Vodka, vinegar,biopellets and other organic carbon dosing

I noticed NO3 in my taks mine hung around 5ppm down from 20ppm or so or so for months and then dropped suddenly to 0.2 and stayed there. I think it may just take some time for anaerobic bacteria to take hold and more efficiently process NO3. I don't thin 4ppm or .25 is anything to worry about.

Personally, I prefer a still reservoir and a peristatlic pump for dosing clear kalk water vs a kalk stirrer /reactor type set up.
 
I'll start by saying I want to dose carbon for No3, and Po4. Although I had a bad experience as I'll explain below, the colors and polyp extension observered when dosing vodka and vinegar had never looked better. I just don't know if it's the best option.

Currently keep No3 at around 2ppm, using a sulfur reactor (Korallin C1502 calc reactor but just using it as a So4 reactor). I hate the sulfur smell when NO3 gets too low, solve by ramping up the flow until NO3 climbs back to 5-10ppm.

For Po4, I use GFO, and lithium chloride, but struggle to keep PO4 at .08, let alone below that. I have issues now with green hair algae in my sump, and persistent Cryo popping up in my display. I switched from regenerated GFO to new GFO to see if that is the culprit, I know good things happen slow so after a month, I am noticing a cleaner tank, but what a pain blowing off the rock work every other day.

Idea 1: start dosing carbon, take so4 reactor off line and convert it to a calc reactor, and continue to use GFO

Idea 2: try the Algae Scrubber route, and use GFO as needed.

I've starting dosing only 1ml of vodka each day for the last two weeks"¦ I can see the colors and would love to go down idea 1's path"¦ just don't want any SPS die off.

Past carbon dosing: (1) bio-pellets, 3 yrs ago, which resulted in SPS die off. I kept reading how only the amount of carbon would be released based on need so I looked to solve why my SPS (starting at the base and working upward) were dying. Bottom line, once I took the pellet reactor off line, the receding stopped, and I was able to save some of the colonies. (2) Vodka and Vinegar, around a year and a half ago. At one point, my DIY So4 reactor kept leaking and I took the reactor off line, No3 climbed to around 20ppm. I tried at that time dosing vodka and vinegar using all the articles and never saw the reduction "“ but saw SPS base die off after I had been slowly ramping up for more than 2 months. I immediately reduced dosing in ½, and subsequently whined my tank off carbon. Not wanting to repeat what I saw with the biopellets. However what I liked about the V&V "“ was my tank as far as colors and polyp extension on LPS and SPS were incredibly vibrant.

This thread is the best summary I've read to date. Really good info so thanks Tom. I'd appreciate some advice from TMZ or others from the collective brain trust, on what to do next.
 
Dave & Monica said:
Bump
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I'm a fan of idea number 1. I have done ultra low dose vodka with the same positive results (1mL in 100g) in coloration. My NO3 had always been zero. I did have problems with cyano though.

In the new tank I plan on starting very low vinger, observing for coloration and cyano. Then adding 1mL vodka and repeating observation.

Colors are BANG with vodka! Not sure about vinegar alone ---but I hear cyano is less of a problem.
 
Cure for brown SPS

Cure for brown SPS

Hi Tom, I keep coming back to this excellent thread! I first came here with an algae problem seemingly from old rock from a previous tank. A large fuge, oversized skimmer and GFO kept my numbers great but the algae kept marching on. Although I seriously considered carbon dosing, ultimately the solution was hundreds of dollars in snails, hermits, emeralds and finally a sea hare. A new balance was created and for now I have no visible algae, hooray. Despite great numbers I still have a relatively high nutrient system that is kept in bay by all the ravenous creatures. Now for my new problem.
My tank is mainly SPS with LED lighting. Very tricky to get Radions to not bleach the coral. Many of the corals are doing great or well but especially the blue acros are browned out with bleaching in areas. Flow, light, feeding and back to nutrient control. Sorry for being so long winded but I want ask if carbon dosing has been used as a final step for SPS coloration, Thanks again Marc
 
I am starting vodka dosing tonight! Do u recommend tmz to use vodka to get the levels down before starting Kalk vinegar saturation, Or can I start both at the start?
 
Tom- I have a question regarding your specific situation:

How do you handle vacations/trips when you're away? Do you have someone feed the fish and also dose vodka/vinegar? I know these bacterial populations wax and wane very quickly. Are you able to suspend dosing for a week or two if you're away and then resume upon your return? Do you need to "start over" with a smaller dose of organic carbon if this is the case, or do you pick up where you left off?

