OK! Time for a Drink! Vodka?

That is about the most intelligent thing that has been said in this thread! You're so right!

 

I find this all very facinating. I've had problems with nitrate levels ever since I set up my tank 30 months ago.
I think I need to think about this some more. Where's that bottle of scotch?....

 

The tannins in scotch may be a bad idea... OH it's not for the tank??

 

we use sugar to start a chemical process to make liquor as a catalyst. our own bodies cannot survive without glucose. if your blood sugar drops below 20, you go into a diabetic comma. but at the same time i wouldnt sit down and eat a whole 1 lb bag of sugar. some Ca additives are glucose based.

depending on the sps genus some feed off NO3 and some wont tolerate any NO3. which is a different thread alltogether.

there is some relevance to this, if we had closed minds thousands of years ago we wouldnt be where we are today. everything in moderation.

some use mrs. wages instead of kalkwasser
some use vinegar to lower pH
some use epsom salt to raise Mg
some use baking soda to raise dKH
some use hydrogen peroxide to raise redox

did our elders do that when they first started in the reef world? probably not

unless your a chemical biological engineer, you have no place to belittle or make a judgement here.

 

AMEN!

 

Ill have my vodka on the rocks ............mmmmm

 

I think its time I put my 2 cents in this. In a way tangster is right, and in a way jason is right. You can obviously use sugar to grow good bacteria, HOWEVER it will also feed the BAD bacteria and unless you are a biological chemist with a great microscope, what you see after dosing vodka could be all bad bacteria for all you know. Are we not trying to keep the bad bacterias out of our system or atleast keep them under control? Adding sugar or vodka would make them have a population boom right along with the good bacterias.

Heres some more food for thought...

What about your bacteria levels before dosing? You have no clue how much bacteria is in your tank before hand. At most you can send off a sample of your water or substrate and get a guesstimate on it from your sample. If you have more bad bacteria in your tank then good, that means the bad bacteria will multiply at a much higher rate then the good simply because there is more there to begin with which why there is a problem to begin with.

Here is my theory on nitrate or phosphate problems...

Why not find the source of the nitrates and phosphates and correct it??? Then you wouldn't need to add any risky supplements.

 

As I posted before, sometimes it is impossible to find the source. I believe that the LR I had was leaching NO3, because that was the only thing I couldn't change. As I have already stated I had almost 0 bioload. A few crabs, and no fish! I didn't even feed the tank. As far as the good bad bacterial thing goes here's my take. You are correct in that bad bacterium will also be multiplied, however it's my belief that if you have an otherwise healthy system, corals and fish have the ability to fight off army's of bacteria. 1 bacterium or trillions, you're only going to have an infection IF you're not healthy. But thats just my opinion as to WHY people haven't had problems with bacterial infection. The fact is that it just isn't a problem in dosed aquariums. At least nobody has reported it to my knowledge and I have been following this for over 2 years...

I understand people being skeptical, I was at first too, it's really kind of counter intuitive and somewhat illogical on the surface. I mean I make sure my hands are clean before putting them in my tank, why would I put vodka or sugar in it? But it really works, and as Scott said, the biggest rick is a brownout, but guess what can happen if your nitrates stay elevated? A brownout. Brownouts are rare, but also a recoverable situation in the right setting. I mean how many peopole have bought a brown coral only to have it turn a bright blue, or cream? I just did that about 2 weeks ago. The brown Monipora Capricornis unded up being a brilliant purple.

 

I am only in this hobby because I have figured out how to do things smart, efficient, and cheap. Some of it hasn't worked and some has. Dosing carbon is safe, and NOT risky if done correctly. The biggest risk as I posted before is an overdose, which will not crash your tank if you react correctly -High nitrates will though!

I was a newbie too, and I learned all that I could from all the places I could. RC was ONE place I learned alot, and I never shunned an idea just because I hadn't heard of it, or I personally think that it 's a bad idea, or I had heard from some who heard from someone whose tank crashed because of X. I learned far more from NOT listening to the same old "get 2.5 pounds of Live Rock, a shallow sand bed, the best skimmer you can BUY, get so many inches of fish per tank size, and any fish that exceeds that is going to cause a catastrophe." There is no formula for successful reefing, everyones tank can be as different as night and day. RC is useful just because of the sheer # of people there, and not much more. I really only post in my local club forum thats held there, and even then not that often.

Look I have posted the science behind it, I have plenty of test examples, I have PERSONAL experience in the matter and the last thing I want is a reputation on a new board that I am full of bogus info. This works. Period.

 

Otty is a stand up GUY!