Here is an incredible thread explaining what carbon dosing is and does.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2134105
Here is a link to the directions for vinegar or vodka
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....arine-aquarium
No advantages by using either as they end up in the same path it's just vodka takes a extra step to get there.
Some people report less cyano using vinegar , some end up using a lot with big tanks so go with vodka or a mix of both.
Vinegar has an immediate effect of ph drop , so it's recommended to spread it out over the course of a day if you have to us a lot . In my home system of 200g I dose 72ml of vinegar as soon as the lights come on . To offset the ph drop I also time my doser to dose soda ash. I don't get much of a drop in ph on this tank.
A while back I switched out the bio pellets on a 500g reef , I was having issues with chalices , a lot of acros and the list goes on. Finally I decided to pull the pellets and switch it out to vinegar , it took one month for the vinegar to completely do what the pellets were doing . I immediately saw better results in all sps and all lps........my issues were gone in one month. The dose for this tank is big though at 475ml a day so it has to be broke down and dosed over a photo period.
Now the chart above shows a 16 week dosing schedule , most people do it on a 4 week chart like this.
0.1 ml per gallon for 7 days(week 1 )
0.2 ml per gallon for 7 days (week 2)
0.3 ml per gallon for 7 days (week 3 )
0.4 ml per gallon for 7 days (week4)
Whether you decide to go above 0.4 ml per gallon will depend on your bioload and nutrients as well method removed.
Randy's personal guideline for vinegar is 15ml per 100g
Keep in mind that vodka is 8x stronger than vinegar , so one of the reasons I chose vinegar over vodka is because the dose is a little less potent per ml added.
Before going head on do some research on it all. Bio pellets are also a form of carbon dosing
You have to monitor nitrates and phosphates , keep your skimmer cup cleaned regularly and cosistency is the key to bacterial growth and export.
Before doing any of the above your system should be brought down to at least average reef conditions as far as nitrates and phosphates go . Either being off the chart is going to be hard to work with as there is a ratio of how bacteria take in and use nutrients.
None of this interferes with your calcium and alkalinity dosing schedule .
Good luck