Organic Carbon Dosing in Layman's Terms

R

Ross110

I have been reading and reading different post and threads on RC and here about Organic Carbon (Vodka, Sugar, Vinegar, Reef Bio Fuel, Zeovit, ect) to achieve an ULNS.

Thus far, here is my quick summary.

Corals have a symbiotic bacteria called zooxanthellae. This gives the coral nutrients to live and grow off of...

My understanding is that by adding in organic carbon, we are making it harder for the zooxanthellae to survive (dont know how that works...) and thus the coral has to start getting food from other means (AA, fish waste, ect) and it starts "fending for its self". If we supply the necessary nutrients to it and it becomes "self sustaining", ultimately its color and growth become a direct factor of how well we manage the zooxanthellae and how well we feed it.

Am I on the right track to understanding what we are doing, or am I going down the yellow brick road?
I would like to get a overview understanding before i start this next month..
 
The idea behind carbon dosing is to lower the nutrient levels in the water, specifically phosphate and nitrate. While the zooxanthellae provide nutrition by performing photosynthesis, like all forms of plant life they also benefit from a nitrogen and phosphorous source. The basic concept is that the more nitrate and phosphate the water has, the more the zooxanthellae will multiply. Since the color of the zooxanthellae is typically a golden brown, this can be one of the reasons why some corals turn brown is because of an excess of zooxanthellae. Also excess amounts of nutrients, phosphate in particular, can slow a coral's growth rate. With ULNS, there are less nutrients available to feed the zooxanthellae, so they don't reproduce as fast, which allows you to see the corals brighter colors, which are actually protective pigments. The reason you feed your corals more with ULNS is because since they have less zooxanthellae to provide them with nutrients, we need to give them nutrients more directly by feeding. HTH.
 
Perfect, thank you for clarifying.
I read that decreasing the light cycle will also improve coloration, but can moving a coral a little farther down in the tank accomplish the same goal (to a degree) I have a few corals at the top of the tank that are a little less vibrant is the reason i ask...too much zooxanthellae?


Second question...
Reactor Media on ULNS....
Seems there are hundreds of different media.
from GAC to synthetic alternatives that work slower....what have those of you with ULNS found to be one of the best filter medias to use? (right now i have GFO, which will not be needed after I start Vodka)

the top pics right now that I am looking at are:
Seachem - Renew
Seachem - Purigen
or any high quality GAC.


Sorry for so many questions in one thread, should relabel to "help me get my ULNS tank setup" [smilie=wink.gif]
 
If you are going to try carbon dosing I don't know if I would mess with light levels, just focus on the dosing first and see how that does. For my tank I just occasionally use GAC, I wouldn't really mess with any of the other ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top