My Bacteria Driven Journey

[trueblackpercula]

I had the same po4 zero and nitrates took 30 days after that to go to zero. Your almost there just keepgoing slow until you get to zero. Then it's half the vodka dose until it's starts to creep back up.
Good luck

 

[Tswifty]

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.

Yeah I hear that. It's not and hasn't been in my budget either. :lol:

Luckily I have some friends who own them, and was able to borrow a week or two. If you're a member of a local reef club, you can always ask around there. If it's an option it would be nice to even just get a spot check every once in a while.

 

[Tswifty]

Small update: My skimmer pump went down again today. I'm not sure what the problem is, and why it's been acting up lately. Luckily a friend of mine has offered to lend me his extra pump while I try to figure out what is going on with mine.

Vodka dosing and feeding was skipped today as a result, but I still dosed MB7 and Amino Acids. I'll probably do a 5-10g water change tomorrow as well just to be on the safe side. Hopefully, I' won't be down without a skimmer much longer than 24-48hrs.

 

[myaerica]

Not to hijack this great thread but what to do. I ran out of mb7 on the tenth day of the two week dosing scedule. Do I start all over dosing or start where I left off on the tenth day?

 

[Tswifty]

Some LPS that have also massively improved in health and coloration during this process:

 

[Tswifty]

Not to hijack this great thread but what to do. I ran out of mb7 on the tenth day of the two week dosing scedule. Do I start all over dosing or start where I left off on the tenth day?

Were you ramping "up" Microbacter 7 dosage? A lot of people start with a larger dosage initially, then move down to a maintenance dose. With that being said, I would just start back up where you left off.

Good luck

 

[Tswifty]

I made up a new calendar today, so I figured I would post it. I plan on upping my Vodka dosage to 3.8 ml per day starting tomorrow, and am going to leave my Microbacter 7 dosage alone (1ml per day) for now.

 

[Taqpol]

When you have no detectable nitrates how do you decide when and what to up your vodka dosage to?

 

[Tswifty]

For me it's been kind of an experiment. I up my dosages slower than the chart recommends so I can observe my tank over the course of a few weeks. Then I make an adjustment based on what I see in the tank. Right now I'm upping the dosage a little more to see if it will have any impact on the Red "Fuzzy" Algae or Green Bubble Algae.

 

[Henry Bowman]

For me it's been kind of an experiment. I up my dosages slower than the chart recommends so I can observe my tank over the course of a few weeks. Then I make an adjustment based on what I see in the tank. Right now I'm upping the dosage a little more to see if it will have any impact on the Red "Fuzzy" Algae or Green Bubble Algae.

I believe your slow and observe approach is CRITICAL to successful implementation of any probiotic system....

 

[Taqpol]

Wow, I forgot you had any left over algae, all the progression shots have been so impressive. The only algae that I have in my system is two spots of bubble algae that just appeared (I wonder if theres a correlation between MB7 and bubble algae?) and a small patch of brown fuzzy algae on one rock that my tang loves picking at, so i don't have that much to judge off of.

Currently I am dosing 10 drops of MB7 and .5ml of 80 proof vodka to my 140 gallon system daily, but I feel like i could be doing more. I have been at this level of vodka for two weeks and the current dosage of MB7 for over six weeks. Some corals are just now starting to really lighten up (ORA Red Planet and Pearlberry, a random maricultured colony) and I'm thinking about starting the amino acids.

Do you think I can/should up my vodka? For starting amino acids do you think I should copy your dosing pattern and do 2-4 drops every tuesday/thursday?

 

[newsalt]

Started my own version of Polyp Lab Reef-resh system. the Reef-resh system consists of:
RF Genesis
RF Plus
RF Acids
RF Fuel

I'm substituting the following for the Polyp Lab products:

Brightwell MicroBacter7 (for RF Genesis)
Zeo Coral Vitalizer (for RF Plus)
Zeo Amino Acids High Concentrate (for RF Acids)
Brightwell Reef BioFuel (for RF Fuel)

My dosing is going to be:
MB7 : 4 drops/day
AAHC: 4 drops/day
Coral Vitalizer: 4 dropsday
BioFuel: 6ml/day for weeks 1&2, 8ml/day for weeks 3&4, 10ml/day for week 5 and on.

