Help!!

[tony varrell]

I started my initial Vodka regiment today. My NWV is roughly 250 gallons. About 3 hours after the initial dose my whole tank turned completely clouded to where I cant see in the tank. Why?? What should I do??

 

[tony varrell]

I forgot to mention the initial dose was 2ml..

 

[tony varrell]

now my fish are starting to die. Whats going on???

 

[chrisstie]

Well if stuff is starting to die I'd start doing some water changes and running a lot of carbon.

I have only read about vodka dosing and never used it so I can't say exactly whats gone wrong but I know its definitely something that should only be done when you 100% know whats going on and how to course correct when things go wrong.

I wish I could help more What type of vodka were you using?

 

[MSX-Jeff]

It sounds like an overdose...the bacteria are multiplying reapidly and using up all of the O2 in the water.

Set your skimmer to run wet, hook up some ozone if you have it to raise ORP levels, change out your carbon, and do a 30-40% water change. You could also add several air stones in the tank to help with oxygenation.

2ml doesn't sound like a lot on a 250g system....but you never know, that's why all recommendations are to start very slowly (which it sounds like you did)

 

[tony varrell]

come on people. I need some help here. It looks like I will only lost one fish last night. I need some education from this episope. was it an overdose reaction? What should Ido now. Already did a 50 gallon water change. As stated my initial dose was only 2ml with a net water volume of approx 250 gallons of water. My skimmer is still going crazy so i can.t run it. What to do going forward? i do not want to give up on the Vodka...my tnk is now filled with a white film.

 

[HighlandReefer]

It is hard to say for sure what is going on in your tank. I would find it hard to believe that 2 ml. of Vodka would cause this in your size tank.

FWIW, it sounds like you may have possibly had a "snow storm" occur which would result from something like a kalk overdose or to much two-part added a once. If this is the case, it should clear up reasonbly soon. Once it clears, I would concentrate on your alk and calcium levels.

 

[RBU1]

Yeah there has to be something else to this story. I was up to 5ml on my 300 before I decided to stop with the vodka. I find it hard to believe that 2ml caused a problem. I would find a better way to export nutrients if I were you. The vodka thing seems to be more overated than it is worth. I did it for several months without any beneift to the nitrate level in my tank.

Sorry to hear that you lost fish.

Do you dose Kalkwasser??

 

[bigclops]

Is it a clear slime? I kind of did the same thing ... Basically you have a baceria outbreak from the sugar and like the other person said.. The bacteria is using up the o2.. Carbon won't help because it will clog from the slime (did that and couldn't figure out why I had no flow) I ended up buying a airstone type wand .. About 48 inches long and put it in my sump to help with the o2... The skimmer is another story... I had to drop the water level in the skimmer so it wouldn"t overflow... Be aware that if it has bioballs in it .. U will have to clean it too! Since it is all slimed up.. Took about a week and a half to clear up.. And lost a mandarin (jumped) and an emerald crab.. I was going to try ozone as the next step and see if it would help break it down, but since my carbon reactor was clogged I just waited it out with some water changes... Good luck!

 

[tony varrell]

Thanks guys. The episode was clearly caused by the Vodka. All my parameters are stable and within the acceptable range . What started the bad idea is the constant nusicence algea I get will not disappear. I do a 50 gallon water change weekly with out fail, run a H&S nitrate reactor , Phosphate reactor with 500ml rowa , Deltec kalk stirred, fuge with live rock and Cheato and a BK 250SM skimmer. I have a mediumn/ high fish bioload and feed 2X per day. Dry in the morning and PE mysis in the evening. Nitrates are always 12 to 15 PPM and Phosphates are always .015. Desperate for a fix I tried the organic Carbon dosing approach and consider myself lucky to have only lost one fish and no apparent effect to my SPS. I do still have what appears to be a whitesh residue in my tank. It is most evident in my turbells. So I still remain searching for a method to export more nutriants then I bring in?? If you are interested my tank can be seen on fmas1955.org. I would appreicate further comments..

 

[HighlandReefer]

I would change out your GFO weekly until you see the microalgae dieing off. Installing a large refugium with a deep sand bed and macroalgae will help decrease both your nitrates and phosphates.

 

[john rochon]

well, high fish bioload will cause nuisance algea. you have choices here. get rid of a few fish or always try to get rid of algeas.
I've always liked low fish numbers in a reef tank

 

[Heinz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14203358#post14203358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tony varrell
I forgot to mention the initial dose was 2ml..

thats double what you where suppose to add the first day,

you should have started with 1ml,

i would stop for a few days, when everything is back to normal, start with no more then 1ml or even 0.5ml if it was me,

the danger with vodka is to go to fast with to much ,

 

[chrisstie]

I went back and read the reefkeeping magazine article on this. According to that your first dose should be .1 ml per 25 gallons.

If you had 250g Heinz is right your first dose should have been 1 ml and even less since the article emphasized going less and slowly is more important than overdosing your tank.

Let us know how it turns out if you can fix things and restart again.

here's the article in case you need to reference it
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

 

[tasos]

Maybe an algae species that died due to votka dosing?Also, if you don't run a skimmer, the bacteria will die in your tank water.

 

[tony varrell]

Well guys thanks for all the comments.. Looking back on this unfortunate event I now have to agree that the Vodka dose of 2ml was not the primary cause. It was a chain of events that hapened during the night. Once the Vodka was added it started a chain reaction. MY BK skimmer went completely nuts which caused on auto cup emptying device to empty large amounts of water from the collection cup thru a drain which in turn lowered the level of my sump which actuiated my tunze ATO which sent 5 gallons of kalk saturated water into my tank. So the combination caused the disaster we cause me to loose many $$$ in mature chillabrus wrasses. However my collection of angle fish along with 1 achilles and 1 naso survived and are thrieving today one week after the event. All my SPS have faded drastically but appeared to survive as well. Lesson learned to much automation can lead to a loss of control.. I will redo the way my skimmer eliminates waste from the collection cup rest assured.. But it still leaves me with a Phosphate issue unresolved.

 

[chrisstie]

Wow I'm sorry to hear thats how it happened but at least some things survived and now you know how to make your system even better. Ouch!

How often do you do water changes on that system anyhow? And what type of food and how often do you feed? My other phosphate related questions would be how old is your sand bed and also do you use a turkey baster to "dust off' your rockwork?

 

[MrRyanT]

I've been vodka dosing for about 2 months now, and currently add 10ml/day to a nwv of about 100 gal with only good results, so I really thought it had to be something other than just the vodka. I dose vodka only to reduce phoshpate, have not had any trouble with nitrates since adding a sump/refugium to my system nearly 2 yrs ago. My nuisance algae is now all but gone, a little bit still hanging onto the back wall of my tank. Good luck going forward.

 

[tony varrell]

I do a 50 gallon water change weekly with DD salt but never have "dusted" my live rock. I feed twice a day. Morning feed is formula 2 pellets and evening feed is PE mysis and spriulina Brine mixture three days a week with Rods and a homemade mixture the other days..