Any vodka dosing guru's in here?

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by NittyGritty, Oct 10, 2014.

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  1. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    I could use some solid guidance.
    Here's the story...
    I have a cube aquarium in which I have no room for a fuge to help reduce the nitrogen cycle and I have high nitrates. 120 gallon cube in which I try to do 32 gallons of a WC weekly. But, my nitrates are still at 40ppm.
    I was running a BRS reactor with the sponges removed with bio pellets. Two things that caused me to remove them. One, they never tumbled correctly for more than a couple days with this reactor and second, my SCA skimmer was not impressive and caused me multiple issues from a leaking cup to consistently overflowing for no reason. Last week I removed the bio pellets and made a great trade deal in which I came out with a Vertex Alpha 170. So, a skimmer will no longer be an issue.

    Now, I just need to find a technique for removing Nitrate. I have just filled my GAC and GFO reactors as well. I've had my SPS turn brown and algae all over my rocks, substrate and coral tips along with covering my monti caps. I will do another water change tonight but I feel I need something else in place and unfortunately a refugium is not an option even though I wish it was... Just no space. So, I'm thinking of carbon dosing again but just with vodka as I've heard/seen a lot of success story's on the forum etc.

    So, and guru's care to help out?

    Thanks in advance!

    D
     
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  3. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    I just tested again, between 40-80ppm. WC happening in next couple hours.
     
  4. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    [​IMG][​IMG] Here is a couple photos.
     
  5. FaceOfDeceit

    FaceOfDeceit Hockey Beard

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    What is your cause of high 'trates? Fix that first, then worry about vodka dosing. FYI, vodka dosing requires a very efficient skimmer, similar to pellets. I've seen the Alpha's be very finicky when it comes to stable skimming. Keep an eye on it before trying vodka. But sort out your issue with high NO3 first (i.e. overfeeding, bioload too much for filtration, leaching, bad RO/DI, etc.). How is your PO4? 25% WC weekly should be fixing your problem, but it is not. Good luck and report back.
     
  6. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    P04 is around .25. Skimmer so far has been perfect and impressive. I have 8 fish of which 2 are tangs and 1 is a foxface. The remaining 5 are smaller: tomato clown, pink skunk clown, flame angel, coral beauty and bi color dotty back. I feed 1 time daily of New Life Spectrum pellets or mysis in which I feed enough for them to eat all in a couple minutes. RO/DI reading 1TDS at the moment. Leaching? Possibility but I'm not sure how I would confirm or stop this.
     
  7. Kevin_E

    Kevin_E Giant Squid

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    I'm whisky dosing, myself. I see, you meant your tank.
     
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  9. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    Very nice, but no to helpful. Lol
     
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  10. Newreef15

    Newreef15 Horrid Stonefish

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    We'll I have never vodka dosed but I have use NoPox by redsea and it has worked great for me. Look into it it's just another form of carbon dosing. Easy to use and gets the job done
     
  11. Kevin_E

    Kevin_E Giant Squid

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    Lol. I will offer one piece of advice: start slowly, not many changes at once. I aggressively addressed my algae with GFO, high output lighting over chaeto and water changes. The result was really pale coral.

    Also, with regards to carbon dosing, beware of bacteria blooms. I just suffered that for two months. A UV may not be a terrible thing to have on had. Cleared my tank in 24 hours.
     
  12. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    I seen this the other day and was wondering about it...