Strange Problem with tank

[chadm]

Ok, so I recently started dosing Vodka to get my Nitrates down. Dosing only 0.25 ml a day (never been higher). At first everything seemed to really improve.

Pre -Vodka

Nitrate 30ppm

2 weeks into Vodka

Nitrate 5 - 10ppm

Previously to the dosing, my SPS were amazing in colour but growth was sluggish. bare Bottom tank, for over a year.. with zero issues until now. 250w dual MH 10K bulbs.. about 6 months old each.

Anyways, all of a sudden my SPS are going down hill. no polyps open on my Cats Paw or any other SPS for that matter, one acro went very very light tan in colour (edges at bottom still purple). another coral is going some weird disgusting brown / green combo.. was once a really brilliant green.

Anyways, things are looking scary bad. I stopped my vodka dosing (only thing I have done differently) and added some carbon in case something got in the tank. Nothing has been added or changed in months other than adding the vodka, and putting Kalk on a dosing machine controlled by PH monitor to keep PH steady at 8.1

Current Params are

Nitrate 25 (back up after stopping dosing)
Alk 6.7
Cal 450
PH 8.1 to 8.3
Temp 81 (steady 24 / 7)
Salinity 1.26 - 1.27

Alk drops like crazy in my tank, no matter how much I try to keep it up. However, its always been like this. With no issues other than slow growth.

Fish are : Coral Beauty
Blue Spotted Rabbit Fish


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If anyone has a clue.. please help.. I am getting frustrated with this tank... algae issue as well.. sigh..

Thanks
Best Regards
Chad

 

[Cody Ray]

Oh boy, your going through almost the same thing I did, you need to plenty of water changes asap, your also going to want to increase your dissolved oxygen content (either add some air pumps or increase surface agregation (spelling). Pretty much everything in my system died hopefully your tank won't follow in suit

 

[chadm]

What caused your problem? Vodka dosing? Not the news I wanted to hear!

 

[Shooter7]

From the little I've read on it, my understanding is that dosing vodka can really reduce oxygen levels in the tank. Perhaps this is what is happening?

 

[chadm]

the low O2 might be believable if I was dosing huge amounts of vodka, but I think .25 ml is such a tiny amount.. I just cannot believe it. This is the starting dosage pretty much. Lots of surface aggitation and skimmer as well.. plus wouldn't the larger rabbit fish have ill effects before the corals do?

 

[Obi-dad]

One of the problems with vodka dosing is driving phosphate levels too low - been there, done that. It got rid of my hair algae, but also got rid of some of my acros (granted I did other changes at the same time, but vodka dosing is risky).

 

[chadm]

never really thought of the lower phosphate.

 

[DitchPlains2]

been there done that

been there done that

I've dosed Vodka, and good stuff Belvedere, did absolutely **** except I believe cause the death of two of my fav corals, Ora blue, and ora red mille, I have since replaced these items with new frags. It's a crap shot, yes the bacteria spawned the ethanol(sugar) additive will cause a big bloom of these helpful basteria, but at the same time if your not careful they will consume all the O2 in the process. I know people can swear by it, but I think as we have all come to understand to have both good growth and color in sps is not just a zero nitrates, zero phosphate solution, often it means having a balanced system vodka can tip the scales blooming one type of bacteria. I would say this your alk levels could be dropping as a result of lack of O2, can you add O3? ozone to your system to perhaps balance this out? I would say vodka is deadly unless your tank is suffering from major nitrates and phos and or algal blooms already. Good luck, I would remove items, quarrtine and restablish correct parameters in your display.

good luck
David
GO AZZURI!!

 

[chadm]

Thanks David, and everyone else for their replies..

I will, do what I can, lets hope I start to see some PE. I have thought about getting Ozone but I am not sure I want to pour more money into controllers etc..

 

[clkwrk]

When I was dosing I got up 35 mil in 180g and still never had a bloom . Never once lost a coral due to it either. Even if I did I would say I killed it not vodka. Vodka didn't jump into your tank

Although I did stop because I was po4 limited and therefore the vodka wasn't bringing N down anymore. Solution was to feed more introducing po4 to get it near a 1 to 10 ratio then resumed only once again to stop because of becoming PO4 limited. If one continues when they are PO4 limited you can kill acros or cause them to have a change in density of zoox.

 

[chadm]

My PO4 has never been detectable.. was that my first mistake? I am having an algae issue so I figured the algae was just absorbing the PO4.

 

[clkwrk]

IMO yes vodka is not going to help but waterchanges and maybe heavier feeding to help . Then you can always back off again if you find colors are too dark or browning. During this time I would keep hand prunning your algae with twezzers .

Sorry if I missed it what are you testing PO4 with ? If salifert I would use 2 test vials one with regular tank water and the one you do your test in . This helps get a more accurate reading since you will be able to see the slightest tint when side by side.

I will also say you need to bring your alk up a bit at least 7.7dkh

If you wan't to maintain Alk then figure your daily usage then fromthere you can add your daily useage to a top off that is used daily . Or if your top container holds enough for more than one day then adjust accordingly.

IMO having your kalk controlled by a ph meter is only helping ph but not supplying enough to keep alk up.

 

[chadm]

yeah, there does seem to be a deficiency with the Kalk top off not being enough. So, in the morning I add a bit of BS to the top off.. Cal is a bit high anyway.. so once it comes down all should be good to go with a balanced additive.

I stopped the Vodka when I noticed this happening, WC seemed to have helped. The corals in question are now extending polyps ever so slightly at night only.

I've never had good PE tho.

I have three fish in this tank, wondering if nipping might be a problem.

1x Coral Beauty
1x Rabbit Fish (blue spotted)
1x Damsel

Could they be causing any of this?

 

[clkwrk]

coral beauty is a possible suspect.........Only way you will find out is to sit kinda out of sight and stare for a long time

 

[trueblackpercula]

Have you added anything new to the tank? Live rocks,more feedings,New Sps corals with large plugs ETC.
Also what size tank is it and how much live rock do you have?