Let's see 'em - Before and After pics of Vodka Dosing!

[slow_leak]

I ran a little KNO3.

Cyano faded in about 10 days. If your running a tank of soft corals it should be OK. However Montipora will fade and I did almost lose a blue tort that was large. I went to about 10-15ppm. Clam is OK too but has not fully opened up.

I do run a system with a Tunze Level Controller through GEO kalk reactor and a Large Euro Reef Skimmer that skims a little wet.

All corals came back and nitrates are now between 0.0 and o.25 on Lamotte LR Nitrates. As usual something that works this fast is too good to be true.

As well other corals actually did look better. I have a red and tan pavona and yellow pagoda cup that seems happy. Other corals got burnt tips which is reverse-able.

I am going back to old reef gardening techniques till year end.

 

[Zedar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15636115#post15636115 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by slow_leak
I ran a little KNO3.

Cyano faded in about 10 days. If your running a tank of soft corals it should be OK. However Montipora will fade and I did almost lose a blue tort that was large. I went to about 10-15ppm. Clam is OK too but has not fully opened up.

I do run a system with a Tunze Level Controller through GEO kalk reactor and a Large Euro Reef Skimmer that skims a little wet.

All corals came back and nitrates are now between 0.0 and o.25 on Lamotte LR Nitrates. As usual something that works this fast is too good to be true.

As well other corals actually did look better. I have a red and tan pavona and yellow pagoda cup that seems happy. Other corals got burnt tips which is reverse-able.

I am going back to old reef gardening techniques till year end.

What's your alk? I attributed the loss to high alk not KN03

 

[slow_leak]

A little background is I don't run Vodka/MB7, I just wet skim as I always have along with GFO/Carbon.

Levels are:
kH 160 ppm - 9 kH
Ca 420 ppm
Mg 1350 ppm Tropin Marin and Water Changes
Salinity 1.025-1.026 ppt
Lamotte LR Nitrates w/o recent spike 0.0 clear no trace of red/pink
Hanna LR Phosphates 0.03 with tank water as blank

I have been creeping alkalinity back to 7-8 but don't necessarily correlate high alkalinity as cause of recent problem. I attribute bleaching to recent Nitrate spike. A few corals developed burnt tips and better polyp extension. Color and polyp extension are not indicative of coral health overall.

 

[SaltyWaters]

I just started dosing vodka here's some before tank pictures.
<a href="http://s474.photobucket.com/albums/rr102/jwaltz10/fish%20tank/?action=view&current=Picture003.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr102/jwaltz10/fish%20tank/Picture003.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


<a href="http://s474.photobucket.com/albums/rr102/jwaltz10/fish%20tank/?action=view&current=Picture012.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr102/jwaltz10/fish%20tank/Picture012.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I'll post more in a month to see if this works for me.

 

[Genetics]

This thread here has great documentation of before and after vodka dosing.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1685800

 

[slow_leak]

I love tangs too.

You can clean that mess up in 5 minutes with a tube.

I love looking at hobbyists tanks, but it strikes me this vodka craze it just suited to nano with inadequate filtration or severely overstocked tanks.

I have had blue tipped pale acros in the past and didn;t know it was desirable. I thought the species was starving and underfed. Somewhere in between good growth and good coloration is my target. For me it is a big skimmer and very consistent parameters.

I am going on a rant but seen no evidence the recent potassium test kits sold are accurate. Anecdotal evidence point to better coloration, dangerous, or unnecessary. It appears additives are making a new come back.

 

[NeveroddoreveN]

but it strikes me this vodka craze it just suited to nano with inadequate filtration or severely overstocked tanks.

Ya, like http://www.rimlessreef.com/rimless-reef.html



Just a couple of questions though. Would raising nitrate to 3-5ppm increase algal growth even though it would help with cyano? I think dosing MB7 (w/ out VVS for a couple of weeks) and then starting up vodka dosing again would have better results in getting rid of cyano. I have barely any now.

 

[slow_leak]

Please reconsider adding KNO3.

Beyond minimum detection level kits, some SPS will find it toxic and bleach however the principle is sound that cyano will fade.

Each type of algae or organism has a weakness that can be taken advantage of. Cyano requires more phosphates than nitrates. However it is more conservative to take advantage of the fact that is highly photosythetic and has little energy reserves. Turning lights off for 2 days and then next month three days will slow its growth.

You also unintentionally feed cyano by spiking phosphates using pellets or unrinsed frozen foods.

 

[NKYdude]

Give it a try. Although i would dose KNO3 instead of extra AA's.

Hey guys, what product is purely KNO3, or what are people dosing for KNO3, as opposed to AA?

