Mike in CT
Valuable Member
I had cyano bad. Did lights out a few times and finally used chemclean. After a few weeks 80% of cyano was gone and stayed away.
Any vodka users still?
- Thread starter SunCorals
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joeyhatch11
Well-Known Member
Ever since I started the vodka dosing I've had nothing but problem with my skimmer skimming. Lots of bubbles but it's not pulling a **** thing. I've been feeding very lightly everyday so there has to be something for the skimmer to pull. I have noticed though that the water is really clear and the glass hasn't needed cleaning as often as it did before. I thought the skimmer was supposed to go into over drive with this vodka dosing?
You are correct. The bacteria die off from the dosing is huge, and the skimmer is the only thing to remove it from the system. The daily maintenance dose is not really a big deal on the skimmer, but the ramp up is, the skimmate from that is narly.
joeyhatch11
Well-Known Member
But I'm like 2 weeks in on the dosing. Only dosing .4ml right now on a 40g system, so not much but skimmate is next to nothing. Just bubbles, no foam anymore. This all started about 4 days into dosing. My tank doesn't have high nitrates or phosphates I just wanted to start dosing to help keep the tank healthy and see if the sps would respond better and color up more from dosing
Then I'd say your tank is to clean for yiur skimmer right now, or something is wrong with your skimmer. Time to check the air intake for salt creep. Clean the pump and such.
joeyhatch11
Well-Known Member
Did a full break down on the skimmer, cleaned and reassembled. Still not giving me what I want but its making plenty of bubbles. I do think the tank is super clean though. Will just let it go for now. I'm sure if my tank wasn't as clean as I think it would show signs of it. Wheather its dirty glass or algae somewhere which I have none of. Guess I'm good? Lol
Yea, I'd say your in good shape.
OP
OP
SunCorals
Active Member
Those are your phosphate numbers. Mine stay below 0.09ppm to 0.07ppm. I use Rowa-Phos in a reactor. Works great and I have 0ppm nitrate too but not from rowa-phos.. The trick is to run it from tank start up. I had not done that but wished I had. also I use Ultra pure water I use 6stage ro/di has twin di on it for water changes. I had high phosphates a year or so ago but because I wasn't using ro/di water i was just treating tape water. That was dumb I know. All is good now. not sure if i will ever get phos to 0ppm I might get a bigger reactor and run more rowa-phos. I found the best price on Amazon for it.
So I read all the posts because I was interested in what it was about. Doesn't look like i need to dose. interesting though.
So I read all the posts because I was interested in what it was about. Doesn't look like i need to dose. interesting though.
joeyhatch11
Well-Known Member
All I run is filter floss on my drain section in the sump, then a skimmer in my middle section along with a CPR Nano tummbler filled with carbon and that's it. I really think dosing the vodka helps a lot with keeping my phosphates and nitrates at 0. Before dosing I ran GFO for a few months and it never seemed to help, only make a mess and have my water cloudy all the time. With the vodka, id say my water clarity has improved a great deal.
I asked joeyhatch11 about how his dosing was going.
Dosing good. I'm currently up to .5ml a day. It's not much but then again I dont think I need much at this point. Prior to dosing, my nitrates were 0 and my phospahtes were also reading zero as per the API test kit. I'm sure a Hanna checker would show different, but non the less the tank has no algae and the glass cleaning is your typical 2-3 day, could go 5 though. All my SPS are looking good. Polyps are out all day ever day and the sweapers come out at night and really extend. I just notcied today though that my Red Planet is starting to get that really cool green color towards the tips. I've seen lots of pics of Red Planet sps and for the most part it's just really brite red and some get this killer green to them, thats what mines doing now. I received 8 new pieces of SPS a few weeks ago. Most I glued down myself to new plugs and already they are starting to grow a base on them. I do think the vodka dosing has help in this process. Just not sure how high of a dose Im going to go though. I up the dosage by only .1ml a week. Maybe hold it at .5ml for 2 weeks and see how it goes.
Dosing good. I'm currently up to .5ml a day. It's not much but then again I dont think I need much at this point. Prior to dosing, my nitrates were 0 and my phospahtes were also reading zero as per the API test kit. I'm sure a Hanna checker would show different, but non the less the tank has no algae and the glass cleaning is your typical 2-3 day, could go 5 though. All my SPS are looking good. Polyps are out all day ever day and the sweapers come out at night and really extend. I just notcied today though that my Red Planet is starting to get that really cool green color towards the tips. I've seen lots of pics of Red Planet sps and for the most part it's just really brite red and some get this killer green to them, thats what mines doing now. I received 8 new pieces of SPS a few weeks ago. Most I glued down myself to new plugs and already they are starting to grow a base on them. I do think the vodka dosing has help in this process. Just not sure how high of a dose Im going to go though. I up the dosage by only .1ml a week. Maybe hold it at .5ml for 2 weeks and see how it goes.
erndog
Community Member
I started using vodka a couple years ago on my 125 with DSB Nitrates were going through the roof. When they were about 80ppm I was getting desperate so I tryed it. Took like 3 months But it worked like a charm. Fast forward 2 yrs. I built a 400 gal tank this past spring/summer with sump/refugium. As soon as the nitrates reared thier ugly head I started dosing this tank. Now I dose just 5 ml per day and they stay at 0. i don't even bother with phosphate testing. I have a little evidence of cyano and some hair algae in my overflow. But the DT looks wonderful (knocks on wood ) so far. I am planning on discontinuing just to see what happens. Not sure when I'll try that tho lol
If or when you do that, take some before and after pics for us.
OP
OP
SunCorals
Active Member
Well if anyone is still intrested. I am still dropping. 
Unfortanly I have lost a small acan frag and have a little bleeching on a wellso and plate. Sucks, but could be worse. Once this puppy hits zero it will stay there this time. Let me remind everyone I have not changed feeding, water changes, anything to simulate my normal maintenance. I feed the corals quite well also. Two, three times a week with coral frenzy. I am noticing cleaner glass, and the sand is becoming a lot cleaner! 10 gal water change every sunday with red sea coral pro.
Unfortanly I have lost a small acan frag and have a little bleeching on a wellso and plate. Sucks, but could be worse. Once this puppy hits zero it will stay there this time. Let me remind everyone I have not changed feeding, water changes, anything to simulate my normal maintenance. I feed the corals quite well also. Two, three times a week with coral frenzy. I am noticing cleaner glass, and the sand is becoming a lot cleaner! 10 gal water change every sunday with red sea coral pro.Attachments
bigkai
Well-Known Member
I dumped the bio pellets when my zoas starting getting smaller and started vitamin C and am thinking about trying the vodka just wanted to make sure it wasnt to much carbon dosing at one time
joeyhatch11
Well-Known Member
vitamin c really didn't do much for me, just left a white residue on the glass. Some of my SPS didn't like it either. So I switched over to vodka and the tank has never been healthier. Only dosing .8ml a day on a 40g total system.
BruceO
New Member
Well Having Good Luck also. Now Dosing 2.2 ML Daily this week before going up to 2.7 next week of Vodka. Nitrates have dropped from over 80 to less than 2 right now.This is with a water tank Volume of 150 Gallons. Even with Very frequent Water changes of 30 Gallons every other day for a Week nothing would bring the Nitrate Down, While Ammonia and Nitrate were 0.0. I was Using Dr. Tims and Adding over 150 Drops of Amononia Cloride Daily to help establish the BIO filter. It seems that that the nitrite was being converted very fast. Also I had 120 LBS of DEAD Ancient Dry Rock from Florida that I had Epoxied together for My Tank, I am sure that did not help. But VOdks so far works for Me. Bruce
