DiveDr Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I am running a modified Fluval Spec 2Gal pico with DIY LED 42 watts. 5lbs live rock an about 1.5" live sand with BioMax ceramic in the main sump. One small cleaner shrimp, two small porcealin crabs, two dwarf zebra hermits, two head Caulastrea frag, one Blastomussa frag and one double head Duncan frag with a tiny 2.5cm Percula Clown and a baby bubble tip anemone that piggybacked in on the rock and for some reason likes to hang upside down in the shade. My nitrates climb to about 0.5ppm weekly with trace phosphates I had been controlling with a weekly 1-2 litre water change. Without skimming am trying the vodka method to lower nitrates and minimize water changes. Diluted out grain such that 0.05cc is the proper dose for the tank on a daily basis. I am now at week 3 and just RO/DI topoff with trace nitrates and phosphates. Everything seems happy (I am very austere on feeddings) could this be too good to be true? Link to comment
JamesHL88 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Vodka dosing does nothing if you arent skimming. All the vodka does is make the dissolved solids skim easier. The cause of your nitrates has nothing to do with "over feeding" either. It has to do with the shrimp, the four crabs, and the clown you have living in roughly a gallon and a quart of water. Epic face palm. Please keep dosing vodka though. Your inhabitants probably need a drink. Link to comment
Nicks29bio Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 James is right that is a big bioload on a small tank! You can always just send the vodka to me though haha. Link to comment
JamesHL88 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Im not one of these hippies tellin you to free nemo either. i could care less if you stomped clowns for fun. I just dont see this tank being sustainable with its current load. Link to comment
avbarr11 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Take the perc, the shrimp, and the hermits back to the lfs. They'll thank you. Link to comment
DiveDr Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Im not one of these hippies tellin you to free nemo either. i could care less if you stomped clowns for fun. I just dont see this tank being sustainable with its current load. Well it has been fine as stocked for about 6 months and over the past 3 weeks with addition of EtOH I have seen steady levels of nitrate, phosphate, pH, alkalinity, etc. without a water change and all specimens seem very happy. My understanding of the addition of EtOH to the system is a means to add carbon in the form alcohol to stimulate bacteria to grow. Increasing bacterial growth, especially cyanobacteria which are able to utilize a variety of inorganic and organic sources of combined nitrogen, like nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea, or some amino acids lowers the overall load from the aquarium. Excess bacteria are then either removed through skimming but in its absence are (hopefully) consumed by other organisms in the system. Skimming although of benefit should therefore not be totally necessary for this to work in theory. In practice it appears to be working. The bioload of the system is admittedly high and I had been balancing with 1-2L water changes weekly with no problems. For the past 3 weeks I have not seen any adverse consequence from dosing EtOH and just topping off. So far no problems and I hope this holds, just in case I do have 5 gallons of seawater on hand and a main tank if need for emergent transfer arises Link to comment
DiveDr Posted June 25, 2012 Author Share Posted June 25, 2012 Well, so far so good. The vodka method appears to be working even without a protein skimmer. Although I do not have a method to assess for other compounds which may be produced by the vodka method without a protein skimmer to remove them there does not appear to be any adverse consequence on, fish, shrimp or crabs. Nitrate and phosphate are only present in trace amounts without a water change in over four weeks. All other parameters including pH, hardness, etc. are holding steady as well. None of the specimens appear to be stressed in any way. I understand that anecdotal experience is not a substitute for scientific data and that a sample size of one does not qualify as statistically significant however this does appear to be working. I cannot find any literature with respect to using the vodka method in the absence of protein skimming however it does appear to be effective. Any thoughts? Link to comment
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