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. Nismo400rgtr

    Nismo400rgtr Teardrop Maxima Clam

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    I take it your not worried about any chance of a spike with the sudden removal of ROWA?
     
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  3. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Im not overly worried Nismo - naturally I will monitor the tank
    and my eyes will tell me more than my Salifert test kit will

    I removed it Saturday
    if I need to clean the glass before Wednesday
    a new batch of Rowa will go back into the system

    Steve
     
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  4. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    update - and I think I must be going mad
    I was sure I started the thread with images of aspects of tank so as to keep accurate record of any positives or negatives from the dosing

    But those images do not seem to be there

    this photo was taken of my wavemakers prior to starting Vodka

    [​IMG]

    these 2 images are of the rockwork prior to the Vodka

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    update on next post

    Steve
     
  5. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Ok update

    now 2 days into week 4 and thus am currently dosing 2.1ml of Vodka per day
    which I break down into 2 syringe injected doses one AM and the other PM

    the rockwork and power heads , have not recieved any manual intervention
    although naturally I cannot account for the whereabouts of all my snails on all occasions
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Steve
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2011
  6. Nor_Cal_Guy

    Nor_Cal_Guy Gigas Clam

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    Steve you are convincing me to go back to vodka dosing after I finish my new bottle of Bio-Fuel...
     
  7. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Nor Cal Guy
    thank you
    should you decide to do that, please remember the overlap period
    by which you reduce the Bio Fuel for 3 days whilst gently phasing in the Vodka
    and look at the tank as often as possible, and react to anything that does not look as it should

    signs to watch for
    SPS colours fading
    LPS colours fading
    developing Cyno
    Peach fuzz type white bacterial strings on rockwork etc

    the above are all signs that you should reduce or stop vodka dosing
    until the situation reverses

    Steve
     
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  9. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    update on this thread

    today is 1st day dosing at new level of 2.6mls of Vodka in my set up

    still no negatives to report as yet, no cyno, no peach fuzz and no coloration fading on LPS corals

    still supplementing - amino enhanced food supplements
    have been able to continue supplementing 5 mils or more per day without any visible negatives to water quality

    I have reduced time on the BM -TM-01 doser for Alk in an effort to gradually allow DKH to drop to 8 and then increase timing in order to keep it steady at 8

    Currently at 8.3 DKH, which I believe is OK and many people do run tanks higher than this with no issues

    a DKH of 7 - 8 is recomended for liquid carbon dosed tanks- thus I have elected to target and then maintain that 8


    Steve
     
  10. FaceOfDeceit

    FaceOfDeceit Hockey Beard

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    Steve do you have a thread showing your BioFuel progress? I have been dosing for close to 2 weeks, and though my numbers are down, glass cleaning remains the same schedule, and I am having small amounts of cyano now...very difficult to increase flow on a half round!
     
  11. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/brightwell-aquatics-bio-fuel-98493.html

    I do indeed FaceOfDeceit - here it is
    my number where 0 before I started, hence improvements made where possibly more direct
    basically, I tried that as a form of carbon dosing to put the finishing touches aesthetic wise on my tank
    1st couple of weeks I noted a definite difference and up to probably week 4 or 5 I still felt the benefit - but with the " you can increase the dose by up to 50% " instructions, I felt that it did not have the same degree of flexibility as the Vodka dosing regime as set out by Genetics and Stony Corals in Vodka Distilled

    possibly solutions if your experiencing Cyno

    1 ) reduce your dosing by 50% as carbon sources are not fussy about which type of bacteria they encourage
    2) introduce a positive bacteria supplement, so that these can take advantage of the available carbon and then out compete the cyno

    my suggestion would be to use MB7 as that was the product I used in conjunction with Bio Fuel

    Are you currently dosing using the 5ml per 50 gallon?
    if so - a switch to using the low nurient system dose of 5ml per 100 gallon and combining that with 1 drop only of MB7 per 50 gallons per day

    deal with the cyno at water changes, remove what you can
    and by decreasing the available carbons and at same time introducing beneficial bacteria - you should see a slow decrease in the rate the cyno re appears after water changes etc

    watch out for peach fuzz type bacterial growth (its harmless but unsightly) and if that occurs , cease using the MB7 until it recedes

    Steve
     
  12. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    update

    4 days into week 7, whilst dosing 3.1ml of Vodka
    noticed 1st negative signs so far

    [​IMG]

    when purchased Oct 2010

    [​IMG]
    2 weeks ago - good growth and color more intense green

    has now faded in color to a more yellow
    [​IMG]

    on the positive side - the growth has continued
    [​IMG]
    with a couple of new branches recently


    course of action taken

    reduced Vodka back down by 2 weeks incriments -thus will continue dosing this week at 2.1ml and will remain at that and asses coloring of coral, before increasing again

    increased QTY of ammino acid based food supplement (Restor) in order to try and help coral re establish previous dominant color

    Steve