Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing
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jamesdawson
New member
CG,
Yes, I have also used mucho GFO and with the amount of PO4 still leaching from my rock cooking is the only really effective way to deal with it.
FWIW, Claude recomends replacing your liverock/sandbed with fresh rock/sand when this really starts to accelerate and it will eventually happen to any system with liverock/substrates (so it is in fact a very common phenomena). I think this phenomena is one we have heard before as part of the idea of "old-tank" syndrome type problems. In my case it has been extremely frustrating because I just cant easily replace my liverock.
The other alternative is to use artificial (Ceramic) liverock which is what I'm going to do in my case as I'm starting a new tank and taking down/transferring livestock from my old tank.
The beauty of ceramic is it will not accumulate nutrients, but it will also not really "filter" like fresher liverock does. In order to run ceramics you must substitute another filtration system like a zeolith-based bacterial system or even an algea filter with enough capacity to compensate. You should also use some real and fresh liverock (at least 10%) with ceramics at system startup.
James
Canarygirl
New member
wow...that is defnitely a last resort, removing LR and sand...partly expense and partly that there's corals encrusted all over it and partly, how do we know what we're going to get coming in on new live rock? It's the devil you know vs the devil you don't know.
nismo driver
New member
dp
nismo driver
New member
i have found from my most recent round of both vodka and sugar dosing that despite having low nitrates and phosphates propr to starting dosing i did have alot of cheato growth an other nusance algae, i still have very low readings from test but i can clearly see receeeding growth of all forms of algae in my system and much more skimmer activity.
i also stopped using GFO reactor have found the vodla and sugar to be far more effective in reduvcing nusances algae then the gfo reactor ever was and it tried pretty much ever brand of gfo from rowa to purra and tlf before returning to vodaka and suagr
my sytem is 49 gallons total and i dose 2ml of grey goose daily and 1 tsp of granular white sugar every other day or so, i regulate dosingbased on aldae growth or lack of and skimmer out put since my test reading are too low to guage by..
results varypending burbon consumption*******
i also stopped using GFO reactor have found the vodla and sugar to be far more effective in reduvcing nusances algae then the gfo reactor ever was and it tried pretty much ever brand of gfo from rowa to purra and tlf before returning to vodaka and suagr
my sytem is 49 gallons total and i dose 2ml of grey goose daily and 1 tsp of granular white sugar every other day or so, i regulate dosingbased on aldae growth or lack of and skimmer out put since my test reading are too low to guage by..
results varypending burbon consumption*******
glassbox-design
New member
Canary,
That could be the case, but GFO removes po4 rapidly...which would make zeovit nothing more than expensive coral food. If you feel nitrate is limiting, perhaps look into potassium nitrate or other no3 supp to balance out your cnp.
These systems are powerful and tricky and I would take the advice of A.Girz and other ZeoHeads and wait it out or replace the rock.
That could be the case, but GFO removes po4 rapidly...which would make zeovit nothing more than expensive coral food. If you feel nitrate is limiting, perhaps look into potassium nitrate or other no3 supp to balance out your cnp.
These systems are powerful and tricky and I would take the advice of A.Girz and other ZeoHeads and wait it out or replace the rock.
CW from the OC
New member
CG,
I too have 10 year old LR. If replacing the rock is an issue, then just wait it out. After 4 months I've finally gotten Nitrate to 0.0 and Phosphate to 0.05. But I know some is still leaching, because the calerpa in my fuge is still alive. It is struggling though, growing slowly and thin, like it is stunted. I intend to remove the fuge completely as it is competing with the bacteria in the Zeo system.
That is the point, you WANT the bacteria to get the nutrients, so MORE bacteria can grow. Eventually the population will stabilize at a size that will quickly utilize the nutrients leaching from your rock.
You should also be aware that many long time Zeo's are actually trying to keep small amounts of nutrients in their tanks, especially a bit of nitrate. It seems the corals need some.
The bottom line for you is take out anything that is competing with the bacteria for nutrients, including macro algae and GFO. Like all things in reefs, patience is the key.
I too have 10 year old LR. If replacing the rock is an issue, then just wait it out. After 4 months I've finally gotten Nitrate to 0.0 and Phosphate to 0.05. But I know some is still leaching, because the calerpa in my fuge is still alive. It is struggling though, growing slowly and thin, like it is stunted. I intend to remove the fuge completely as it is competing with the bacteria in the Zeo system.
That is the point, you WANT the bacteria to get the nutrients, so MORE bacteria can grow. Eventually the population will stabilize at a size that will quickly utilize the nutrients leaching from your rock.
You should also be aware that many long time Zeo's are actually trying to keep small amounts of nutrients in their tanks, especially a bit of nitrate. It seems the corals need some.
The bottom line for you is take out anything that is competing with the bacteria for nutrients, including macro algae and GFO. Like all things in reefs, patience is the key.
I started carbon dosing in December. The tank was a hair algae forest 
Now its free of it.
I use seachem stability for a bacteria source.
Now that the nutrients are low, I'm looking for ways to feed the corals. They have lost their rich color and are washed out.
When i started dosing my nitrate levels were 0 ...phosphates .20
I think my tank is nitrate limited which is causing the washed out corals. Feeding the fish will add nitrates but also phosphates which will perpetuate the the imbalance. So i purchased potassium Nitrate.
