Acropower on autodoser?

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#1
I'm debating adding Acropower to my doser instead of manually, does anyone do it this way? Wondering if it's better to have low levels consistently or one big dose in the middle of the day...
 

CoralNerd

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#3
I had it on my doser but decided to just manually dose it. I like to manually dose it so I can shake the bottle up.
 

watchguy123

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#5
I think these may require a dark container because things like vinegar and amino acids are excellent foods for bacteria. I think if the container is not dark, you may end up having bacteria in the container consuming the vinegar and amino acids before they are ever delivered to your tank. On the other hand, white vinegar is in a clear container and doesn't get contaminated. Hmmm....
 
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#7
I used to dose salifert amino acids by hand 1x at night (30ml via a graduated cylinder at midnight) and felt that it improved coral growth/color. I wasnt 100% sure it wasnt going to bacteria. I read since the 1990s that coral actively took up AAs but i was never sure which ones were essential (not produced inside the coral) & the zooxanthellae or coral itself could synthesize. So a single big dose seemed to make sense to get the concentration high enough to get a favorable concentration gradient for passive & active transport. I assume this acropower specifically targets the AAs need by genus Acropora, otherwise why do it?

I have a background in biochemistry and know that non-essential AAs get denitrogenated and what is left is the carbohydrate, so it would make sense to dose "carbon" instead and decrease tank nitrogen load. People without a science background dont know most amino acids have a glycolysis/krebs cycle sugar backbone with an added amino group- these sugar backbones are usually used for energy while the amino acid is used for structure. I suspected that if done wrong, AA dosing was essentially dirty carbon dosing which fed bacteria and increased nitrates. But visual results of the coral supported that AA dosing was beneficial to the coral.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/5/corals

^ this article hints to dosing AAs at night
 

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#10
Thanks for the replies, I'm going to stick with manual dosing to keep it safe and not worry about light degradation.
 

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