Can I vodka dose for Phosphates while waiting for my reactor part?

[StlSalt]

I let my 75G go for awhile because of a depressingly overwhelming Caulerpa outbreak. So now that I have that problem taken care of I'm trying to revitalize my tank. So first I found that my nitrates were sky high since the algae was gone. Set up a Sulfer denitrator which reduced my nitrates from 80-100 down to 5ppm now. So now I've moved on to my Phosphates. Using a Fluval PO4 test kit my Phosphates came back at 1ppm. I have an Aquamaxx GFO reactor, but one of the plastic thumb screws is broken. So while I'm trying to get a replacement for that could I dose vodka to lower my phosphates? I do have a Reef Octopus 90 HOB skimmer on the tank which I know is a requirement for dosing. Any thoughts on reducing my Phosphates for a week while I'm getting my reactor back online?

 

[codycolina707]

I let my 75G go for awhile because of a depressingly overwhelming Caulerpa outbreak. So now that I have that problem taken care of I'm trying to revitalize my tank. So first I found that my nitrates were sky high since the algae was gone. Set up a Sulfer denitrator which reduced my nitrates from 80-100 down to 5ppm now. So now I've moved on to my Phosphates. Using a Fluval PO4 test kit my Phosphates came back at 1ppm. I have an Aquamaxx GFO reactor, but one of the plastic thumb screws is broken. So while I'm trying to get a replacement for that could I dose vodka to lower my phosphates? I do have a Reef Octopus 90 HOB skimmer on the tank which I know is a requirement for dosing. Any thoughts on reducing my Phosphates for a week while I'm getting my reactor back online?

i dont see why not or even dose phosphate e or something if you're only trying to lower phosphates

 

[StlSalt]

i dont see why not or even dose phosphate e or something if you're only trying to lower phosphates

Thing is, I already have the vodka. That's why I was going to use it. Is there one of those cool sticky threads on dosing vodka? I couldn't find one and I've never done it before.

 

[Timfish]

Have you checked with your local home improvement stores to see if they have the screws?

Water change. It's not that effecient but GFO in a bag where there's high flow might help a little bit. But I wouldn't worry about it too much. 1 mg/l is high but not harmful short term. See Richard Ross' article his acro dominate tank was sitting about where your's is in his article. Here's some more links on phosphates or phosphorus and corals

An experimental mesocosm for long-term studies of reef corals | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom | Cambridge Core

An experimental mesocosm for long-term studies of reef corals - Volume 92 Issue 4

www.cambridge.org

An Experimental Mesocosm for Longterm Studies of Reef Corals

Phosphate Deficiency:
Nutrient enrichment can increase the susceptibility of reef corals to bleaching:

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/Nutrient%20enrichment.pdf

Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Symbiotic Algae Reflect the Availability of Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients and Particulate Food to the Reef Coral Holobiont:

Frontiers | Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Symbiotic Algae Reflect the Availability of Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients and Particulate Food to the Reef Coral Holobiont

Reef building corals associated with symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) can access environmental nutrients from different sources, most significantly via the up...

www.frontiersin.org

Phosphate deficiency promotes coral bleaching and is reflected by the ultrastructure of symbiotic dinoflagellates

Phosphate deficiency promotes coral bleaching and is reflected by the ultrastructure of symbiotic dinoflagellates

Enrichment of reef environments with dissolved inorganic nutrients is considered a major threat to the survival of corals living in symbiosis with din…

www.sciencedirect.com

Effects of phosphate on growth and skeletal density in the scleractinian coral Acropora muricata: A controlled experimental approach

Effects of phosphate on growth and skeletal density in the scleractinian coral Acropora muricata: A controlled experimental approach

Phosphate contamination can negatively affect corals, modifying growth rates, skeletal density, reproduction, mortality, and zooxanthellae. We determi…

www.sciencedirect.com

High phosphate uptake requirements of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata

High phosphate uptake requirements of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata

SUMMARYSeveral untested aspects of the regulation of inorganic nutrient uptake were examined using nutrient depletion experiments with the symbiotic coral Stylophora pistillata. The total inhibition of phosphate uptake in artificial seawater lacking sodium indicates the involvement of a...

jeb.biologists.org

Phosphorus metabolism of reef organisms with algal symbionts

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecm.1217?casa_token=ziDzrEEJ8g0AAAAA%3AHnfuGTIntMdqOtx2ij-lnoTh7qVg8VBhYFz98e60zfBEvx5IcIVGhmlpUYmzIJuqUNVm0sG8_0vth6lq

 

[Gablami]

My advice is just wait until a week until you’ve got your gfo reactor working again. Dosing vodka can open up another door in terms of problems (bacterial blooms, cyano, bottoming out nitrates), especially if you’ve never done it before. You’ve let your tank go for awhile. I don’t think one week with make much difference and would be better in terms of not making too many changes in a short period of time.

 

[StlSalt]

Have you checked with your local home improvement stores to see if they have the screws?

That's what I'm going to end up doing. So you can't find the actual "replacement screw" anywhere. So it appears the screw is an M5 x 20mm .8 thread pitch. So I ordered a thumb screw supposedly with those specs from Amazon. What I got was too big, so I thought I ordered the wrong size and went with an M4 next time, or course that was too small. So I tried one more time on Amazon thinking the 3rd time would be the charm, and I got a cheap unviersal remote. Obvious that wouldn't fit the screw hole in the lid. So I'm going to go up to Lowes and match it up. I still need to get a low ghp pump too, I used the old one for a UV light on another tank.

Thanks for the light reading. LOL

 

[StlSalt]

My advice is just wait until a week until you’ve got your gfo reactor working again. Dosing vodka can open up another door in terms of problems (bacterial blooms, cyano, bottoming out nitrates), especially if you’ve never done it before. You’ve let your tank go for awhile. I don’t think one week with make much difference and would be better in terms of not making too many changes in a short period of time.

You see I didn't mean to buy any new coral while I was getting everything back in sync but what had happened was that they got a real nice rock with 4 Rainbow Yumas at my LFS. It came in that day and it wasn't going to last long. I have a nice Yuma growing right now it's almost tripled in size since I got it 2 months ago but it was free. I've wanted these rainbow Yumas for awhile now and when the chance presented itself I couldn't say no. Now I'm freaking out cause I have my current dream coral of the week in my tank and I don't want it to fail. BTW none of them have changed appearance or anything since I added them. I should probably just go up to Lowes tomorrow, get the screw, take the pump back form the UV filter on my other tank and start my GFO back up tomorrow. Probably not the time to experiment with vodka unless it's to calm my nerves huh?