Who vodka doses?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by jason604

Oh man I didn't expect this thread to become so popular lol. Thx guys for chiming in on ur 2cents! And then there's crazy ppl like brad that uses all 3 things vsv to dose. Jesus didn't no u can do that. I might just try the vodka and vinegar mix. Anyways my question is to ppl who do this. Do u still use GFO the same time? And most importantly, my tank is always reading 0 pO4 and nO3 cuz I have a lot of algae so it's consuming it as fast as it is created so how do I know that while dosing VV that it is working and when will it become the maintenance dosing zone?

you may have to run gfo ( or other means of removal ) or you may not , in a case where both read zero that doesnt mean it doesnt exist thats just the limitations to your test and doesnt take in account the fact you add both.

eventually bacteria will out compete macro algae, you do have to be careful and watch your corals as some corals dont appreciate the aggressive export of nutrients ( bacteria are pretty efficient )

its a very fine line between what corals need, plants and animals need and what bacteria needs....they all have similarities yet all require different things

as your dosing you keep an eye on your livestock , it may sound counter productive but there will come a time where you will either have to cut dosing down to match your current load or add to the existing bioload and boost your bacteria numbers and export, adding to your bio-load also has benefits to weigh against the downsides

[jason604]

Should I hold on doing this if it is that aggressive then? My tank just recently recovered from a crash due to gfo overdose that killed almost all my sps. But my hair algae is smothering the rest of my corals to death slowly. I'm manually removing as much as I can on each water change but they just bloom again.

Originally Posted by reefwars

you may have to run gfo ( or other means of removal ) or you may not , in a case where both read zero that doesnt mean it doesnt exist thats just the limitations to your test and doesnt take in account the fact you add both.

eventually bacteria will out compete macro algae, you do have to be careful and watch your corals as some corals dont appreciate the aggressive export of nutrients ( bacteria are pretty efficient )

its a very fine line between what corals need, plants and animals need and what bacteria needs....they all have similarities yet all require different things

as your dosing you keep an eye on your livestock , it may sound counter productive but there will come a time where you will either have to cut dosing down to match your current load or add to the existing bioload and boost your bacteria numbers and export, adding to your bio-load also has benefits to weigh against the downsides

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by jason604

Should I hold on doing this if it is that aggressive then? My tank just recently recovered from a crash due to gfo overdose that killed almost all my sps. But my hair algae is smothering the rest of my corals to death slowly. I'm manually removing as much as I can on each water change but they just bloom again.

or proceed with caution , it doesn't work overnight and nutrients have to be available for it to work so you can manipulate what it needs and uses

[jason604]

I think I'm going to use half what the recommended dose is to start.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by jason604

I think I'm going to use half what the recommended dose is to start.

or cut out/back the gfo and water changes for a bit

you can attack this from both angles fwiw

[smokinreefer]

So this seems to be a great thing for heavy feeders.

I'm thinking I will try this in the near future.

Perhaps using a doser would make things simpler. Am I correct? Do most of you use one?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by smokinreefer

So this seems to be a great thing for heavy feeders.

Yes, if you need it. Sometimes you do, other times you don't. My 180 had 0ppm/0ppm with no carbon dosing. I think if you have a fully loaded tank, the corals use up the excess.
With my current tank, rock was leaching, so I found it useful. Once I rebuild next week, I won't dose unless/until I need to.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by smokinreefer

Perhaps using a doser would make things simpler. Am I correct? Do most of you use one?

I use a peristaltic pump with a multi timer that runs for 7 mins 6 times a day.

[jason604]

Originally Posted by reefwars

or cut out/back the gfo and water changes for a bit

you can attack this from both angles fwiw

I already cut my gfo back to about 1/2"-1" of the canister. I change my water about once every 1-2 weeks. Will this mean I will only have to change my tank water once a month?

Yes auto doser is prob one of my best investments next to a auto top off. Too bad mine only pumps 3 things and I use it for alk ca and mag like most do. Guess I will have to manually dose the VV

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by jason604

I already cut my gfo back to about 1/2"-1" of the canister. I change my water about once every 1-2 weeks. Will this mean I will only have to change my tank water once a month?

Yes auto doser is prob one of my best investments next to a auto top off. Too bad mine only pumps 3 things and I use it for alk ca and mag like most do. Guess I will have to manually dose the VV

It might be easier to manually dose the magnesium. You could probably get by with dosing once a week