Today PO4 measured 0.08 (Hanna)
Nitrate measured 0 (Salifert)

 

[aquaph8]

Newsalt, you should start your own thread with that system.

 

[newsalt]

Will do.

 

[Tswifty]

Wow, I forgot you had any left over algae, all the progression shots have been so impressive. The only algae that I have in my system is two spots of bubble algae that just appeared (I wonder if theres a correlation between MB7 and bubble algae?) and a small patch of brown fuzzy algae on one rock that my tang loves picking at, so i don't have that much to judge off of.

Currently I am dosing 10 drops of MB7 and .5ml of 80 proof vodka to my 140 gallon system daily, but I feel like i could be doing more. I have been at this level of vodka for two weeks and the current dosage of MB7 for over six weeks. Some corals are just now starting to really lighten up (ORA Red Planet and Pearlberry, a random maricultured colony) and I'm thinking about starting the amino acids.

Do you think I can/should up my vodka? For starting amino acids do you think I should copy your dosing pattern and do 2-4 drops every tuesday/thursday?

If you don't have any nuisance algae or detectable nutrient levels than I wouldn't worry changing your MB7 or Vodka dosage. Since you're beginning to notice some corals lighten up, I would begin dosing the Amino Acids though. I would start at whatever level you feel comfortable with. Maybe start with 2 drops, twice per week for a week or two... then move up to 4 drops if you don't see an impact.

 

[maysorum]

Since switching over to MB7/Vodka I no longer get drops in Ph, excess bacterial growth, and my system is doing better. The daily dosing has really made a difference.

Plus, MB7/vodka is cheaper and much easier to find.

What happens when you go on vacation??

 

[Tswifty]

I'm actually away from my tank quite frequently. The chart I posted above is on a clipdoard which sits next to the tank, and all my family members are trained on how to dose the tank. There are even a lot of days where I'm local, but can't make it over to the tank. My family knows to check the list around 5pm... if the boxes aren't checked, then they dose the tank and check it off on the list.

I have a 13yr old sister who pretty much does everything in my absence. She really enjoys it, so I never have to worry if the tank is being properly taken care of.

 

[NexDog]

I'm starting to see some Calothrix Cyano in my tank. I've never had any algae issues and this seems to have started together with my vodka dosing. I know some people have linked Red Cyano to Vodka dosing so this Calothrix type might be connected to the Vodka too. I have a large water volume and I'm up to 16ml VSV right now but it isn't hitting the PO4 at all (measured at 1 yesterday). I keep knocking it down with Phosphate Control but it always creeps up. So I've been thinking about starting MB7. Extra PO4 eating bacteria can't hurt, right? Will I face any issues with it if I'm already dosing VSV?

At the recommended dosage of 5ml per 25g to start with a 2L bottle is going to last 20 days.....hmmm, maybe I'll stick with VSV and Phosphate Control.

 

[reefguy222]

You only dose 5ml-25 gal for 2 weeks then hit the low dosage!

 

[Tswifty]

I'm starting to see some Calothrix Cyano in my tank. I've never had any algae issues and this seems to have started together with my vodka dosing. I know some people have linked Red Cyano to Vodka dosing so this Calothrix type might be connected to the Vodka too. I have a large water volume and I'm up to 16ml VSV right now but it isn't hitting the PO4 at all (measured at 1 yesterday). I keep knocking it down with Phosphate Control but it always creeps up. So I've been thinking about starting MB7. Extra PO4 eating bacteria can't hurt, right? Will I face any issues with it if I'm already dosing VSV?

At the recommended dosage of 5ml per 25g to start with a 2L bottle is going to last 20 days.....hmmm, maybe I'll stick with VSV and Phosphate Control.

I'm not dosing VSV, only Vodka, so I can't really comment. The theory behind dosing the Microbacter 7 (or any bacteria) is that you are building up the population of "good" bacteria in the tank, so that it can outcompete harmful "bacteria" for the carbon source.

There is a 2 week seeding process, then you scale the dosage back to a miantenance dose. Most people (including myself) did not dose a carbon source during this initial 2 week period.