Brightwell to Smirnoff - a change in the manner of carbon dosing

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by steve wright, Jan 9, 2011.

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  1. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Its been shown to work, in certain circumstances Nismo
    dosing at the 1 drop per 25 gallons every other day
    or 1 drop per every 50 gallons daily
    only very low doses required , but at same time other techniques should be implimented

    increase flow
    syphon out at water change time

    basically - remove the cyno you have and at same time increase the balance of bacteria to the desired types

    Steve
     
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  3. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    been a while since this thread was updated
    the slightly faded SPS has been improving
    I reduced my Vodka dose to 2.1ml per day and have been at that since
    in addition I have added Coral Ammino at the rate of 1 mil per 50 gallons per day over last 7 days, this is in addition to the amino supplements the corals where getting from products such as Reef Plus and Restor, which I also used in my weekly feeding programme

    I have had no significant increase in algae production or growth during the last 20 or so days and as such I am happy to continue dosing at 2 mils per day for a bit longer and do not feel the need to increase the dosing at all

    I have also commenced adding MB7 at the rate of 2 drops per day over the last 3 days - again in an attempt to ensure the bacteria species utilising the organic carbon are the positive types (basically Im using it as insurance against negative bacteria strains that might come along due to recent introductions/ re aquascaping etc )

    Steve
     
  4. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    update

    its been over a month now, that I have continued to dose just 2.1ml of vodka per day

    algae has failed to make a significant comeback
    nitrate and phosphate continue to read zero
    LPS corals are doing well (helped with a variety of food supplements)
    SPS are also continuing to do well, with no negatives after that initial fading green colour

    continued to maintain dkh between 8 and 8.3

    commited to using the spare pump on the bubble magus TM01 directly to the bottle of neat vodka and am dosing 2 mls exactly each day in 4 incremenents of 0.5 mls

    this means one less manual thing to do on set up - and I have already noticed improvements in terms of more consistent skimming ( when dosing manually, 1 mil in morning and 1 mil afternoon, I noticed peak skimmer performance shortly after each manual dose)

    Steve
     
  5. M-Ocean Man

    M-Ocean Man Flame Angel

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    As always fascinating to see what you observe and report Steve!
     
  6. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    it has been a couple of months since I updated on this thread

    I had continued to dose vodka at the rate of 2 mils per day, maintenance dose
    I switched a few weeks ago to dosing that using the 3rd pump on my bubble magus doser

    a simple hole in the top of the bottle for which to give a tight fit for the airline and to keep any air borne particles out of the bottle , has been used

    observation
    dosing in 2 parts of 1 mil at 12 hour intervals, meant that conditions in the set up have remained very constant, with no negatives to report that can be directly attributable to the dosing

    the only major negatives I have experienced over last 6 months or so have been
    2 x wild colonies SPS developing STN - which could have occured for any number of reasons and as such impossible to say with any confidence that the carbon dosing was the reason

    minor negative - single SPS color fade, discussed in detail below.

    other than that, its been all positive

    glass cleaning, has been confined to a once weekly wipe with filter floss , which I throw away after use ( no more mag scrapers for me)
    it rarely gets very green in the 7 day period and its only really easy to see, when you look down the lenght of the tank from the side panel

    I have had no issues at all with LPS corals, as I continue to feed them with supplements, target fed in most cases in order they do not starve in the ultra low nutrient enviroment

    I have had no further instances of coloration fade in SPS corals, only 1 coral was affected during the early stages, and supplementation with Brightwells ammino acids and also Restor, turned that issue around within a few weeks.

    no sign of cyno bacteria ( I have a lot of flow, and my issue has mostly been finding a grade of sand that stays where I put it)
    no sign of peach fuzz bacterial films or white stringy bacteria on rockwork

    I will continue to dose, automated , as this means my carbon dosing requires no additional effort, than does my Calcium and Alkalinity supplementation
    and dosing in this manner has created consistency in my skimmer


    Steve
     
  7. Nor_Cal_Guy

    Nor_Cal_Guy Gigas Clam

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    What happened:confused:
     
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  9. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    you mean with algae magnets?
    I ended up with to many scratches from trapped sand
    so I only use credit cards or filter floss to gently clean front glass now
     
  10. Nor_Cal_Guy

    Nor_Cal_Guy Gigas Clam

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    That is what i was guessing.
     
  11. Sacul1573

    Sacul1573 Millepora

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    Steve,

    Question... in your opinion, does the dosing period have any relation to the photo period? In other words, does the bacteria that we are growing (and harvesting) require or desire light for best growth, or does the presence of light when introducing the carbon source not matter? I have read in other forums/articles that one should carbon dose while the lights are on...

    Now that I'm thinking about it, bio-pellets rely on colonization of bacteria within the reactor, and so my inclination is "no", the dosing time does not matter in relation to the photo period, but perhaps we are colonizing different types of bacterium? Thoughts?

    At any rate, I thought I'd bring it up for current or future readers of this thread...
     
  12. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Hi Sacul
    I dosed during periods the tank was illuminated, simply because much of the bacteria utilise oxygen and at night time oxygen is at its lowest in our reef tanks, those algeas are breathing at night and not photosynthesizing
    thus I felt it was safer to do so during daylight hours,