Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing
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nismo driver
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ive used kent coral accell
nismo driver
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ive used kent coral accell
Canarygirl
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What's people's advice about dosing vodka if you have a bit of cyano in your tank? Is there danger of ethanol fueling the cyano bacteria? Or will ethanol help eliminate the cyano?
thanks
thanks
stony_corals
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Are you thinking Korallen-Zucht's HCAA High Concentrate Amino Acids?
stony_corals
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This is a tough question.... cyano exist on the reefs and its growth is kept in check by predators, not nutrients. Many cyano are nitrogen fixers, so even if you have low nutrients, they can fix nitrogen gas (from denitrifcation or the environment) from somewhere and thrive.... I don't have an answer for you. I think it's best if you maintained low nutrients, but will dosing vodka and thereby lowering nutrients get rid of the cyano? Not sure... What are your nutrient levels? Will ethanol fuel cyano, not sure either, I'd think it'd help minimize but I don't know. How long has your tank been set up? I seem to recall that you have a pretty beefy skimmer though...
Canarygirl
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My system is net 140 gallons, set up for 1 year. Some of the LR is from other people's systems and all the substrate came from somebody's deep sandbed (I didn't know any better...). I think I have PO4 leaching as I am battling multiple forms of algae, valonia is spreading, now getting some cyano. For a skimmer I have the v1 of ATB small ("nano"). I've been using zeovit for 5.5 months now.
stony_corals
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Ugh, that stinks.... Do you have a colorimeter or Merck PO4 test kit? Any possibility of putting a refugium on the tank? The calerpa may outcompete the valonia, probably not for the cyano.....
Canarygirl
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I don't have Hanna meter or Merck but I have Elos PO4 kit. It never shows readings above .05 but the fact that I have algae indicates that it is being utilized from the water column or LR surface I suppose.
I don't know about refugium...short on space
I don't know about refugium...short on space
stony_corals
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You're right, but the phosphates may still be low, again, even on the reefs which are super low nutrients, micro algae and macro algae grow. Algae can use nutrients even at super low levels, and on reefs, its predation from herbavores that keep micro and macro algae in check.... What are your NO3s?
jamesdawson
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According to Claude of Fauna Marin most Cyano in aquariums happen because there is an imbalance in the natural ratio between phosphate and nitrate and often its fueled by PO4 locked up in your liverock being released.
I battled it for about 6 months and what I did was siphon it out as part of my weekly water changes. This removes it physically and the water changes help restore the ionic balance. In any case, it got progressivly less and less and now its gone along with about 7 buckets of salt. I do still have some PO4 leaching from my seven year old liverock so I need to "cook" it.
I guess you could almost consider that a form of nutrient export.
James
I battled it for about 6 months and what I did was siphon it out as part of my weekly water changes. This removes it physically and the water changes help restore the ionic balance. In any case, it got progressivly less and less and now its gone along with about 7 buckets of salt. I do still have some PO4 leaching from my seven year old liverock so I need to "cook" it.
I guess you could almost consider that a form of nutrient export.
James
Canarygirl
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James, I think what you're describing above is more common than I once thought. I am running some GFO passively to try to speed things along but I can't tell if it's working....
Do you mean this literally--that you're going to remove this rock from your system and cook it for a few months in a dark garbage bucket or something? Or will it stay in your system and you're just going to wait it out?
Do you mean this literally--that you're going to remove this rock from your system and cook it for a few months in a dark garbage bucket or something? Or will it stay in your system and you're just going to wait it out?
glassbox-design
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Canary, by doing this you are limiting the po4 to the bacteria, not the algae....which not allowing the bacteria to do it's job.
Canarygirl
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E&F, how certain are you that running GFO will not limit the po4 to the algae? It seems to me that this is a complex subject and different tank dynamics may prevent the equation from being "one size fits all," so to speak.
Maybe I'm all wet, but I am pretty certain that my older LR and re-used DSB substrate is leaching PO4 into my system, in greater quantity than available nitrate. I added gfo in the belief that the bacs, when they run out of nitrate (their primary food source other than carbon), they will stop consuming PO4 which is continuously being leached out by my rocks. My intent is that the gfo should take up the slack so there is less PO4 available to the algae.
It sure would be very helpful if there were a bacteria dosing protocol for people in my situation. I get the sense that people with old PO4-laden rocks/substrate are the "problem children" of the Zeovit world, in that it takes months and months longer to see the results people expect from Zeovit, and the road is rocky and rough.
Do you think I'm incorrect then, in my logic? I have tried increasing my Start2 dosage but I can't without OD symptoms. To me this is more evidence of the imbalance between available nitrate and phosphate in my system.
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