My Bacteria Driven Journey

[sedorusc]

another question I do have is that say it takes 10 days for my skimmer parts to come in. what changes should I make to my vodka dosing. I'm probably sure I don't want to start off where I left it at. do I cut it in half or start from the ground up again? thanks.

 

[rtparty]

another question I do have is that say it takes 10 days for my skimmer parts to come in. what changes should I make to my vodka dosing. I'm probably sure I don't want to start off where I left it at. do I cut it in half or start from the ground up again? thanks.

Start over from the very beginning.

PS - Awesome dog! I have a female sheltie and she has been the best dog for us.

 

[newsalt]

I've been using MB7 for about 3 months now. My total water volume is about 198g. I'm currently dosing 14 drops per day. I also started dosing 1 drop of Kents Lugols per day and 3 drops Zeo AAHC twice a week. I was dosing Vodka, but I stopped because I was getting this deep red "something" on some of my rocks. I'm not sure it's cyano because it does not siphon off easily. It's only on some of the rocks. Not on the sand. I did some testing today and got the following results:

Alk: 8.06 (LaMotte)
PO4: 0.03 (Hanna)
NO3: 0 (Salifert)
Mg: 1400
Ca: 440

Aside from whatever that deep red stuff is on my rocks, I have these issues: I have a few spots of Hair Algea, I noticed a day or two ago this white-ish/clear growth on my rocks and overflows. The best I can describe it is "peach fuzz". Also, my water clarity is not nearly what I would expect. Looking from the side, I can see through to the other side, but that tank just has this "haze" to it.

Any idea what might be causing the "peach fuzz"? What could the red stuff on my rocks be? How can I improve the water clarity? I am still not dosing Vodka. I'm not dosing Vodka because of the HA, peach fuzz and red stuff. Am I wrong for doing that? Maybe the Vodka would help. Please let me know.

Thanks

 

[Tswifty]

Tswifty, I have turf algae and I purchased 100 mexican hermits and they cleaned the rock right up, although you will need allot of them. Give them a week and the turf will probably be gone, however you will still need to get to the root of the problem to really get rid of it permanently.

I've thought about hermits before, but I haven't used them in a looooong time, because they seem to prey on all my snails. For now I'm just riding it out, and will wait to see if the Mexican Turbo Snails do any damage. I know how the turf algae got into my tank... I'm just not sure how long it will take to beat it though.

Tswifty,

How are things doing? I love to see your tank looking so much better. I mean, ya know the algae going away! The corals have always looked good from what I've seen.

Thank you.

I've had some recent developments which are keeping me away from the tank for longer periods of time right now. So currently I'm in a situation where I am considering getting out of "reefing" for a while. I haven't made any drastic decisions yet, as I will wait to see how the next few weeks go, but have begun clearing out some of my corals.

If I do end up out of "reefing" I'll more than likely bank my nicer SPS corals with a friend until my situation stabilizes out a bit more, and I can free up the time to maintain the tank again. Right now the tank can run itself for about a week in my abscence, however I'm not around to observe the tank anywhere near as much as I would like too... which leaves the door open for something to go horribly wrong.

Currently my little sister is maintaining, dosing, and feeding the tank. I have a checklist calendar which she follows. However, she's 13 yrs old... and involved in multiple activities... so even though she has the best of intentions, the tank gets neglected from time to time.

I have a 250 gallon tank, total water volume is about 275 gallons. It was a transfer from a 90 gallon and already cycled rock was added to fill the tank out. The tank is now approaching 2 months old, ive been dosing 5ml of vodka a day for about 3 weeks now because of some algae growth on the sand and some hair algae appearing in the overflow boxes. Sand is clearer now but hair algae remains in overflow boxes. My sps is doing extremely well, 1/4" growth on my frags in a few weeks time. I also do 4 drops of sponge power and amino acids a day. I have a bottle of microbater7, but im wondering would using this give me any more benefits and if so how much and how often would i start out at and what to look for. Tank is very clear...

Thanks
Dennis

Using Microbacter7 certainly wouldn't hurt anything IMO. On my system I noticed improvements from dosing the Microbacter7 alone, before I had even begun Vodka dosing. I started with a 2 week "seeding" period, where I only dosed the MB7 before beginning Vodka dosing. The thought is that you boost the population of good bacteria, so that once you begin dosing vodka the good bacteria will outcompete the harmful bacteria for the carbon source.

