My Bacteria Driven Journey

[Tswifty]

Thought I would do a quick rundown on my system:

Tank Specs:

35 gallon display tank
15 gallon sump
External Coast to Coast Overflow w/ Modified Bean's Method
1/2-3/4" Sandbed Carib Sea Fiji Pink sand

Filtration:

Marine Solutions MSX-160 Protein Skimmer w/ Marine Solutions pin-wheel impeller
TLF Phosban 150 Reactor (Carbon)
Filter Sock - changed twice per week

Flow:

Eheim 1262 Return Pump
VorTech MP40w
Tunze Nanostream 6025

Lighting:

2 x 250 watt PFO Mini Pendents
2 x 250w DE Phoenix 14k bulbs
2 x PFO HQI (M80) ballast

Additives/Dosing:

BRS Calcium:
BRS Alkalinity:
ESV Magnesium:

*Ca, Alk and Mag dosing is handled by 3 BRS Drew's Dosing pumps which are controlled via my ACIII

40 proof Vodka: 3 ml per day
Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7: 1ml per day
Brightwell Aquatics Coral Amino: 4 drops twice per week
Kent Marine Lugol's Solution: 1 drop per week

5 gallon water change every 2 weeks (Coralife Salt Mix).

Controller:

Neptune Systems Aquacontroller III w/ I/O Breakout Box

Fish:

4 Green Chromis
3 Bartlett Anthias
2 Yasha Hase White Ray Shrimpgobies
1 Eibli Mimic Tang
1 Bangaii Cardinal
1 Mystery Wrasse
1 Midas Blenny

Clean-up Crew:

1 Tiger Tail Cucumber
1 Sea Hare
1 Longspine Urchin
2 Emerald Mithrax Crabs
3 Mexican Turbo Snails
4 Trochus Snails
10-15 Super Tongan Nassarius Snails

 

[Tswifty]

Thanks, I have just added two urchines about a quarter size.:bounce3:

Congrat on the Thread of the Month and Sticky :beer:

Thank you.

 

[LISound]

Thought I would do a quick rundown on my system:

Tank Specs:

35 gallon display tank
15 gallon sump
External Coast to Coast Overflow w/ Modified Bean's Method
1/2-3/4" Sandbed Carib Sea Fiji Pink sand

Filtration:

Marine Solutions MSX-160 Protein Skimmer w/ Marine Solutions pin-wheel impeller
TLF Phosban 150 Reactor (Carbon)
Filter Sock - changed twice per week

Flow:

Eheim 1262 Return Pump
VorTech MP40w
Tunze Nanostream 6025

Lighting:

2 x 250 watt PFO Mini Pendents
2 x 250w DE Phoenix 14k bulbs
2 x PFO HQI (M80) ballast

Additives/Dosing:

BRS Calcium:
BRS Alkalinity:
ESV Magnesium:

*Ca, Alk and Mag dosing is handled by 3 BRS Drew's Dosing pumps which are controlled via my ACIII

40 proof Vodka: 3 ml per day
Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7: 1ml per day
Brightwell Aquatics Coral Amino: 4 drops twice per week
Kent Marine Lugol's Solution: 1 drop per week

5 gallon water change every 2 weeks (Coralife Salt Mix).

Controller:

Neptune Systems Aquacontroller III w/ I/O Breakout Box

Fish:

4 Green Chromis
3 Bartlett Anthias
2 Yasha Hase White Ray Shrimpgobies
1 Eibli Mimic Tang
1 Bangaii Cardinal
1 Mystery Wrasse
1 Midas Blenny

Clean-up Crew:

1 Tiger Tail Cucumber
1 Sea Hare
1 Longspine Urchin
2 Emerald Mithrax Crabs
3 Mexican Turbo Snails
4 Trochus Snails
10-15 Super Tongan Nassarius Snails

how's the bubble algae doing?

 

[Robert Patterso]

Okay I've been dosing MB7 and vodka. Did the two week thing with the MB and started dosing the vodka last saturday. My vodka dose is @ 1ml right now. I am sure I read this somewhere but don't recall. My Monti. caps are bleaching as of this week. Should I up the dose on the MB7, lower the vodka dose or both? This started after I started the vodka. Using 80 proof. 140g tank, 75g sump, approx. 100+lbs of rock. Skimmer area approx. 16 gal. of water, refugium approx. 20g. return 10-12.
Thanks

 

[LISound]

Okay I've been dosing MB7 and vodka. Did the two week thing with the MB and started dosing the vodka last saturday. My vodka dose is @ 1ml right now. I am sure I read this somewhere but don't recall. My Monti. caps are bleaching as of this week. Should I up the dose on the MB7, lower the vodka dose or both? This started after I started the vodka. Using 80 proof. 140g tank, 75g sump, approx. 100+lbs of rock. Skimmer area approx. 16 gal. of water, refugium approx. 20g. return 10-12.
Thanks

what are the levels in your tank? KH, po4, etc?

 

[Robert Patterso]

what are the levels in your tank? KH, po4, etc?

Ca. 440
Alk. 8.5
Mg. 1350
NO3 10
Po4 2.5

Checked Wednesday this week

 

[SupaJSK]

Is there no point to having a refugium with chaeto to improve water quality using this system? Or does anyone still keep the refugium? Will the chaeto actually die, or will it just not grow?

 

[oscarsdad608]

I am hoping by keeping mine I can keep track of my dosing. If the cheato starts to suffer I will cut back on the vodka. I have only been dosing MB7 about a week though.

I also have a ? that has probably been asked a million times? How long are people leaving their skimmers off after dosing. Does it really need to be off 4 hours?

 

[Robert Patterso]

I am hoping by keeping mine I can keep track of my dosing. If the cheato starts to suffer I will cut back on the vodka. I have only been dosing MB7 about a week though.

