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

Chapter 2
the transition
having used Bio fuel for a period of 6 weeks, I came to realise that I had probably exhuasted its capabilities in terms of what it could do for my reef tank in terms of that final stage, getting rid of nuisance algaes and turning my tank from a algae based nutrient utilisation system into a bacteria
dominant nutrient utilisation system

my test kits - Salifert and Red Sea ( phosphate and nitrate respectively)
where telling me levels where low and in all honesty, I would call the results I had for both of these nutrients - 0
Im sure with better testing equipment this would not be the case
and the frequent glass cleaning required confirmed the fact that despite the good numbers , those nutrients where indeed present.

I had started dosing Bio Fuel using the dosage required for a low nutrient system - which in my set up meant using 3ml on a daily basis
the instructions also make it clear that an increase of up to 50% on the low nutrient dosage was also an acceptable course of action
I tried increasing to 5mls per day (slightly above the additional 50% I know but its an easier amount to measure , hence my choice)

despite the above, I still found myself at an impass in regards, the bio fuel was failing to deliver any extra benefit and seemed unable to complete the work it had started so well

within 1st 2 weeks - algae production had decreased and glass cleaning had reduced in regularity, but after that it just stopped delivering any further improvements


I had read a number of articles on Vodka dosing and the often quoted or attached link to
Notes from the Trenches - Vodka Distilled - by Genetics and Stony Corals
was the basis for me wanting to change the method of carbon dosing I had been doing

my 1st concern was naturally
"I have been dosing an unknown ingredient carbon source for 6 weeks
how does that relate to the suggested dosing plan for Vodka as contained in the article"

I decided to ask said question in an area that any one of the 2 people who wrote the article , may notice it, and offer me assistance in this situation

Genetics - Nathanial Walton , did respond and made the following suggestions
reduce the dosing of Bio fuel, whilst bringing in the dosing of Vodka

this was the plan
day 1 - dose 2ml of Bio fuel and 0.1ml of Vodka
day 2 - dose 1ml of Bio fuel and 0.2ml of Vodka
day 3 - dose 0.3ml of vodka

thus day 3 was my 1st day of following the plan as per "Vodka Distilled"
a plan that has me dosing that amount for 3 days
days 4 - 7 - dosing 0.6mls
week 2- add 0.5mls and thus dose 1.1 mls
week 3 - add 0.5mls and thus dose 1.6 mls

tomorrow is day 4 for me - I will be dosing 0.6mls of vodka only, zero bio fuel

I have had no negative reactions from the corals
testing today, still reveals 0s for both parameters N and P

I will update this thread as I progress through this carbon dosing regime

I will give an honest account, the good, the bad and the ugly

if I mess up, you will all know about it

Steve

 

Interesting....have u given any thought to bio pellets in a reactor?

 

I did loneracer05
I got B and P bio pellets some time ago
I looked into both methods and actually made a desicion to go with Carbon dosing due to fact I dont have sump - using HOB skimmer
and research told me that the effluent from a reactor run with bio pellets, should go into the skimmer in order the bacteria sloughing can be removed

not having a sump, gave me an immediate problem with my ability to do that, and one person I know, using Bio Pellets in a reactor HOB on his set up, is not getting very positive results from them

thus being in same situation as he is, with regard equipment tank is run utilising

I have left the bio pellets in the packet and explored the alternative

Steve

 

Steve, I have been considering vodka dosing for some time now. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us. I will be anxiously following.

 

Steve, personally, I believe the need for extreme skimming is over blown. Maybe in a tank with sensitive SPS, but I have not seen an excess of skimmate in either my reef or FOWLR tanks. The only hard part of vodka dosing, IMO, is simply remembering each day to dose it. For those who can't do that, bio pellets is the way to go. I'd rather not spend the extra cash, they do the same thing.

 

thank you jrwoltman
give me a few weeks on it before you make a decision
that way you may benefit/ learn from any mistakes I make

Thanks Barbianj

that was another 1 of my thought processes
missing the odd day is not an issue I believe
dosing twice on the same day or double dosing the day after as you may have forgot today - could be a problem based on the reading I have done

Its a case of having a daily routine and just after feeding time seemed ideal to me, as I do this daily between 6 and 7 pm every day manually anyway.

and also having someone who can take over that responsibility if I am not around at the scheduled time (business trip etc) and I do have that so Im very confident it wont be many, if any, days that get missed

Steve

 

How will you know when you hit your target dose?

Parameters of 0 for nitrates and phosphates for an extended period of time?

Seeing the same results when increasing the dose, no visual improvement noticable?

Based on volumn of water alone?

 

great question and thank you for asking it

my situation is different from the accepted norm
the accepted norm assumes you have measurable N and P
and the methodology is

you increase the amount of Vodka you dose by 0.5mls (irrespective of tank size) by each week, after week 1 (week 1 is an intro dose to asses the corals reaction to the carbon source)

once you have reduced your P and N to 0 or undetectable
you then half the dose you where on at the point of reaching

example
if you where dosing 15mls of vodka , at the time you tested and got 0
then the following day you dose 7.5mls daily as your maintenance dose
if the levels start to increase again, you go back to adding 0.5ml to that 7.5ml dose until they zero again, and then resume with the new maintenance dose


my situation is different in that I already have the 0 readings on nutrients
so my case is

I use the dose as per suggested in Vodka distilled and watch the algae that I have
I dose weekly at the same level and then increase by 0.5ml each week until I have acheived the cosmetic effect that I am looking for
coral colours improved, overall cleanliness improved
and at that stage, half the dose that I got up to at the point the tanks appearance was right for me

Steve

 

all I know is smirnoff taste better then biofuel! LOL!!!
Good luck..... we are considering dosing vodka in our big tank now! The reason we have not yet is because of all the crap that is still in the tank from the heater fire.....we are still loosing coral from it!
I was doing it before the last tank broke and was having great response to it! good luck

 

I will have to take your word for the taste test schackmel
although I must admit I naturally smelled both bottles
because I did want to know if there may have been any alcohol in bio fuel
dont think there was, at least it did not smell like there was

Thanks for the encouragement
the more success stories I read, the more confident I get

Steve