Carbon dosing to combat Algae

[Ert]

Hi all

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but, can carbon dosing such as vodka dosing be used to combat nuisance algae? Is there a point when the carbon dosing would reduce nutrients to the point where algae would die. I so, please share your thoughts and experience.

In my experience, WC and lanthanum drops does the job.

 

[Brew12]

Hi all

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but, can carbon dosing such as vodka dosing be used to combat nuisance algae? Is there a point when the carbon dosing would reduce nutrients to the point where algae would die. I so, please share your thoughts and experience.

In my experience, WC and lanthanum drops does the job.

Yes, carbon dosing can be used to combat nuisance algae. It will work better on some algaes than others though. It can also kill corals if you use too much without supplemental feeding.

 

[mcarroll]

Yes, carbon dosing can be used to combat nuisance algae. It will work better on some algaes than others though. It can also kill corals if you use too much without supplemental feeding.

+1

@Ert It can be and has been used for that.....it's not hard to search and find examples of tanks as well as instructions here or on Google.

I won't do anything beyond that to promote the practice, but I will go out on a limb and say that by far it is not an ideal way to handle algae blooms. As best as I can put it, here's why...

Algae blooms are caused by spikes in nutrients. Algae growth is not the same as a bloom.

Once you have the bloom in progress, the nutrients are in the system – you can't just hook up some carbon dosing and GFO and take them back out.

One problem with this course of action is that there a lots of pretty common really bad algae that will do just fine in the ULNS (unnaturally low nutrient environment) that you can create with tools like carbon dosing and phosphate removers. To name some of the "most popular" ones: dinoflagellates, bryopsis and bubble algae. All of them are 100% worse than "regular green algae".

The other main problem with carbon dosing and related tools is that they do nothing to address the root of the problem, so they are really just bandaids. They should be used as such IMO – with a specific short or medium term goal in mind.

The reality is that with carbon dosing you are creating a battle in your tank that you don't even want: bacteria vs algae.

What does winning that battle mean for your corals and other animals?

It can mean a lot of things, but one way that folks frequently "win" that battle is by triggering a bloom of something worse than green algae. Often enough it's something toxic like dinoflagellates. All animals from the smallest copepod up to the humans are actually at risk when this happens. CUC is the first to die off.

You should not want any version of that battle playing out in your tank.

You want "the battle" to be coral vs algae. Simple, and that's the battle your corals will win when conditions are right. And it's a battle for which you have winning tools to deploy along with your coral population.....snails, crabs and herbivorous fish!!!

So don't spike your nutrient levels in the first place and you'll avoid the algae bloom – better than any band aid and easy to do right. When adding livestock or making any change in feeding, always try to make the change in small increments and allow plenty of time (4+ weeks ideally) between changes.

2¢

 

[Ert]

Thank you for your input. I agree that carbon dosing does promote good and bad bacteria hence, I'd prefer a more natural approach.
I'm planning on stopping vodka dosing and GFO all together and installing a refugiam using my AI SOL blues.

 

[Sharir]

Thank you for your input. I agree that carbon dosing does promote good and bad bacteria hence, I'd prefer a more natural approach.
I'm planning on stopping vodka dosing and GFO all together and installing a refugiam using my AI SOL blues.

But do you not think that carbon dosing is a good way to maintain low levels of nitrates and phosphate?I mean that it is a tried and tested method to a successful reef tank. This has been proven by the wonderful companies of the world such as Zeovit system and the Redsea NO3PO4X. Also if you research Zeovit you will see that many European aquarist seem to produce amazing results. To me shows that this is a great approach to removing access nitrates and phosphate (not necessarily for out competing algae).