v o d k a

[Billybeau1]

Sunday morning update - week 5 (Happy Easter)

PO4 - still 1.5
Nitrates crept up a bit to 50 ppm.
Nitrites are back down

Everything else looks fine still

Cyno still slowly going away.

Going up to 8ml this week - See you next week

 

[Dawn II]

After about 4 days I stopped using it, as I am dosing with Kick Ick- and didn't know if they are complimentary or not. I will restart when I am through dosing. Thanks for the update.

 

[jiggy]

i have been dosing using cycles. i have been cycling up and down and taking breaks in between.
when i dose, i take tank water and put it in a seperate container (tupperware) and dose in there, and then add the water into my tank.
my dosing regiment for my 120g with 30g sump:
week 1: 1ml per day
week 2: 2ml per day
week 3: 3ml per day
week 4: 4ml per day
week 5: 4ml per day
week 6: 3ml per day
week 7: 2ml per day
week 8: 1ml per day

at least 4 week break. 8 week break would be ideal to let your tank 'recooperate'

repeat.

i would rather underdose than overdose. as far as aeration is concerned, im sure our skimmers produce more than enough bubbles to keep the water properly aerated.

 

[Dawn II]

Jiggidy- how long have you been dosing, and what are the results for your tank? Thank you, Dawn.

 

[Siapin]

Also, how did you come to the conclusion that you need to 1) have a bell shaped dosing scheme, and 2) take a 4 week break after the dosing scheme? Are there any ill effects to consistent dosing over the long run that you know about?

 

[jiggy]

im on my 2nd cycle.. i started dosing in january.. nothing bad has happened. i was up at 50ppm nitrates and started dosing. and kept on my regular 5g weekly waterchanges. after 10 days i was down to less than 10ppm. and after another week i was down to just about 0. my skimmer had been pulling out more gunk as well. id clean the mud off the inner cup, and in less than a week itd be muddy again.

i am by no means at expert at anything. i just read alot of threads and articles, and came to my own conclusions and decided to test them out.

i have never read about ill effects of long term dosing, but in my opinion, i think dosing any foreign chemical should be limited. thats y i cycle up to build up the bacteria, cycle down to let it settle, and then take a break.

 

[Siapin]

Very inquisitive

(I don't really know what that means, but it sounds good)



But that really is a thoughtful process. Best of luck. I'd like to see your thoughts a year from now, if you'd do anything different.

 

[Billybeau1]

Well, after 7 weeks of dosing, I have now quit. My trates are still at 50 and my Po4 is still at 1.5

About the only thing I saw was a small reduction in cyno.

Now this may be due to my skimmer not producing alot (about 2 cups per week) or it could have something to do with the fact that I have no live rock. Just bio-balls in the sump.

Since I dont plan on adding anything but fish, and my tank looks great and the fish are happy and healthy, I will save the vodka for me.

Experiment over

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

1.5 ppm phosphate?

 

[Billybeau1]

Yes Randy, I'm afraid so. Been like that for quite some time. I suspect its due to overfeeding. My make up water tests 0. I tried Rowaphas in a canister filter awhile back and didnt do much good. Can I live with that or should I keep trying to get it down. Like I said, fish seem happy and healthy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fish and soft corals may be OK, but I think that any inverts that deposit a calcium carbonate skeleton will be under significant stress.

 

[Billybeau1]

Well, like I said, fish only so I gave up trying. What I might start doing is rinsing my frozen food before I feed. I put a few drops of the frozen food liquid in the test vial and the po4 tested over 3.0

If I wasnt so lazy.