Any vodka dosing guru's in here?

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

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  1. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    I spent over a year or two frustrated in this hobby. I finally read about vodka dosing but didn't want to do anything unnatural. I instead used it as a crutch. I'd dose until things were better then stop. Every time I saw some nutrients I'd dose fir a while and they would go away.

    My experience leaves me respectful but dubious of too much root cause thinking. The root cause of your nutrients is your desire to keep living things in a box. Until you get nutrients to run stable and low for a long time, they're not going to settle on their own in many cases.

    Dose the vodka. Do it carefully and watch your tank, but do it. As long as you don't rush it and keep an eye on your livestock and your numbers, the body of experience out there is you'll be happy.
     
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  3. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    That is an example of the manufactured carbon source I've been recommending.
     
  4. chum

    chum Coral Banded Shrimp

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    i have been using the aquaripure nitrate filter for two years and it uses 8ml of vodka once or twice a week. works awesome. i have not had nitrate problems since. my 120 predator tank read 200 ppm and now it is at zero and has stayed there.
     
  5. Billme

    Billme Eyelash Blennie

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    This sounds like a reasonable source of the problem.
     
  6. Vinnyboombatz

    Vinnyboombatz Giant Squid

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    I don't think people realise how much waste a fish produces.Some fish; mostly predatory;are worse then others of course.
     
  7. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    Tangs are poop machines as well.
     
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  9. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    I started biopellets in June. Started super slow with 100ML ramped up to about 5-600 and moved from Regular Ecobak to Ecobak Plus.
    I did have a bacteria bloom. It was a brown green sludge. Kind of like cyano. It built up slowly so I just thought it was algae.
    You can easily overshoot or undershoot the target nutrients. Both can cause problems. The guy that makes Aqualund biopellet reactors told me when it happens to him he turns down the effluent to just barely a drip and dose a round of chemiclean. So I did what he said and it worked like a charm. 48 hours later tank was clean as a whistle. I would not run a biopellet reactor unless it's a recirculating model. If it's not a recirc model there is no way to control the outflow so you're only option is to take pellets out and then they would have to be re seaded when you put them back. I wouldn't discount the biopellets. It took a long time to get stable for me but tank is the best it's been now.
    Keep the chemiclean in mind if you have some sort of bloom. It's a very safe product.. reviews on MD are all good.
    I've never dosed Vodka /vinegar but have read a lot and seems the consensus is vinegar has less cyano but multiple sources like running both may be the way to go.
    Just take it real slow it takes months. Although I did not change my feeding routine. I feed 2-3 times per day. Big pinch of flakes and pellet 2X a day and some frozen a few times a week. 225 gallon.

    I believe all these methods work it's just a matter of personal preference. Having said that this is what I would do If I saw the algae you see:
    Dose some Prodibio digest. That stuff will munch through those nitrates. I love the prodibio system but it is a little pricey so I switched to pellets. I do still dose a vial of biodigest here and there for bacteria diversity. I also like to keep it around as a back up as I know I can always rely on it. It's not the digest that runs up the cost it's the biotim which is their form of carbon dosing.
    High Capacity GFO. Again expensive but it can be regenerated many times so a small can last me years.
    Proper test kits to see the low range. I use red sea for nitrate as it reads 0-4ppm and Hanna PO4 meter.
     
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  10. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    I've heard a little about prodibio. Just dose a vial at a time?
    I just refilled my GFO but what is this regerate business???
    I need a hanna checker for both nitrate and phos. I can't stand color matching. I'm not very good at it :/
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2014
  11. NittyGritty

    NittyGritty Millepora

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    Just picked up Rea Sea's reef mature pro kit. Well see how it performs
     
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  12. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    Regular GFO can't be regenerated because the granules are too small.
    High capacity has bigger granules which get smaller each time you regenerate so usually 4-5 times it can be made new again with a process.
    You soak it in vinegar for 2-3 days then a soak in certain types of drain cleaner. Has to be pure sodium hydroxide. I got mine on amazon.
    HC GFO pulls out a lot more PO4. It is expensive up front so you have to consider that it can be used several times. (also make sure it's in a reactor with a light tumble)
    If you do a google search on regenerating you'll see some info on it.

    Yeah with prodibio one normal vial is good up to a large tank.
    The prodibio system is another form of carbon dosing but you add their bacteria as you go along. It's kind of an in between Zeovit and cheaper carbon dosing options. Vodka /Vinegar / Biopellets is the food for bacteria. It takes a while to build up that bacteria unless you seed it with some to get it going. Many people add occasional bacteria along with pellets or other carbon dosing. With the prodibio system you start off with the bacteria(biodigest) until NO3 and PO4 come down to Low nutrient system. Then you start adding what they call "biotim" which is their form of carbon dosing.. it's the food for the bacteria. Then you adjust the amount of food to control the bacteria population for your tank. They also make a product called bioClean which is both in one vial. With algae in a tank just use biodigest. They keep instructions vague because every tank is different. Marine Depot sells it half price a few times per year.

    It's certainly arguable whether or not a person "needs" a low range PO4 or NO3 test kit but I think unless you really know your tank it's best to have them. Especially if you want best colors in SPS. Not saying chase numbers but just to have an idea where you actually stand.
    I hear bad things about the hanna NO3 checker but I've never had one. The red sea NO3 kit reads 0ppm .25ppm .5ppm .75 1ppm 2ppm 4ppm. My ole API kit is either 0 then next mark is 5ppm and it's hard to tell the difference between zero and 5.