Who vodka doses?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by target

Is there a minimum time for a tank to be running before you'd want to start dosing vodka? My tank has been running for about 8 weeks and is still very lightly stocked and only a few coral frags. Should dosing wait until the tank is more established?

no there isnt , as long as the bacteria are present then you can start. randy says as soon as the first foods are added you can begin carbon dosing .

i started mine the minute water became salty and rock was in the water

[target]

Originally Posted by reefwars

no there isnt , as long as the bacteria are present then you can start. randy says as soon as the first foods are added you can begin carbon dosing .

i started mine the minute water became salty and rock was in the water

Good to know. I'm very new to all things salty but vodka dosing was recommended to me and I'm doing the research. Seems fairly straightforward as long as you follow the ratios

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by target

Good to know. I'm very new to all things salty but vodka dosing was recommended to me and I'm doing the research. Seems fairly straightforward as long as you follow the ratios

if your going with the vinegar chart ( or vodka conversion)_....16 weeks is a bit over careful ...most do it in four weeks and similar to this

0.1 ml per gallon for 7 days
0.2 ml per gallon for 7 days
0.3 ml per gallon for 7 days
0.4 ml per gallon for 7 days


and going on up from there if needed , if nutrients are high to begin with then you can go as high as 1 ml per gallon , once your no3 and po4 drop to zero then you cut the dose back to a maintenance dose.

most people have it by week 4 unless they were pretty high to begin with.

no3 and po4 can become limiting in a closed system and bacteria need both in order to build mass so you may not hit zero if one or the other isnt available in numbers needed.

cheers

denny

[seabreeze]

I vodka dose since being overrun by HA in March. Nothing now. My total volume is 132 litres... I dose a total 2.5mls daily divided between am and pm. Coral colors are good.

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by reefwars

if your going with the vinegar chart ( or vodka conversion)_....16 weeks is a bit over careful ...most do it in four weeks and similar to this

0.1 ml per gallon for 7 days
0.2 ml per gallon for 7 days
0.3 ml per gallon for 7 days
0.4 ml per gallon for 7 days


and going on up from there if needed , if nutrients are high to begin with then you can go as high as 1 ml per gallon , once your no3 and po4 drop to zero then you cut the dose back to a maintenance dose.

most people have it by week 4 unless they were pretty high to begin with.

no3 and po4 can become limiting in a closed system and bacteria need both in order to build mass so you may not hit zero if one or the other isnt available in numbers needed.

cheers

denny

Typically, you become limited by nitrate unless you are using GFO or lanthanum chloride. This is because of two things: bacteria use nitrogen in a high ratio as compared to phosphorus, and bacteria also convert some additional nitrate into nitrogen gas. Sometimes, though, some people have found they don't need to use a phosphate remover, or at least use a very small amount

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by mikellini

Typically, you become limited by nitrate unless you are using GFO or lanthanum chloride. This is because of two things: bacteria use nitrogen in a high ratio as compared to phosphorus, and bacteria also convert some additional nitrate into nitrogen gas. Sometimes, though, some people have found they don't need to use a phosphate remover, or at least use a very small amount

yes becoming nitrogen deficient is more common naturally but both issues are common as alot of people do run gfo and po4 removers either before starting or during or both.

whether you need to run one or not would depend on the amount imported , and the ways they are exported......you can certainly out compete the bacteria in a closed system as they can only do so much , but yes i agree with the statements

both nitrogen and phosphorous can become limiting but both can also be added to the mix

[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?

[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