? It'll help make the transition from vinegar to biopellets alot easier.

 

[TORX]

Are you planning on using a recirculating Biopellet reactor? It'll help make the transition from vinegar to biopellets alot easier.

Yes I am using a recirculating reactor.

http://www.thefragtank.ca/community/index.php?threads/19441/

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[AdInfinitum]

How long did it take you to get the levels to where you wanted them...

It probably took over a year of experimenting with various things...however remember that I was rehabilitating a system/rock that had been a fish system for years so was pretty well saturated with nutrients. Of course, even at 100ppm nitrates I had Acro's growing and nicely coloured (couldn't keep a Monti alive) and phosphates were very low...(Phosphates are so easy to strip out of salt water, I really don't see why people are so worried about something that is so easy to eliminate)

Sorry about the hijack Torx...