Get Rid of Ich, Aptasia, and Nuissance Algae in One Swoop!

[jpitch]

I came upon this 3 for 1 accidentally a few days ago. About a month ago I started dosing .5ML of vodka per day to my 125g DT with a 90g sump for 2 weeks using an old fashioned syringe. Then I learned the basics of the OSC command for my Apex. This command allows me to dose my 1.1ML per minute doser for 30 sec. After another 2 weeks with my system doing well I decided to up dosing to 1ML per day. Since 1 minute of dosing from my doser = 1.1ML I decided to ditch the OSC command and just use a IF TIME command. So my mini program looked like this:

Fallback OFF
If Time 18:00 to 18:01 Then ON

I assume the apex would fallback to OFF after 18:01. Nope. 3 hours after I ran the new program I went to my fish room, which is separate from my DT, to do some more random maintenance. Yup, 3 hours = 1.1ML per minute X 180 minutes = 198ML of vodka.

That was 4 days ago. I did an immediate water change and I've been doing water changes everyday. The tank started clouding over the day before yesterday with the bacteria bloom. My yellow tang stopped eating first. My kole tang died today. Then my fairy wrasse disappeared along with my cleaner shrimp. My 7ish mushrooms are gone. The zoos are mostly receded. My purple stylo melted away. Most of my other frags are receded but look still alive. The tanks still looks cloudy after 4 days.

HOWEVER, if you want to look at it another way. Every bit of nuissance algae is gone. I had a little bit of ich on my male blue throat trigger that disappeared. And I had a fairly good sized aptasia on a frag plug I picked up from a coral convention that melted.

The price will be (probably) 2 tangs, a fairy wrasse, a cleaner shrimp, and 1 200g box of Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. What kind of chance do you guys think I can make some money off this REMARKABLE cure? Nah, let's spread the love and make the world an algae, aptasia, and ich free one!

STEP 1: Slowly start vodka dosing for a month and admire it's magic
STEP 2: dose 180 times what you dosed the previous day in 1 dose the next day
STEP 3: Watch nature do the rest.

This formula is free for anyone to try. Donations can be made to my email: themoststerilreefimaginable@cryinglikeaschoolgirl.edu

Thank you!:beer:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Wow, sorry to hear of this.

 

[jpitch]

Wow, sorry to hear of this.

Are you suggesting this revelation won't lead to riches beyond my imagination? These 3 nuisances have been attacking our beautiful systems for decades. And if you have a man cave in your basement, like I do, there's nothing like opening the door and having a huge vodka cloud smack you in the face!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, you should be sure to patent the method.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Wow - I'm sorry to hear this as well. You're actually the second person I've heard of in the last 2 months that has nuked their tank with vodka overdose; the first one was local to me. He managed to save most of his critters with 4 massive water changes (50% immediately, 50% 3 hours later, another 50%3 hours after that, etc... for a total of 8 consecutive changes in 48 hours).

My hat's off to him for going through such a herculean task (it was a 200 gallon system), I'm not sure that I would be so willing.

Hope your tank recovers reasonably well - his stabilized after about 2 weeks.

By the way - I should mention that a low-wattage device like a peristaltic dosing pump will only properly turn off if it's plugged into outlet 4 or 8 in an Apex EB8, apologies if you already know that.

 

[Mark...]

The rich part is buying vodka stock...

 

[jpitch]

Looks like the yellow tang is eating again. Did another water change today. A couple frags didn't make it. Out of around 16 frags/mini-colonies, 5 didn't make it. 1 tang, a fairy wrasse, and a cleaner shrimp were casualties. The tank looks like it's slowly recovering. So after day 5 I think the worst is over. I'm still not counting out further casualties but dkeller's report on a co-reefer's 2 weeks ordeal appears accurate. I'll keep this post updated as things happen so others may learn from this ordeal.

dkeller, why does the pump need to be in plug 4 or 8? Through pure coincidence mine happens to be on 8.

 

[AcroporAddict]

It may be the same deal with DA PC4 outlets, where low draw things like skimmer neck wipers and low wattage fans don't turn off properly when set up as a timer or thermostat dependent operation on outlet 2 or 3, even with the outlet showing as non-energized. Something about a Triac based system?

