Cyano, Brightwell MB7 and Vodka

[gqlmao]

Vodka does not have be to dosed daily, however it is best to split your dosage every 2nd day in half and dose it daily. I dose vodka every second day without any issues. Make sure the dosages start off small and ramp it up slowly until you can maintain a desirable nitrate and phosphate level. Then cut down to a maintenance dose, it is important you do so or else the bacteria will strip your water excessively and leave your corals starving.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by gqlmao

Vodka does not have be to dosed daily, however it is best to split your dosage every 2nd day in half and dose it daily.

Could you rephrase this?

[gqlmao]

Sorry, my wording was a little confusing there. What I mean is: it is best to dose vodka in smaller and more frequent amounts. For example if you dose 2mls of vodka every two days, it would be better to dose 1ml every day as oppose to having it done every two days. The reasoning behind this is because vodka itself is a very potent carbon source (8x that of vinegar) by introducing larger amounts of vodka in a short period can cause short term excessive bacteria growth ultimately stripping the water clean and dropping your oxygen levels quickly. Like I said earlier, I dose every second day like yourself however my maintanence dose is very little compared to what I use to dose (.25ml/40gallons) .I also feed very heavily to take the full benefit of carbon dosing. In other words I don't see a problem on why you can't dose every second day as long as your following the vodka dosing guide on reef central.


Also, from your parameters posted. I don't think those are bad numbers to have, corals need a little bit of nitrate and phosphates to be happy.

Originally Posted by Oscar

Could you rephrase this?

[Oscar]

Thanks for clarifying.

I have never been happy with the appearance of my tank. The sand is dirty, corals are brown and I always have algae present. I am hoping that vodka and MB7 will perk things up.

[Oscar]

Yesterday I started dosing vodka. After doing a bit more reading I changed my formulation and tomorrow I will shift to a vodka/sugar/vinegar concoction.

I have found before and after photos of tanks ~2 months after dosing. They can be very dramatic. But how long until I start to see some subtle changes?

[Simmy]

I started getting Cyano back in mid January when a cleaner shrimp went missing somewhere in my tank. After using chemi-clean the cyano is gone and hasn't returned. I've also added a six-spot sand sifting goby and my sand is as white as it has ever been! Been cyano free for 2 months and counting! The only annoying thing was that it took about a week and a bit after using chemi-clean before my skimmer would settle down. Was producing micro-bubbles all over the tank but it was well worth it!

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Yesterday I started dosing vodka. After doing a bit more reading I changed my formulation and tomorrow I will shift to a vodka/sugar/vinegar concoction.

I have found before and after photos of tanks ~2 months after dosing. They can be very dramatic. But how long until I start to see some subtle changes?

Any suggestions?

[gqlmao]

The before and after pictures posted in reef central are most definitely extreme and I am not saying it can't happen. However there are very few who actually experience such dramatic results, if you read on some of the vodka threads you will see that the majority of the people don't notice extreme changes over short periods of time and some have actually complained that vodka dosing created cyano outbreaks even with mild dosages.

There are A LOT of variables that can lead to success. In my opinion its great to see people with such success but from another viewpoint it could mislead people in thinking carbon dosing is the all mighty method to solve every tanks problems. I am not saying you shouldn't vodka dose, but be wary of possible side effects.

To answer your question, if you are following the reef central guide to vodka dosing and have a powerful skimmer. Results will vary, however you should start to see a decline in nitrates and a little in phosphates in around a week or two weeks time, once the initial bacteria batches get established. Once you get the levels down to your desirable levels, it will be another battle to make your corals happy. You will need to balance feeding with carbon dosing to ensure there is sufficient nutrients for the corals and yet not enough to have a nuisance algae outbreak. I have been to the point where I starved my SPS corals so bad that they turned completely pale, so please take your time and make sure you cut the dosage by half once you have reached low nutrient levels.

I agree with having combined vodka/vinegar dosing regimes, the different carbon sources may create a more diversified bacteria population, rather than a specific group.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Oscar

Any suggestions?