The directions can be a bit confusing, but if you are concerned you can start with the low nutrient dosage. I currently use this dosage for my system but split the weekly dose into smaller daily portions, so I dose 1ml per day to my system.

Good luck.

had an unfortunate break with my skimmer. have to order a new needlewheel impeller. probably week to ten days to arrive. should I hold off on any dosing of mb7 and vodka? plan on still dosing alk and calcium. just looking for ideas. thanks

As others mentioned, I would hold off on MB7 and Vodka during this time period just to be safe. Then resume once you get your skimmer back up and functioning. I'm one of those people that tends to be overcautious when it comes to things like that though.

Tj,
you have changed from monthly water changes to bi weekly? Have you noticed any major changes since you removed the cheato? i have since opened the valve fully to my refuge and see a huge growth in cheato. I think cheato does better with higher flow rather than lower. Hope all is well

Rob

Yeah, I do water changes every 2 weeks now. I used to do them weekly, but since I began vodka/bacteria dosing, have backed off a bit. In the brief period I was home after removing the macro algae, I did not notice any negative effects. I'm not 100% sure when I will be returning from Ohio to observe the tank... hopefully later this week sometime (Thurs/Fri) but will update the thread once I get back with some pictures and observations.

I noticed a similar effect though, and in my past experience never had luck with macro algae when running a low flow fuge system.

What is the reason one should not use Mb7 without a skimmer?

Some have expressed concerns over a temporary drop in O2 levels. However, I've never seen any "set in stone" answer regarding the topic. I mean if you read the instructions on the bottle it states to turn the skimmer off when dosing, even though I and many people do not do so... like I said... I don't have an answer. :lol:

Joining in the discussion.

I've been dosing vodka for 5 months now. I started MB7 about 2.5 months ago, but I've been kind of hit and miss with dosing it.

I was down to undetectable NO, but over the course of a few weeks and a hosed up skimmer ... NO crept back up to 5-10.

I'm finally seeing it come back down after increasing Vodka to 2ml/ day. I've been hitting the MB7 at 10ml weekly with another 7 drops a couple other times a week.
NO now at 2.5 >>> PO have always been nil with salifert tests.
Cyano started popping up again last week. Nothing too out of control, but annoying. I have bubble algae issues now too. Nothing too severe, but annoying.

The thing that bothers me the most is keeping the film off the glass >>> I shouldn't be bad for about 3 days from past experience. I'm at about 1.5 now. I also get the brown build up on my powerheads after a week.

BTW >>> 2 part dosing advice.
I run my Alk and Ca with a medical pump all day.
You don't need a pump to dose your Mg. Just hit it once a week- week and half. You can raise it 100 without stress. I just throw in like a cup a week depending on need.

That's odd you are experiencing a film/brown build up. Since I began dosing MB7/Vodka I've noticed the sand no longer gets a brown dusting every few days, and I can go A LOT longer in between cleaning the panes on the tank.

Did you ever consider stopping Vodka dosing, and dosing only MB7 for a week or two, before resuming the Vodka again?

I was dosing Mag twice per week manually. It's just nicer not having to worry about manually dosing it anymore. Just one more thing to remember (or forget) to do IMO. Especially if you aren't around the tank a whole lot.

I've been using MB7 for about 3 months now. My total water volume is about 198g. I'm currently dosing 14 drops per day. I also started dosing 1 drop of Kents Lugols per day and 3 drops Zeo AAHC twice a week. I was dosing Vodka, but I stopped because I was getting this deep red "something" on some of my rocks. I'm not sure it's cyano because it does not siphon off easily. It's only on some of the rocks. Not on the sand. I did some testing today and got the following results:

Alk: 8.06 (LaMotte)
PO4: 0.03 (Hanna)
NO3: 0 (Salifert)
Mg: 1400
Ca: 440

Aside from whatever that deep red stuff is on my rocks, I have these issues: I have a few spots of Hair Algea, I noticed a day or two ago this white-ish/clear growth on my rocks and overflows. The best I can describe it is "peach fuzz". Also, my water clarity is not nearly what I would expect. Looking from the side, I can see through to the other side, but that tank just has this "haze" to it.

Any idea what might be causing the "peach fuzz"? What could the red stuff on my rocks be? How can I improve the water clarity? I am still not dosing Vodka. I'm not dosing Vodka because of the HA, peach fuzz and red stuff. Am I wrong for doing that? Maybe the Vodka would help. Please let me know.

Thanks

It sounds like you are experiencing some bacterial blooms in your tank. I would cut your vodka dosage in half, increase your MB7 dosage a bit, and see how the tank reacts.