Ive also purchased this:
http://www.nowfoods.com/?action=itemdetail&item_id=2979
I'm not so sure adding AA is all that beneficial. Ive been adding seachem reef plus and it hasn't been all that effective.
If AA's are just a nitrate source for the corals as some here have stated then why not just add Nitrate?
I'll start dosing the Potassium this week and keep everyone abreast of my results.
Heres some picks of the corals as of last week. As you can see they are washed out.
John
Now its free of it. I use seachem stability for a bacteria source.
Now that the nutrients are low, I'm looking for ways to feed the corals. They have lost their rich color and are washed out.
When i started dosing my nitrate levels were 0 ...phosphates .20
I think my tank is nitrate limited which is causing the washed out corals. Feeding the fish will add nitrates but also phosphates which will perpetuate the the imbalance. So i purchased potassium Nitrate.
Ive also purchased this:
http://www.nowfoods.com/?action=itemdetail&item_id=2979
I'm not so sure adding AA is all that beneficial. Ive been adding seachem reef plus and it hasn't been all that effective.
If AA's are just a nitrate source for the corals as some here have stated then why not just add Nitrate?
I'll start dosing the Potassium this week and keep everyone abreast of my results.
Heres some picks of the corals as of last week. As you can see they are washed out.
John
Zoom
Premium Member
Zedar
Zedar
Why don't you cut back a little on your carbon dosing ? That will level out your NO3/P04 needs .
I start dosing sugar about two weeks a go and i'm very happy what i seen so far .
I had to cut back my sugar dosing to a half 1/2 Tsp a day for the same problem you have, i was always low of N03 in my tank water , only took the sugar dosing to take the N03 down to 0 three days .
My corals doing much better and the algae keep getting lighter everyday but i lost some color so i cut back some and i'm back to almost normal colors now .
The only thing i don't like about dosing sugar for carbon dosing is the lower ORP i get after dosing and the lower PH.
any one is having the same problem as me ?
Zedar
Why don't you cut back a little on your carbon dosing ? That will level out your NO3/P04 needs .
I start dosing sugar about two weeks a go and i'm very happy what i seen so far .
I had to cut back my sugar dosing to a half 1/2 Tsp a day for the same problem you have, i was always low of N03 in my tank water , only took the sugar dosing to take the N03 down to 0 three days .
My corals doing much better and the algae keep getting lighter everyday but i lost some color so i cut back some and i'm back to almost normal colors now .
The only thing i don't like about dosing sugar for carbon dosing is the lower ORP i get after dosing and the lower PH.
any one is having the same problem as me ?
Last edited:
Ken,
Ive been adding a teaspoon per day. Dissolved in Ro/di and slowly added to a high flow area of the sump.
For AA.. Ive been using the recommended dosage. Ill try doubling it.
Also ive only been dosing it once a week.
My only problem with using reefplus is it makes my skimmer go crazy. So i turn it off on nights when I dose. How do you deal with the skimmer?
Zoom,
When I cut back on carbon i get an algae bloom. Maybe the tank is still storing some phosphate in the rock?
Ive been adding a teaspoon per day. Dissolved in Ro/di and slowly added to a high flow area of the sump.
For AA.. Ive been using the recommended dosage. Ill try doubling it.
Also ive only been dosing it once a week.
My only problem with using reefplus is it makes my skimmer go crazy. So i turn it off on nights when I dose. How do you deal with the skimmer?
Zoom,
When I cut back on carbon i get an algae bloom. Maybe the tank is still storing some phosphate in the rock?
glassbox-design
New member
zedar,
Reefplus is a poor AA supp IMO. check out Zeo, Elos, Warner, or FM. I think the results will surprise you.
Reefplus is a poor AA supp IMO. check out Zeo, Elos, Warner, or FM. I think the results will surprise you.
Ken,
Thanks for the kind words
When I say my skimmer goes nuts I mean "water all over the floor" nut!!!
When I dose the AA i have to leave the skimmer off for a day. And on returning to service I have to throttle it way back.
Ill think ill take glassbox suggestion and order one of the other companies AA's.
Now to research whats the best AA's out there
Thanks
John
Thanks for the kind words
When I say my skimmer goes nuts I mean "water all over the floor" nut!!!
When I dose the AA i have to leave the skimmer off for a day. And on returning to service I have to throttle it way back.
Ill think ill take glassbox suggestion and order one of the other companies AA's.
Now to research whats the best AA's out there
Thanks
John
I purchased Zeovit AA's they'll be here tomorrow.
The Potassium has had a good effect. I'm noticing a richer green to some of the tips on some of the acros.
Ive increased the dosage to two teaspoons a day and will watch for signs of algae growth. I'm going to keep upping the dosage till i get a bloom. From what Ive read the K+ test kits aren't all that reliable. Some people have reported RTN'ing from dosing, but the majority haven't.
Ill post pics soon.
The Potassium has had a good effect. I'm noticing a richer green to some of the tips on some of the acros.
Ive increased the dosage to two teaspoons a day and will watch for signs of algae growth. I'm going to keep upping the dosage till i get a bloom. From what Ive read the K+ test kits aren't all that reliable. Some people have reported RTN'ing from dosing, but the majority haven't.
Ill post pics soon.
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