Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing

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I've had a reef tank going on 20 years now, I no my parameters are fine.. I know the the carbon source in vodka is feeding the cyano
Erik
 
I've had a reef tank going on 20 years now, I no my parameters are fine.. I know the the carbon source in vodka is feeding the cyano

I wonder why it does this in some tanks but in others people say their cyano goes away after dosing vodka :confused:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12238274#post12238274 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kreeger1
I run my tank at 76 degrees, my nitrates are under 10 and my phosphates are almost undetectable.

Im doing a different typ of tank them most, 400 gals of non photo fun :)

I know I've been enjoying the build thread. Kreeger I'm sure we've met before but I'm sorry I haven't put a face to the name. You seem to be putting in a lot of non-photosynthetic corals within your tank. I'm sure you've read the thread and online publication by Charles Matthews on maintaining Dendronephthya but here's the link Reef Keeping Azooxanthellate Reefs. I've wanted to do something like this for years.

Cyano as a result of vodka addition has been reported. Personally, I would not cut-off the dosing but scale back. As your nitrates and phosphates disappear from the system, I believe so will the cyano. As was mentioned in this thread earlier, cyano is a photosynthetic organism requiring light as well as nutrients. Due to the high-necessity of food within the water column your nitrates will climb quickly and I wouldn't doubt that algae will become a problem at that point. In the link provided the vodka addition was 9ml/day into 500gal system.
 
I'm not sure I want zero nitrates though for the non photo stuff. I was using vodka to feed the tank, bacteria blooms that is.

I was doing 10 mil.

I switched to a different carbon source though. Probidio..Im going to try that out for a month or so see what happens
Erik
 
Is now been one month that i use sugar for carbon dosing and my N03 still at zero .
I have yet to notice any side effects from sugar/carbon dosing with any type of algae .
I started the sugar dosing to eliminate some of the small patches of hair algae i had.
So far the hair algae still there not as bad never was but it is not better so as of today i stop the sugar dosing .
I did a larger water change today and change my carbon as my monthly maintenance task .
The tank was more clear with the sugar dosing i did not use to much sugar i think after the initial 1 TSP a day for three days i cut it back to 1/4 Tsp a day and i kept it at that . The skimmer was working a little better but the skimmer i have always work good but it was a little better with the sugar dosing.
So my experience so far with the sugar dosing it will kill the crap out of N03 in very short time i don't know about P04 i never had high P04 max 0.02 with The photometer.
And still at that number today so i had not see any redaction of P04 with sugar dosing at all.
I think sugar dosing overall was a good thing to experiment with now i know i can cut back n03 very quickly out any salt water system.
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12238856#post12238856 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kreeger1
I'm not sure I want zero nitrates though for the non photo stuff. I was using vodka to feed the tank, bacteria blooms that is.

I was doing 10 mil.

I switched to a different carbon source though. Probidio..Im going to try that out for a month or so see what happens
Erik

Good luck on the CS switch. The tank in that link dosed 9ml/day of vodka and had levels around 10ppm.
 
Where did the slime appear? I had something on my pipe organ, and put it in QT- thought it was jelly infection. It is still there, no slime elsewhere.
 
The slime covered 50% of the sand bed. My intent to use vodka was never for nitrate reduction though as many of you use it for.

9 mil per 500 gal of water isn't enough to do much IMO as stated by the nitrate level of 10.

For those using vodka, Go with the golden rule for saltwater.."nothing good comes fast"
So take it slow raising your dosing levels.
 
It doesnt exist IMO. The amount you dose will vary by your bioload more than the volume of the tank... you are treating the waste, not the sheer volume of water. There is also a limit as to how much you can do based on the efficiency of your skimmer.
 
Well, I agree, except I would still start out the way that is described in the link in the first post in this thread, to try to prevent overdosing until you get a feel for your system.
 
The ones that use vodka you think it will be better than sugar dosing to eliminate the hair algae i have .
 
For my corals to feed off the bacteria the vodka produced.
I'm running mostly non photo corals in my tank, almost every coral in the tank needs to be fed.
I went through a 750 ml bottle of vodka so around 2 months?
Erik
 
Greetings All !


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12217866#post12217866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stony_corals
Just took my betty vitamin.... feel more colorful already. ...
Let's be honest ... don't we all feel more colorful after taking our Bam-Bam vitamins? :lol:


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12217866#post12217866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stony_corals
... C:N dosing ratio.... hmmm, how much do my fish poop? That'd be tough no, otherwise I suppose you could measure the amount of food fed, and assume some percentage of nitrogen content and voila, C:N dosing ratio figured out.... Oh wait, then I need to figure out how much nitrogen is in those 5 drops of aminos... pretty complex stuff?!?...
Complex? Hehe ... This is one of the reasons why I posted earlier ... "BTW, what I'm really interested in is the C:N dosing ratio ... not the overall system C:N ratio. This is a conceptual "departure" that folks may wish to consider."

It's also a "practical" departure. Dosing to address the issues of an unknown, dynamic nutrient pool I leave to others. I'm after a bacterial guild that will allow the manipulation of growth rates & color expression in certain types of coral. This is a fundamentally different goal from dosing vodka to lower nitrates.



<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12217866#post12217866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stony_corals ... My guess is that many of the individuals that are getting significant results from Zeo, FM, etc figure that out through observation and changes in dosing. ...
It has been ever thus ... :lol:



<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12217866#post12217866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stony_corals ... Wouldn't you think that by phosphates being a limited factor, this will impact denitrification from bacteria population growth being muted?!? Again we're most often talk PO4, not necessarily organic forms of P that biologically may become PO4. ...
From "bacteria growth being muted" ... sure, but only to a degree (this is the distinction I was trying to make earlier ... sorry if I was unclear). BTW, what makes you think that P is limited in the systems we're pondering?

Do folks really believe that denitrification pathways become inactive below a certain concentration threshold, or in the absence of P?

Seriously? ... :lol:



<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12217866#post12217866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stony_corals ... I think in the original vodka thread, Jorg or Jens pointed out that organic carbon dosing won't result in denitrification should a system be phosphate limited? ...
While I thoroughly enjoy the hobbyist articles, conceptual perspectives, and opinions of both Mr. Kallmeyer & Mr. Kokott, if the "vodka article" is a fair example of their "vodka theory" rigour ... well ... they're not the guys I want with me down in the bunker when the vodka flamewars jump off.

JMO ... :lol:




JMO .. HTH
:D


PS ... azgard, many, many thaks for the update. Much appreciated! :thumbsup:
 
Do folks really believe that denitrification pathways become inactive below a certain concentration threshold, or in the absence of P?

I know I don't...........it may impact algae(N/P ratio-redfield) but I doubt it has any impact on the denitrifying bacteria. I do wonder how the ratio impacts Sps & believe there are balances for best color & growth, but I seriously doubt you have to have .03 or lower phosphates to create this balance...........if they repeat these misnomers long enough on reef boards everyone starts to believe it.

From my old Martin Moe book I know the phosphorus cycle & nitrogen cycle are seperate & I know of no interelationship of the two..............at least Martin never mentioned it.:D
 
I'm not so sure that the general RC member has ever read a Moe book (or even ever heard of Moe for that matter). If he/she had, we might have collectively figured out how to put tanks on the moon by now. :).
 
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