Looking at the directions... the Low Nutrient dosage for you system is about 20 ml per week... or approx 3 ml per day. 14 drops sounds like it's a lot less than that IMO. Have you ever measured how many ml 14 drops is equivelant to?

 

[newsalt]

I would cut your vodka dosage in half, increase your MB7 dosage a bit, and see how the tank reacts.

I'm not dosing vodka at all. Just MB7

 

[newsalt]

The instructions for Low Nutrient dosage doesn't make sense to me:

"5 ml (1 capful)/50 US-gallons/week": For my system 19.8ml/week or 2.8ml/day

"Alternately, add 1 drop/50 US-gallons/day": For my system 3.9 drops/day. I'm adding 14 drops/day

Using drops, I'm adding more that instructed. However I'm sure the 14drops I'm adding is not equal to the 2.8ml recommended for my system.

Confused.

 

[slow_leak]

Atleast it doesn't have spelling errors like the Seachem Fuel additive label

 

[pcannone]

TJ

Hope everything works out for you. Good Luck

 

[Aqua Keepers]

Regarding MB7 with no skimmer:
I know that I have read of a few people who experienced low O2 probs when dosing without a skimmer. I can't remember who had the issues nor what thread they were posting in (maybe Sonny's thread), but I wouldn't dose with out a skimmer just to be safe or you hear otherwise from someone with first hand experience.

 

[Tswifty]

Well, I've been away from the tank for around 11 days, and just got back from Ohio tonight. My 13 yr old sister has been very diligent dosing vodka (2.8 ml per day), microbacter 7 (1 ml per day) to the tank every day. As well as dosing Amino Acids twice per week (2 drops), and Kent Lugol's Solution once per week (1 drop). She has even kept a very detailed log on my calendar/checklist I made.

Initial reaction was that everything is still alive and growing, although my colors are still VERY light on a number of corals. Nitrates are still undetectable even after pulling the refugium. I'm planning on upping my amino acid dosing to 2 drops of CoralAmino every night now, and will watch how the tank reacts.

I'm only going to be around for 2 or 3 days... before I head back to Ohio again... so hopefully the tank will continue to "maintain" in my absence, until I can get into a position where I can transfer the tank out to Ohio.

I'll take some new pictures tomorrow.

 

[elijaher]

Tagged alone

 

[trueblackpercula]

I think the aminoacids should be increased to 6 drops per week and see if you see any results. I have been having the same problem light sps and started adding 12 drops of aa a week a see me sps getting darker.
Michael Anthony

 

[takayan]

When you increased AA dosing, did you get algae bloom?

 

[Tswifty]

Updated Pics:

Aug 9, 2009

Aug 30, 2009

Sept 15, 2009

Sept 20, 2009

October 4, 2009

October 21, 2009

 

[Tswifty]

FTS Progression

Aug 9, 2009

Aug 30, 2009

Sept 15, 2009

Sept 20, 2009

October 4, 2009

October 21, 2009

 

[NeveroddoreveN]

Great thread. I just read the whole thing. I'm going through the same problem of HA and turf. I've dosed Vodka in the past but stopped for my MB7 seeding period (day 7). I think I'll probably end up taking everything out, scrubbing the LR, and replacing the aquarium (the center brace is melted.) I've not decided what I'll end up doing with the sand bed. I currently have a moderately deep SB w/ fine(ish.) CC, shallow SB, shallow CC, BB, rock bottom? There are so many options.

 

[aquaph8]

Great progress!!! Thanks for taking all the time to post a bunch of pics.

 

[Tswifty]

When you increased AA dosing, did you get algae bloom?

I've only been dosing 4 drops of AA per week for a few weeks now. Thus far I have not noticed any negative reactions out of anything.

Great thread. I just read the whole thing. I'm going through the same problem of HA and turf. I've dosed Vodka in the past but stopped for my MB7 seeding period (day 7). I think I'll probably end up taking everything out, scrubbing the LR, and replacing the aquarium (the center brace is melted.) I've not decided what I'll end up doing with the sand bed. I currently have a moderately deep SB w/ fine(ish.) CC, shallow SB, shallow CC, BB, rock bottom? There are so many options.

I personally like a very shallow sand bed. Just enough for aesthetics. My sand bed is probably 1/2" to 3/4" throughout the tank.

Great progress!!! Thanks for taking all the time to post a bunch of pics.

Thank you.

 

[Tswifty]

Some pictures from today:

 

[Tswifty]