Vodka, vinegar,biopellets and other organic carbon dosing

My local Petco has a nice Goniopora for sale. Bright red and the size of a golfball. How hard are they to keep, lighting and flow related. It's 100$ and I don't have money to throw away if I can't keep it alive. I could move my gorgonian to the other tank and see if it responds favorably.

:wildone:
 
I also filled my bio pellet reactor with the rest of the bag of all-in-one. Full 1000 mil. I am still dosing 2 mil vodka to keep nitrate stable.
The pellets should kick in fully, in about 1-3 weeks as far as I understand.
I did not rinse the pellets well, and there was a decent level of particulate that went out into the tank. Even with bare bottom I can't find any sign of it, so no problems on that front.

:wildone:
 
scubadan206 said:
My local Petco has a nice Goniopora for sale. Bright red and the size of a golfball. How hard are they to keep, lighting and flow related. It's 100$ and I don't have money to throw away if I can't keep it alive. I could move my gorgonian to the other tank and see if it responds favorably.

:wildone:
Click to expand...

It likes a nutrient rich environment. Enough flow to move the polyps but not damage. Start it on the sand bed and see how it does. Gradually move it up towards more light if needed
Measure your nitrates and phosphates before you dose. Keep some level of phosphates and nitrates as this coral needs it
Btw
I paid 80 cdn for mine.
 
Some are easier than others. The reds and smaller encrusting types tend be easier to keep time in th right condidtions. The others like stokesi species ; not so much. I have several that are doing well after 3 to 6 years in a heavily fed .low nuteint sytems with otrganic carbon dosing. the availability of small zooxplankton like bactetia may be a key.
 
Hi Tom, A question for you, if you do not mind.
I have a personal circumstances where I have to travel for the next six or so month. living tank with my family is OK. but I do not want to leave my wife in charge of vodka and vinegar dosing. So I am thinking to change liquid daily dosing for solid carbon. I tried bio pallets before and did not like it, had quite few problems with it.
I am thinking to try Nitra-Guard Bio cubes. They sounds like better solution and less complicated.
I found a few posts and reef-builder article
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2305401
http://************.com/2012/09/27/nitraguard-biocubes-orca/
I am not asking your opinion on it as you already explained your self in beginning of this tread regarding any solid carbon dosing:).

The question is... Would you recommend any special routine to stop vodka/vinegar and switch to this cubes? Shell I keep dosing what I dose now and slowly add cubes or do I stop dosing and put this thing in instead?
I have about a month time to do a switch and testing.

BTW, I would appreciate any opinions, if any one had some experience with it.
 
AYZ said:
Hi Tom, A question for you, if you do not mind.

I have a personal circumstances where I have to travel for the next six or so month. living tank with my family is OK. but I do not want to leave my wife in charge of vodka and vinegar dosing. So I am thinking to change liquid daily dosing for solid carbon. I tried bio pallets before and did not like it, had quite few problems with it.

I am thinking to try Nitra-Guard Bio cubes. They sounds like better solution and less complicated.

I found a few posts and reef-builder article

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2305401

http://************.com/2012/09/27/nitraguard-biocubes-orca/

I am not asking your opinion on it as you already explained your self in beginning of this tread regarding any solid carbon dosing:).



The question is... Would you recommend any special routine to stop vodka/vinegar and switch to this cubes? Shell I keep dosing what I dose now and slowly add cubes or do I stop dosing and put this thing in instead?

I have about a month time to do a switch and testing.



BTW, I would appreciate any opinions, if any one had some experience with it.
Click to expand...


I can tell you from personal experience that when I was heading out for my deployment. My girlfriend maintain my vodka doses. All she had to do was change the bottle. That was all. So if your doses are good. That should really be the only thing for her to change.
 
I use the Nitraquard cubes plus dose vodka. I also use Gfo. The cubes seem to last 4 months and they are maintenance free.
Could you run them without vodka or vinegar dosing.. Probably I have lots of corporate tanks doing that.
 
I don't have any expereence with the cubes. If I were changing over from one source to another for organic carbon , I'd try 25% increments a week apart , monitoring PO4 and NO3 along the way.
 
tmz said:
I don't have any expereence with the cubes. If I were changing over from one source to another for organic carbon , I'd try 25% increments a week apart , monitoring PO4 and NO3 along the way.
Click to expand...

Yeast cubes produce ethanol through the fermentation process. It reduces to acetate just like pellets, vodka or vinegar..
I would think the time for it to be useful to bacteria would put yeast and vodka at a tie for quickest followed by vinegar with pellets taking the longest
 
I've been reading various links and throughout this thread over the past week and feel I have gained enough "basic" understanding of carbon dosing to attempt this.

I will be initiating vodka dosing tomorrow.

Via Hanna my phosphates are 5.
Api my nitrates are 60.

Total volume is roughly 140gal or so which equates to a dose of 0.6ml vodka as the initial dosage. (0.1ml/25gal x 6/150gal volume). Tank is 60x30x18 with a sump of 48 x 22 x 18 and an 8" waterline. Between DT and sump there is close to 175lbs lr.
Skimmer is a aquamaxx coneS Co3

Return jebao dc 6000 at 3/4 strength. Returns are positioned to promote aggressive surface agitation.

In tank circulation provided by mp40s and 1 mp60 about 2" from waterline.

I haven't found this info, so to clarify should I remove gfo till nitrates are where I want them?

Also is dosing bacteria recommended? Finally what signs of stress should one be aware of (bleaching, poor colors etc) and will corals show stress before fish?
 
How long has your tank been running?...with your numbers, has it cycled yet,...a water change may be prudent first.
 
007Bond said:
How long has your tank been running?...with your numbers, has it cycled yet,...a water change may be prudent first.
Click to expand...

all in all, it's been up for about 10 months; about 6 months ago, we moved so i had to drain, refill and restart tank with all my current livestock and liverock.

I do weekly 30G water changes. I don't mix my own salt, but purchase from the LFS. About 3 weeks ago, Nitrates were 20; last test it was 40 or 60 (i have a hard time identifying the color change on the API kit for those 2 ranges) I do make my own ATO water. I suspect the DI is exhausted and have since replaced it.

bioload is on heavier side: total of 18 or 19 fish.

I also feed heavy; I admit to being guilty of not pre-rinsing my frozen mysis. However I rarely feed that now (maybe 3x/week), with main feedings consisting of pellets 4x a day (small frequent feedings for the moorish idol) and daily nori.
 
I'm sure others will post advice,...just seem your NO3 and PO4's are very high to have carbon dosing correct the problem. Maybe ck the water after you mix the salt from your lfs before you add to your tank.
 
Are you keeping or planing to keep corals?

Is the PO4 5.0ppm? 0.5ppm ? 0.005ppm?
 
tmz said:
Are you keeping or planing to keep corals?

Is the PO4 5.0ppm? 0.5ppm ? 0.005ppm?
Click to expand...

0.5ppm via Hanna. I currently have some lps, nems and softies. Also a few sps colonies that haven't bleached (yet).

Is there a chance I'm doing any error on the hanna?
 
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