Vodka dosing in a 29 gallon Biocube

[spanko]

Okay I started a thread on another site about dosing vodka back in March of 2009. I started using Mohawk Vodka and Brightwell Aquatics Restor. I have taken pictures of the coral I will be following and a two day cup of skimmate. My hopes in this are to get better polyp extension and color from my SPS coral specifically Acropora sp., Millepora sp., and Seriatopora sp., as well as improved water clarity and reduced green algae buildup on the tank glass. Since the first of the year I have been using the Prodibio products to accomplish the same things but am not getting the results I had hoped for. I will continue with this because I have seen some results in water clarity and coral growth, but not coloring. I have read numerous posts where people have coupled Prodibio or Zeovit programs with some sort of carbon dosing like Vodka, Vinegar, or Sugar.

 

Here are the before vodka pictures.

 

17-mar skimmate

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have my reasons for trying Vodka dosing and explained them in the first post, coral color, polyp extension, ultra low nutrients so that I can feed the coral more to affect growth, and reduction in some of the microalgae in the tank. That being said there are a number of things that have to be considered prior to undertaking the risk involved. First and most importantly is the need for a skimmer that works. As the dosing works it increase the denitrifying bacteria in the system for the purpose of reducing - eliminating nitrate and phosphate. As this increase in bacteria happens and reduction of there nitrates and phosphates happen the is die-off in the bacteria. This is where the skimmer is necessary to remove the dead - dying bacteria. The skimmer is also an aid in maintaining oxygen in the water. The other risks include but are not limited to yellow water, burning of the tips of the SPS coral and in some cases loss of certain coral, and cyano outbreaks. My attempt here will be monitored daily to allow me to stop at the moment I see any problems developing and take action to reverse it to the best of my ability. Do read up on it if you are even considering dosing vodka based on what you will read here. I will not explain all of the ins and outs but only the results I see from it. It is up to you as the keeper of your systems to understand what you are doing, the risks involved, and whether or not you are willing to take those risks. I am for the moment.

If for any reason I have to stop dosing the things I would be concerned with are are a rise in nitrate and phosphate. The whole goal here is to run an ULNS (ultra low nutrient system) to allow for greater feeding for coral growth and color. So I am sure if the dosing stops the feeding would have to be cut back to predosing levels to keep nutrients in check. The whole thing is interesting to me and like I said I am willing to take the risk of really messing up for the possibility that I may succeed. Hopefully I have read enough and understand enough that the latter will be the case. The other thing I have asked some that are doing this is once you start it appears to be an ongoing ritual. Good thing the Mohawk (80 proof by the way) is inexpensive.

[Travis]

Tagging along for this one.

[DCG1286]

Tagging along as well ... I do Brightwell's Microbater7 and Vodka on my 120G ... I will have to share some pics on this thread for comparison.

 

How much did you start dosing on a tank that small? What are you up to now?

 

When I started, immediately to color up. were my Birdsnests ... then Acro's and montis.

[spanko]

Okay here we are with pictures from 30-Apr-09 for comparison.

 

Seriatopora day 1

 

30-Apr

 

Growing well, better polyp extension but has turned more brown.

 

Milli day 1

 

Milli 30-Apr

 

Much better PE and is growing.

 

Will throw this stylo in for future reference.

 

All in all some growth and better PE but not anything really better color wise. Is this Vodka Dosing doing what I expected it to do? No. But I will keep it up for a while longer to keep tracing it. Who knows maybe th longer it goes it will get better.

[DCG1286]

Okay here we are with pictures from 30-Apr-09 for comparison.

 

Seriatopora day 1

 

30-Apr

 

Growing well, better polyp extension but has turned more brown.

 

Milli day 1

 

Milli 30-Apr

 

Much better PE and is growing.

 

Will throw this stylo in for future reference.

 

All in all some growth and better PE but not anything really better color wise. Is this Vodka Dosing doing what I expected it to do? No. But I will keep it up for a while longer to keep tracing it. Who knows maybe th longer it goes it will get better.

 

Awesome picture ... especially the one of the B'nest ... hahaha ... that's what I was just saying ... the Birdsnest took to the vodka the fastest ... then everything else followed suit.

[spanko]

okay 16-Jun-09 updates

 

17-mar-09 birdsnest

 

16-Jun-09 birdsnest

 

17-mar-09 milli

 

16-jun-09 milli

 

17-mar-09 milli on right

 

16-jun-09 same as on right

 

All in all happy with vodka dosing and will continue

 

Filter material, floss, is changed daily and does have accumulated detritus. Prior to dosing the floss was cleaner when changed. I change it daily because I do not want it to become a part of the biofiltration, I want the tank surfaces to house all bacteria.

I can't give you a good read on the skimmer because I changed from a wooden airstone skimmer to a new needle wheel in the past couple of months. Skimmate in the new is darker than the airstone one but I believe the needle wheel is a much better pc. of equipment.

 

Nitrate readings have always been undetectable in this tank. I do know that cleaning the glass can go about 4 days now where it was a daily maintenance issue pre dosing.

 

I have also noticed that the Chaetomorpha is not growing and in some measure it is disintegrating now.

[divecj5]

Thanks for summarizing all of this Henry. You and Dave have been the most informative on MB7/Vodka dosing. I just started dosing Vodka 2 days ago and things have been looking really really great.

