Is it OK to dose Vodka and run an UV ?

[Casey8]

I know I feed my fish too much but I don't like to torture them either, I want them to be able to fully enjoy their life in my small tank. Phosphate and nitrate are the reason I need to do something about it. I had tried bio pellets for 6 months and it had wiped out more than 3/4 of my sps corals from bleaching them. I have been dosing Vodka for about a month now and I am watching it very carefully to see if anything goes wrong with my coral. But so far so good, they are all coloring up more nice than before. If bio pellets is the only way that I can set up an UV again because it holds bacteria in the reactor like Cal_stir said, then maybe I have to try it one more time with those "scary" pellets.

[TimT]

Not all the bacteria will be floating in the water column. Many are attached to a substrate... like a bio pellet or live rock or inside of pipes etc etc.

I dose sugar and vinegar and run a UV and it works fine.

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by TimT

Not all the bacteria will be floating in the water column. Many are attached to a substrate... like a bio pellet or live rock or inside of pipes etc etc.

I dose sugar and vinegar and run a UV and it works fine.

Dosing sugar and vinegar ? Never heard of that, but I had a chance to look at the color of your corals picture before, they are amazing.

[The Grizz]

If you want to try pellets again I would suggest only using half the recommended amount & no more.

[Proteus]

Why not just turn off uv. Keep it ready in case of outbreak and change your practices. If your fish are healthy you shouldn't have to worry about ick. Your uv also kills benificial pods which is a food sorce so you don't have to feed as much.

You said that your carefully monitoring your vodka dose so why not carefully monitor your feeding

[reefwars]

a uv doesnt do alot for ick anyways it would only get free swiming parasites plus like mentioned it also reduces beneficial bacteria

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by Titus99

Why not just turn off uv. Keep it ready in case of outbreak and change your practices. If your fish are healthy you shouldn't have to worry about ick. Your uv also kills benificial pods which is a food sorce so you don't have to feed as much.

You said that your carefully monitoring your vodka dose so why not carefully monitor your feeding

I only feed the fish twice a day with a mix of mysis, brine shrimp and pellets. Very little but I make sure everybody have a little share of it, nothing left over after 1 minute. I rinse the frozen food very well but still get nitrate and phosphate, don't know where I get it from

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by Casey8

I only feed the fish twice a day with a mix of mysis, brine shrimp and pellets. Very little but I make sure everybody have a little share of it, nothing left over after 1 minute. I rinse the frozen food very well but still get nitrate and phosphate, don't know where I get it from

There poop

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by Titus99

There poop

Well ... it is natural to all of us. I think I have to live with it then. Vodka or bio pellets are my only choice.

[ScubaSteve]

I'm with Tim on this one. In the past I would have said it would be counter productive but the more I learn about carbon dosing, the more that opinion changes. When carbon dosing, the majority of the bacteria grow on a substrate of some sort, be it sand, rocks, piping, etc. Comparatively very little of it is actually in the water column. Sanjay Joshi has some articles demonstrating this.

If you are dosing bacteria however, like MB7, I'd shut the UV and skimmer off for a period to avoid just nuking the freshly added bacteria. I think the benefits of having UV preventing disease out-weighs the small decrease in bacteria.

I do VSV and MB7 dosing, though I don't run UV.