vodka dosing

[gabe_j]

ok so i've been having this hair algae problem and its been driving me mad. i've fed less and less every other day, bigger water changes, runnning an oceanic protein skimmer, i'm sitting on a good 9 or 10 lbs of Lr in a bb tank with about 8.5 gallons of water in the tank. so i know it should be dosed about 0.1ml per 25 gallons so for my sized tank i'd be dosing 0.034ml for the first 3 days then days 4-7 i'd double up to .068ml. now my question is i've checked out 'vodka dosing' and they say to bring up your dose by .5 regardless of volume. that just seems like alot to add to a tank of my size. so i don't want to crash my tank. should i just add 0.1 weekly? i'd hate to overdose my tank. and i wanted to get the general consensus here before dosing anything new to the tank. as of now my water params are

 

ph 8.4

am. 0

no3 0

no4 0 (propably cuz the algae is using it)

cal 400

alk 10-11

 

most of my live stock is zoas, palys, acans, gsp, a couple of chalices, and a new torch i'd like to get some sps but i want to wait till i get this gha to go away. does anyone know if vodka dosing helping get more color to show off of corals that aren't sps? all the examples are with pics of sps.

is there any other euqpiment i'll need aside for my skimmer?

 

thanks for the help guys. -Gabe

[amnestia]

No other equipment needed, well an accurate syringe. Vodka dosing will strip the water of some nutrients. Will probably lighten up the color of your LPS and they might not be too happy with it. SPS like it because the waters cleaner, lps like slightly dirtier water so yin yang kind of deal.

 

Increasing by .1 is fine. I would leave it a lone if there wasn't a horrible amount of hair algae and scrub down the rocks.

[gabe_j]

ok cuz i have access to hypodermic syringes, so i can get pretty darn accurate dosing. i've tried scrubbing down the rocks but that stuff has one heck of a grip on my rocks. ripping it off is kinda difficult mostly cuz its slippery, and theres not a lot to grab on to. i mean theres plenty of it but its not very long, maybe an inch or so. and how much would my lps be against it? i'll still be feeding them a couple of times a week just to be on the safe side.

 

edit: spelling.

[gabe_j]

anymore input from some more folks that dose vodka in nanos?

[chucktdbm321]

hey gabe, i was looking into doing carbon dosing as well for my sps and such but i mainly have zoas and palys in my tank and from what i read even when people up their feedings there zoas don't grow as fast and such. The point of carbon dosing is to acheive an ULNS which enables you also to feed your corals more without messing up your params. In a nano though you could acheive the same really by just doing larger water changes or daily small water changes. And its specifically geared towards sps dominated tanks from what i've read. I've been dosing Vitamin C in my tank with Seachem's reef plus and its def having a good impact on the tank

[gabe_j]

well i don't plan on making it a long haul regimine i just need to kill a good majority of these excess nutrients to get rid of this algae.i figure once i get that under control i can ween the tank off the liquor. lol.

[franklypre]

shorter lighting period, and raise mag up.

[gabe_j]

Is 10-7 too long?

[franklypre]

I would go with a 6 or 7 hour cycle while you try to get rid of the algae. This wouldn't include supplemental actinics.

[gabe_j]

Alright I'll cut it back from noon to Seven and see how that goes I just did a 50% wc along with taking the rocks out and scrubbing them down with a tooth brush I've managed to get a good 95% of the algae off if not more

[bird]

small tuxedo urchin, mexican turbo and scarlet hermit crabs will also do the job.

Cleaned my tank of macro, micro and turf algae after battling it for almost a half year.

[gabe_j]

well looks like i'll try the natural route and go for an urchin, i've already got a big 2" turbo and a blue leg hermit along with other random snails. thanks bird and everyone else.

[gabe_j]

Ok so update the hair algae is still there no where near as bad as it once was but I've added 2 more hermits and I think it's a ceirith snail. I've also gone and bought a elos mag test and I'm reading 1550 ppm of mag so how high can I dose the mg before it's too high or is it ok so long as my cal is 1/3 of mg? My alk is around 10-11 ideas anyone?

[Nevr]

Ok so update the hair algae is still there no where near as bad as it once was but I've added 2 more hermits and I think it's a ceirith snail. I've also gone and bought a elos mag test and I'm reading 1550 ppm of mag so how high can I dose the mg before it's too high or is it ok so long as my cal is 1/3 of mg? My alk is around 10-11 ideas anyone?

 

 

how much do you feed our fish/coral?

 

what are your phosphate levels?

[Amphiprion1]

The other route you can consider is a brightly illuminated refugium with various macroalgae, which would help to outcompete nuisance algae in the display.

[floridian reefer]

did you do vodka dosing? results/

[gabe_j]

honestly my po4 i dunno i need to get a test kit for it. but i puss'd out and got some micro bacter 7 to try and out compete the algae and it seems to be working today will be day 5 of dosing and the water is much clearer and my skimmate is thicker alot dryer too i got a 40gallon air pump and i can hold a bubble column higher so that helps. but the algae is getting lighter green some of it is dying off and my hermit and snails are picking alot more at it. i'm still looking for b&a reef bio fuel to replace the need to vodka dose. i think its safer i don't wanna risk overdoseing my small tank. i'd like to get a refugium/ sump down the road. just dont' have the time to build one right now. i've been working 60 hour weeks so the last thing i want to do is start fabricating stuff. but mabe when work slows down i can fit it in. (thats what she said.)

[kthehun89]

I use vodka AND mb7. they serve 2 different functions, with similar results. the vodka is the food that the microbacter7 eats. Using both has had amazing affects. Coloration on non-sps didnt really change, but growth is better..

[gabe_j]

i understand thats why i wanted to get some reef bio fuel from brightwell its an organic carbon source that doesn't contain enthanol. i'm sure the vodka does wonders i just don't want to over estamate my tank dose. but thanks for the input none the less.

[kthehun89]

its not hard, but fuel for the bacteria is vital. you understand that, so good luck!

[gabe_j]

thanks!