 

Maybe for all of us who are dosing Brightwell/Vodka products should start a big thread where we can all post our experiences, dosing schemes, and results. Just a thought though.

[spanko]

Okay had some problems when the Hot time hit Michigan a while back and we had air conditioner problems.

Lost a few fish and some coral we had been tracking here. (this was in July 09)

 

Survivors

17-mar-09 milli

 

Same coral 28-Jul

 

17-mar-09 milli on right

 

Same coral 28-Jul

 

30-Apr-09 Stylophora

 

Same coral 28-Jul

 

New coral to start tracking.

 

 

 

So as of now am dosing;

Prodibio Nano Pack at recommended dosing level

Vodka 5 drops per day

Amino Acids 2 drops per day.

 

Tore apart refugium in the back chambers as the Chaeto died without nutrients.

Have not noticed any Caulerpa in the display for some time now, keeping fingers crossed.

Water still clear.

No algae buildup on glass, with the exception of that nasty green coralline that you have to jackhammer off.

Have noticed what I can only guess as some type of mulm buildup on the glass occasionally. Easy to wipe off, does not affect water clarity. Hmm....

 

So this was the last update to this thread and I have now caught you all up on my "experiment" with vodka, Prodibio, and Brightwell AA.

Will have new pics and evaluations soon.

[zemuss]

What kind of Vodka did you use?

 

"Z"

[spanko]

What kind of Vodka did you use?

 

"Z"

 

80 proof Mohawk.

[zemuss]

NICE! Sorry I skimmed the post and didn't catch what you were using.

 

What are the measurements of the dosing?

 

Do you think dosing a 14 gallon is a bit overboard?

 

"Z"

[spanko]

I started with literally one drop and am now up to 6 drops. Why are you thinking about dosing in your 14?

[Reggie]

Let me join this thread as I have a 30g cube AGA, and have been dosing vodka for two weeks now. I'm now at 0.75ml of Vodka, and 6ml of Microbacter 7. Nitrates have started going down since Tuesday, confirming that vodka and mb7 combo are working. I'm now just waiting for nitrates to become undetectable and then I'll be dosing vodka and mb7 half of what I'm dosing now.

 

Tomorrow I'll also start dosing 0.6ml of AA and 1/8 tsp of Strontium daily. 1 drop of Lugol's weekly.

[spanko]

On another note, you know how when you go down to beach and there are some rocks that are sometimes in sometimes out of the water and have what appears to be hair algae growing on them. This from the water and waves washing over them and give the algae a good nutrient and sunlight environment to grow in along with the light of the day? Well I have a 29 biocube and always noticed that the false wall that the water falls over into the next chamber had this type of algae growing along it's top edge. I would harvest it our once in a while and it would grow back. Same idea as the algae scrubber thing me thinks. Well it is now gone, I me gone and the top of the wall is completely clean. This just another note that I am achieving that ULN system as the Chaeto in the fuge died, the Caulerpa in the display is gone, and now this that was the final area of any algae is gone. Just thought I would document that here. Will get some new pics up soon.

[zemuss]

I started with literally one drop and am now up to 6 drops. Why are you thinking about dosing in your 14?

 

 

I am thinking if your getting that growth and the reason is because your dosing then i would be interested in doing so.

 

I am setting up a 29 gallon soon. I wouldn't be dosing the 14.

 

"Z"

[Reggie]

Just an update. Here's a graph of how my Vodka dosing looks so far. I started Aug 1. No water changes since then. Nitrate (red) has been going down and I'm now fixed at 1.25ml of Vodka (blue) everyday.

 

[spanko]

Just an update. Here's a graph of how my Vodka dosing looks so far. I started Aug 1. No water changes since then. Nitrate (red) has been going down and I'm now fixed at 1.25ml of Vodka (blue) everyday.

 

 

Beautiful results Reggie! and thank you for including the graph!!!

 

Need some more input from people dosing, come on we know you are out there.

[imagex]

Wow dang i would never think vodka would jump coral progress... what about fish?? does it hinder the fish??

[blizzardscout2]

Wow this is an interesting experiment you have going on. It looks like a successful way to get rid of nuisance algaes and help your coral out at the same time. I might consider doing this when I get a skimmer for my BC14. I am curious about the fish too. What about pods, do you still have a healthy population of them?

[spanko]

I see no effect on the fish in my tank, as a matter of fact when I turn off the return pump from the back chambers to dose they all think it is food time and come to the top and go right to where I add the vodka and AA. I have tried to fool them but they always go there and look like they are.........well.........enjoying the shot. As for pods I never seem to have an overabundance of them anyway as I believe the Carpenter's Wrasse probably keeps the population in check!!

Thanx for joining in here.

[StevieT]

fancy graphs

[spanko]

Yeah, I love me some fancy graphs!!!!!!

 

[Chyendra]

hey Spanko,

 

what levels do you keep your Ca and Alk at once you started dosing?

[spanko]

My calcium runs between 420 and 480 and the alk between 2.9 and 3.5. (dosing is not an exacting science in my abilities!!!). Magnesium is always above 1200, have only had to dose this a few times. Keep in mind I change 20% of the water every week and am using Nutri Seawater natural seawater.