Thanks!
 
Scott,

I have never suspended the dosing in the 4 years on this run. I have some one, usually my son to tend my dogs and tanks when I go away and I keep his dogs when needed. a Actually, as a I recollect, I did suspend it once when I tried this about 6 years ago and stopped. Hair algae followed as the bacteria waned.

It can be automated with a small/ slow dose timed peristaltic pump as long as you don't dilute the ethanol or acetic acid very much ; when diluted either becomes susceptible to bacteria consuming it. I'm considering doing this.

Some folks dose it with their kalk (limewater) as top off ,since the high ph of the lime water keeps the bacteria at bay just as the acidity of the 5% acetic acid in vinegar or the alcohol concentration in the the 40% ethanol vodka do. When dosed with lime water , the timing of the dose follows the dosing schedule for the lime water though.

I like to bolus dose 2 x per day which could be done with the peri pump and timer and an undiluted vinegar and vodka mix. I'm considering this option.
 
So Tom Ive been dosing vinegar about 7 weeks i think now and Im at 80ml a day and still in the mid 20's on nitrates. My water volume is probably around 150-160. Do things start to mpve at about 2 months and should I be ramping up my vinegar any faster.
 
Boxfish said:
So Tom Ive been dosing vinegar about 7 weeks i think now and Im at 80ml a day and still in the mid 20's on nitrates. My water volume is probably around 150-160. Do things start to mpve at about 2 months and should I be ramping up my vinegar any faster.
Click to expand...

I'm interested ot hear Tom's opinion. This is a great question. Why? because our tank volume and vinegar dosing levels are very similar :D

This is an interesting article on vinegar dosing. Judging by the schedule that they tabled out, you ramped up faster than they recommended. My system is 175 gals and I went from about 40ml/day to 80ml/day over the course of 5 weeks. SPS didn't seem to like it when I went over 80ml, so that's where I stayed. Looking at the article, I wonder if I could go a bit higher if I move at a slower pace.

I recall that around 2 months is when I saw improvement, but my nitrates weren't as high as yours.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index...ar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium
 
Yea Im about the same as you .5ml and the tank looks great of coarse Im just a bunch of softies. But my RBTA have ever looked better. Although I did a test after my post on nitrates and it looks as though Im below 20 now, But who knows with these test kits they all suck when it comes to reading them. Im using the redsea pro and its still a guessing game. Wish they could do nitrates with a hanna that would be sweet.
 
Randy did that on purpose to see if there was an upper limit. 2ml was harmful.

I dose the equivalent(vodka and vinegar mix ) of roughly .7ml per gallon of vinegar currently.I recently took it up form .5 to see if I could do away with gfo entirely and keep PO4 sub .04ppm. So far so good ;no stringy mess no adverse reactions but my system is used to it after a 4 year run and each system is different.
I like the mix of vodka and vinegar because the short term ph effects are less than just straight vinegar and corals do seem to like it that way. There is one extra set of bacteria involved in taking ethanol to acetic acid; not sure what % of their activity occurs in watr column visa vie vinegar but I'm happy with rughly 70% vodka and 30% vinegar equivalents as a carbon source.

I think 10 to 20 ppm NO3 is nice for softies .

I remember years ago ,it took Melev dosing vodka 5 or 6 months before nitrates things started to drop.
In my case ,recollecting when I started, the nitrates were initially reduced with a sulfur dentrator from the 80ppm range to near zero. They climbed back up to the 10ppm range rather quickly. So, organic carbon dosing was initiated and dropped them back to around 5ppm . They hung there for months ,then suddenly several months later without any other changes they dropped to almost undetectable and have been there for years.
 
I am on week 7 and have not noticed any drop in Nitrates yet... just tested again today and i am greater than 50... However when i had the LFS test it, he said i was at 20... i just ordered a new salifert test kit because i am beginning to question this red sea test kit.... I am at 3.4 ml of vodka.... i am going by the ever so popular chart! hahaha
 
jordancemery65 said:
I am on week 7 and have not noticed any drop in Nitrates yet... just tested again today and i am greater than 50... However when i had the LFS test it, he said i was at 20... i just ordered a new salifert test kit because i am beginning to question this red sea test kit.... I am at 3.4 ml of vodka.... i am going by the ever so popular chart! hahaha
Click to expand...

Are you doing 3.4 ml vodka total per day? So that's 27.2 ml vinegar in 72g for 0.38 ml/g/day?
 
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