I also have a ? that has probably been asked a million times? How long are people leaving their skimmers off after dosing. Does it really need to be off 4 hours?

Not turning the skimmers off...

 

[aquaph8]

Do not turn off your skimmer. Leave it on. I havent seen it yet but aparently the newer bottle say to leave it on.

 

[LISound]

I still shut mine down or at least take off the collection cup. I don't get any skimate for a few hours after dosing MB7 anyway.

 

[oscarsdad608]

I just don't want the skimmer taking the bacteria out of the water before it gets a chance to even do anything.

 

[SOLANA34]

I had a problem similar to yours all you need to do is reduce your flow. It looks like everything is getting blasted with flow snails perfer lower flow areas for food and for some reason there is less algae on the side of my tank with the least amount of direct flow. You should also stop dosing. EVERYTHING but your 2 part give it a week and you should be back to normal I have nothing but sps in my nano "45 gal" with a mp20 and a eheim 1260 for return I turned off my mp 20 and 1 week later it was almost all gone. There is something about the flow that algae likes

 

[Tswifty]

how's the bubble algae doing?

Good... doesn't seem to be coming back anywhere near as fast as before. Corals are doing great though. I need to check my picture dates and see when I'm due for another progression update.

Okay I've been dosing MB7 and vodka. Did the two week thing with the MB and started dosing the vodka last saturday. My vodka dose is @ 1ml right now. I am sure I read this somewhere but don't recall. My Monti. caps are bleaching as of this week. Should I up the dose on the MB7, lower the vodka dose or both? This started after I started the vodka. Using 80 proof. 140g tank, 75g sump, approx. 100+lbs of rock. Skimmer area approx. 16 gal. of water, refugium approx. 20g. return 10-12.
Thanks

If corals began bleaching I would stop dosing Vodka until the corals recover. Then once they recover try starting again at 50% of the recommeneded dosage. I would continue to dose the MB7 though.

Is there no point to having a refugium with chaeto to improve water quality using this system? Or does anyone still keep the refugium? Will the chaeto actually die, or will it just not grow?

I don't see the point in running one from a water quality standpoint. The Vodka/MB7 will be enough to keep the nutrient levels in check.

I am hoping by keeping mine I can keep track of my dosing. If the cheato starts to suffer I will cut back on the vodka. I have only been dosing MB7 about a week though.

I also have a ? that has probably been asked a million times? How long are people leaving their skimmers off after dosing. Does it really need to be off 4 hours?

I don't turn the skimmer off.

 

[Tswifty]

Skimmer went down today. It's been struggling all week, something keeps going wrong with the pump, but I'm not sure what. It's still running, but water level inside the skimmer drops to only about 1/2 of filling the skimmer body, with little to no bubble production.

I thought I fixed it earlier in the week, but obviously not. So I'm going to call Marine Solutions tomorrow, and see what I can do. However, until I get the situation resolved and have a skimmer that is running 24/7 without issue, I'm going to suspend the Vodka/MB7 dosing.

For those wondering... the skimmer is a Marine Solutions MSX-160 w/ Sicce PSK-2500 pump (Marine Solutions Pin-Wheel).

 

[trueblackpercula]

Tswifty
I see your system is looking good con grats. I have aquestion for ya I also have seen a big improvment in my system since vodka dosing but have you noticed that coralin algea decrease on the glass and rock work? In my tank everything looks good and sps are happy and have more color then ever. But I have noticed a major decrease in purple coralin algea. Do you have the same results
in your tank?
I am also dosing lugos 5 drops
per day and 9 drops of Mb7 a day if that matters.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Just tested Po4 and NO3

PO4 - 0. Tested 2 times, Salifert
No3 - 15ppm
Doesn't that seem reversed? Or is it the norm?

 

[Henry Bowman]

Tswifty
I see your system is looking good con grats. I have aquestion for ya I also have seen a big improvment in my system since vodka dosing but have you noticed that coralin algea decrease on the glass and rock work? In my tank everything looks good and sps are happy and have more color then ever. But I have noticed a major decrease in purple coralin algea. Do you have the same results
in your tank?
I am also dosing lugos 5 drops
per day and 9 drops of Mb7 a day if that matters.

ULNS Systems tend to have a reduction in coralin algea. I have run Zeo for over a year. Many Zeoheads report the same observation. I have also lost the pink and red stuff on the back of my tank but the rocks still look nice. I dont have a clue as to why....

 

[Tswifty]

Tswifty
I see your system is looking good con grats. I have aquestion for ya I also have seen a big improvment in my system since vodka dosing but have you noticed that coralin algea decrease on the glass and rock work? In my tank everything looks good and sps are happy and have more color then ever. But I have noticed a major decrease in purple coralin algea. Do you have the same results
in your tank?
I am also dosing lugos 5 drops
per day and 9 drops of Mb7 a day if that matters.

Thanks. Like mentioned above a lot of people report reduction in Coraline algae. However, I still need to scrape my acrylic panes weekly and the powerheads still need vinegar baths every month or so.

Just tested Po4 and NO3

PO4 - 0. Tested 2 times, Salifert
No3 - 15ppm
Doesn't that seem reversed? Or is it the norm?

To get a true reading you're going to need a Hannah Photometer. I've never been able to get readings using the titration kits (Salifert, etc...).

 

[Robert Patterso]

Thanks. Like mentioned above a lot of people report reduction in Coraline algae. However, I still need to scrape my acrylic panes weekly and the powerheads still need vinegar baths every month or so.

To get a true reading you're going to need a Hannah Photometer. I've never been able to get readings using the titration kits (Salifert, etc...).

Afraid a Hannah meter ain't in the budget right now. Best price I have found is 169. Going to have to stick to the old ways for now.