The solution is to use a lighted outlet adapter plugged into the controller outlet, with the low draw equipment plugged into that. Worked for me with a non stopping Vertex skimmer neck cleaner, and a sump fan controlled by my DA temp probe on my RKE.

I bought a couple of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-3-GE...717?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338c5e1385

 

[AcroporAddict]

It may be the same deal with DA PC4 outlets, where low draw things like skimmer neck wipers and low wattage fans don't turn off properly when set up as a timer or thermostat dependent operation on outlet 2 or 3, even with the outlet showing as non-energized. Something about a Triac based system?

The solution is to use a lighted outlet adapter plugged into the controller outlet, with the low draw equipment plugged into that. Worked for me with a non stopping Vertex skimmer neck cleaner, and a sump fan controlled by my DA temp probe on my RKE.

I bought a couple of these. Something about the indicator light in the adapter makes the controller function correctly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-3-GE...717?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338c5e1385

 

[dkeller_nc]

Yep, that's the reason. Outlets 4 & 8 on an Apex EB8 are true mechanical relays, so when the controller tells the coil to go "off", the springs in the relay ensure that the mechanical contacts disengage.

On a triac-based electronic relay (outlets 1-3, 5-7), there is some power leakage past the junction on the transistor, even when the gate isn't energized. For high power devices like pumps, heaters, etc..., that small amount of power leakage isn't enough to run the device, so it will reliably turn "off". However, the leakage is enough to run very low power devices, like individual peristaltic pumps.

 

[jpitch]

Yep, that's the reason. Outlets 4 & 8 on an Apex EB8 are true mechanical relays, so when the controller tells the coil to go "off", the springs in the relay ensure that the mechanical contacts disengage.

On a triac-based electronic relay (outlets 1-3, 5-7), there is some power leakage past the junction on the transistor, even when the gate isn't energized. For high power devices like pumps, heaters, etc..., that small amount of power leakage isn't enough to run the device, so it will reliably turn "off". However, the leakage is enough to run very low power devices, like individual peristaltic pumps.

Thank you for the very useful info. I'll keep that in mind for future additions.

Today the tank's cloudiness is nearly gone. All inhabitants that lived through this ordeal appear happy again, including the yellow tang that I was sure wouldn't make it. Final (hopefully) tally:

The BAD:

Kole Tang
Fairy Wrasse
Cleaner Shrimp
Half dozen or more mushrooms
Purple Stylo
2 Acros that I can't think of offhand
About two thirds of my zoos have receded. Not sure if they'll come back...

The GOOD:

The only aptasia I had on a frag plug
Some ich that was on my male blue throat trigger
What little slime algae I had on a rock

I'm not liking the sterile look in my tank right now. Maybe it's because I lost some color from the death of a couple of my corals. It doesn't appear the coralline algae that started to set in on my fairly new system was affected.

 

[Savant]

Hmmm...could you please test this method with some bubble algae? As I have worked very hard at cultivating my current crop of bubbles I will send you as many samples as you need to verify your methodology free of cost, please just give me credit when you publish your results. :jester:

 

[AcroporAddict]

Sorry for your losses, OP. :sad2:

 

[jpitch]

Hmmm...could you please test this method with some bubble algae? As I have worked very hard at cultivating my current crop of bubbles I will send you as many samples as you need to verify your methodology free of cost, please just give me credit when you publish your results. :jester:

What little bubble algae I have from 2 frags I bought they are still there. They haven't grown nor shrunk. The next time I'm in need of my patent pending vodka overdose I'll be sure to double down on the amount to see if bubble algae can be added to my list of cures.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

Yep, that's the reason. Outlets 4 & 8 on an Apex EB8 are true mechanical relays, so when the controller tells the coil to go "off", the springs in the relay ensure that the mechanical contacts disengage.

On a triac-based electronic relay (outlets 1-3, 5-7), there is some power leakage past the junction on the transistor, even when the gate isn't energized. For high power devices like pumps, heaters, etc..., that small amount of power leakage isn't enough to run the device, so it will reliably turn "off". However, the leakage is enough to run very low power devices, like individual peristaltic pumps.

That's why I bough a separate EB4 for dosing. It is all relays. You need to be careful with some ATO pumps as well.