:edit: nevermind, found it.

question.. It seems like vodka dosing is being used to either A) bring down nitrates, or B) enable someone to increase coral feedings without hurting water quality but balancing nutrient import/export. Is that exactly the point?

I'm still fairly new to sps and I've been using marinesnow for my coral/FF food. What would you recommend as a better food?

Once I start that, i'll start feeding a few times a week until I can read nitrates at which point i'll consider vodka dosing.

Great thread, learned a lot here!

 

[NKYdude]

bump

 

[BayAreaBigMac]

It is curious that experiences fresh water planted tank growers will do the opposite. They will maintain 5-10 ppm Nitrate and spike phosphates as needed based on observing the plants growth, with a continuous source of carbon using pH control under a controlled kH value. Often soft well water is all that is need and water changes.

Thats what I find interesting.. I'm new to SW and just doing homework.
I have to add phospates or I get hair algea..in my FW planted tank.

 

[slow_leak]

I'm not in favor of actually doing that. I just noted the difference.

I have controlled cyano with KNO3 and I definately do not recommend that either or atleast amount that can be measured with hobbyiest test kits.

I even know featured aquariums on Coral Mag that added KNO3 back but they strip it with Zeovit so it seems silly to me. I would not recommend FW plant growing techniques as a cross over to this hobby. I would consider them for macro algae species only, that are very forgiving compared to acroporas.

 

[msman825]

what does MB7 stand for??

 

[msman825]

what does MB7 stand for??

nevermind I found it

 

[shinninja]

Ive been dosing vodka for about 6 weeks. Im on a maintenance dose now. Everything seems to be doing fine. I had a colony of zoos that were dying on me. They faded in color and began falling over. I thought they were gone for sure. To my surprise they have begun to regain color. The small polyp on the right is what they looked like and the green one is regaining its color. Its not completely recovered but as you can see its fighting.

 

[newsalt]

I've been doing my own version of Bacteria and BioFuel dosing. I've been dosing these products now for about 2-1/2 months. I honestly don't know if I see any big benefit. I still have isolated area of hair algea. I can't seem to get my PO4 lower than 0.07. I'm going to do a test tomorrow though. My SPS look ok, some look better than others. Some branches on my Red Planet look fantastic, other branches look kind of grayish. I have two millipora's that are supposed to be blue, and look terrible. In fact, a tip broke off of a branch on each milli, and I've yet to see it grow back. Not sure if I should continue to waste my money and time on these additives. Here's my current dosing:

Phol's Xtra: 4ml/day
MB7: 10 drops/day
Coral Vitalizer: 8 drops/day
Biofuel: 8ml/day
Zeo Amino Acids: 3 drops/day
Sponge Power: 8 drops/day
Lugol's: 1 drop/day
Brightwell's Potassion: 2ml/day

I just switched salt to Seachem Reef Salt.

 

[goochesfish]

what happens when vodka dosing stops for 1-2 weeks while on vacation?

 

[NexDog]

If you have no-one to look after the tank you could add Vodka to your top-off reservoir. Then start off on a half dose when you come back and raise to full dose over the course of a week. The bigger the tank the easier to do IMO.

 

[Montireef]

This post is awesesome, please keep on writing...

My experience:

I've got a 125 gal SPS dominated tank with a fair high load of fish (4 tangs, 4 clowns, wrases...). As my acros started browning up, I began Zeovit method (never tried vsv before); water, sand and rocks got cleaner and could improve feedings; I even got rid of a nasty bryopsis bloom and my SPSs began to turn light and pale.

On the backside, I got plenty of cyanobacteria, which is now fading away (lots of biweekly WC with siphon out). Had to cut back Start2 dosis (Zeovit's carbon source). I am also dripping some AA on a daily basis as well as bacteria (I use three sources: Prodibio, Zeovit and Brightwell every other day). Never dared to try KNO3 recipe but sounds well.

 

[slow_leak]

I'm not really a fan of vodka dosing but KNO3 should not be necessary.
It works great for blue green algae in planted tanks. In SPS tanks it can bleach corals rapidly even with ppm changes on sensitive corals.

I have between 0.1 and 0.25 nitrate by LaMotte LR test kit. The resolution below 0.25 is an estimate looking down tube long way. It is greater than blank essentially.I have effectively limit cyano to just a few trace growth in refugium that has no intentional predation, chateomorpha, and way I feed tank.

I intentionally feed about 10X as much algae with various nori than I do with coral food or other foods. I do this with 3 tangs in a 140. I don't think it is necessary to use Zeovit to get good colors. I just don't care for that pale bleached look though.