vodka or vinegar or none?

badfinger · Sep 28, 2014

So this is kind of a loaded question. In my 60 cube I dosed vodka and mb7 with great results till my gf dosed way wrong while I was out of town and killed coral(this was a few years ago)

Should I start dosing vodka or vinegar in my new 150. With or without mb7?

I am just not seeing the color or growth I want to. Phos are .04-.06. Nitrates are right at 0 (both with red sea test kits). Seeing some diatoms on the sand bed (not alot, maybe 1/16th of the tank). And I have noticed my algae in my refugium is not growing/ receding a bit.

Any advice much appreciated

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 29, 2014

I personally dose vinegar and see no need for bacteria like MB7 since they flourish on their own (unless, possibly, you have cyano issues with organic dosing).

Is the color and growth now different than previously, or it never was what you want?

badfinger · Sep 29, 2014

Never really been what it was in my old tank with vodka/mb7. My monti caps all seem to be doing the best with color and growth. Some acros have great polyp extension. Some don't

Reefing Madness · Sep 29, 2014

I personally still use Vodka, love it, tank looks great with it. I didn't like vinegar.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 29, 2014

Reefing Madness said:
I personally still use Vodka, love it, tank looks great with it. I didn't like vinegar.

What didn't you like about vinegar?

Reefing Madness · Sep 29, 2014

When I was using it to bring down the Nitrates initially I was up to 80mls, I didn't like that in the least, I was dumping it in by the cup. So after having used Vodka before, I didn't want be measuring out cupfuls to dose, instead I like the small amount, using mls for vodka.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 29, 2014

OK, but since, as you know, vinegar is much more dilute than vodka, you are only adding some extra water when you have to dose more.

badfinger · Sep 29, 2014

If I start vodka dosing vodka what would be the tale tell sign that I am adding enough/not enough?

Also why is my refugium algae decipating, I swear I am feeding enough and not using GFO

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 29, 2014

What type of algae is in the refugium?

Many people track the levels of nitrate and phosphate to guide their organic carbon dosing. That is a fine plan, but I do it by monitoring the look of the tank since I do not monitor nutrients.

badfinger · Sep 29, 2014

2 differnt types of caluerpa and cheato

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 29, 2014

IME, the caulerpa, at least caulerpa racemosa, will outcompete the Chaetomorpha and the latter will decline eventually.

Most macroalgae may also benefit from iron dosing.

If you add organic carbon dosing, it will be even harder to grow macroalgae, but I do both.

If your tests are correct, the macroalgae may be nitrogen limited, but it is hard to say with the accuracy of nitrate (and phosphate) testing.

badfinger · Sep 29, 2014

So what are you saying?

Reefing Madness · Sep 29, 2014

Just easier to dose a small amount of vodka, in mls. I dont have cyano issues, as can be seen from my photos. Vodka is cheap, so is vinegar, but I would have been using a teuck load imo, so chose not to use it.

Mikesmith34 · Sep 29, 2014

I also like the idea of small additions using vodka. However with that said there is also the possibility of accidental OD with a narrower margin of error. You have to pay attention

Reefing Madness · Sep 29, 2014

Mikesmith34 said:
I also like the idea of small additions using vodka. However with that said there is also the possibility of accidental OD with a narrower margin of error. You have to pay attention

Not really, its really quite tough to mess up a system. You'd still need quite a bit to mess it up. You may OD and get a huge bacteria bloom, but thats all I've ever encountered.

Mikesmith34 · Sep 30, 2014

Reefing Madness said:
Not really, its really quite tough to mess up a system. You'd still need quite a bit to mess it up. You may OD and get a huge bacteria bloom, but thats all I've ever encountered.

Nice to know. I know it will create a lot of slime if I up the dose to aggressively but returns to normal very quickly. VD is the best thing I've done in my tank. It certainly allows me to feed more heavily.