Vodka dosing

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Krazykarl

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Nov 30, 2010
Ok i know i did a vsv thread already but this thread is simply for informative purposes only. Im going to be giving weekly results as i dose vodka only. Im using banff ice 40%. i started it today.

No3 - 20 ppm
Po4 - 0.5 ppm

Fiatoms and some white hair algae on rocks. Glass diatom covered. Dosed it with 0.4 ml directly into sump. Im gonna post weekly results so ppl will finally be able to see first hand if it works for a whopping 13 bucks!!!!

Wish me luck
 
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Krazykarl

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Nov 30, 2010
To my understanding mb7 is a carbon n does the same thing as vodka. I could be wrong but thats whT i thought
 
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phi delt reefer

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mb7 is the bacteria that you want to feed carbon (ie vodka). It will help increase the "good" bacteria in your tank that will help bring down nitrates and possibly phosphates.
 
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Cal_stir

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zoebak is good to, whatever yuo use, make sure it is a multi-strain formula to prevent a monoculture
 
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shayneh

Guest
Or if your cheap like me dose smaller amounts and allow the cultures to build in numbers themselves. I have unknowingly dosed carbon sources since I started reefing and then intentionally dosed VSV for years and although I'm not a microbiologist I have read enough about this to suggest that it is nearly impossible to develop a monoculture (unless in 100% sterile conditions) in a tank and or maintain one as there is always something else in the food chain. It is possible for one strain to peak in numbers but this almost always is compensated by the growth of another culture due to increased food source provided by the first. Typically the addition of bacterial strains is to compensate for the huge dose of food immediately provided with conventional (1mL/g) dosing regiments or the zeo pellets.
 
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phi delt reefer

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Incredible aquarium in London stocks it. I'm sure Darren can order it in for u as well
 
pulpfiction1

pulpfiction1

Reef Scavenger
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Nov 16, 2010
Location
42.418807, -82.174073
i have some product from TLC,the makers of TLC Optimizer,the product i have is called TLC Startsmart Complete,the vendor really makes the stuff sound incredible,claims it will cycle a tank in 24hrs,a very potent bacteria,it is a direct replacement for TLC Optomizer.If you wanted to give it a go i would let you have some cheap Kyle




http://startsmart-testimonials.com/companyinformation.html

http://www.startsmart-testimonials.com/home.html

http://www.startsmart-testimonials.com/magazinearticle.html


no,im not a salesman for this product,just testing to see if it really does what it claims,the macro/micro bacteria is supposed to be the best on the market,ill post what i get for results on some dead rock as soon as i locate some cheap,i have a bunch of tester bottles if anyone else is interested,i have the small bottle,1 bottle does 40 gallons once monthly
 
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Krazykarl

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Nov 30, 2010
i just wanted to update everyone with my results....

day one i had 20 ppm in nitrates and 0.5 ppm for phosphates...i was getting a major brown algae bloom on my back glass and patches on the front....was requiring scraping every other day to keep in in check and would come off in sheets. Yesterday was the beginning of my third week of dosing VODKA ONLY. I am glad to announce that i have not scraped the back glass even ONCE and its slowly disappearing on its own. i am up to 1.8 ml per day, i started at 0.4 ml/day. I just measured my no3 and po4 and my results were as follows :

P04 - undectable according to my test kit (not the greatest i would love to have a diff kit to compare)
no3 - were between 15-10 ppm.

so there is def a difference in levels....everything is coming down...

i started running granular activated carbon in the reactor as well to help polish the water and i can't believe how incredible my water looks.....all in all i am very happy so far with the vodka dosing.....colours are brighter, water is clearer, algae is dying off and fish and corals are all happy so if anyone is apprehensive about vodka dosing so far, i have no adverse affects....but don't blame me if you have diff results lol ....

im going to post results again next sat when i up the amount again, and im going to do so until i achieve my daily dosage to maintain my levels....only prob im having is my skimmer doesn't like to skim efficiently....prob cuz its subject to water level changes as evap takes place, i gotta put in a baffle. all in all...DO IT
 
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Krazykarl

Super Active Member
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Nov 30, 2010
What kind of pellets are you running? Id love to run pellets instead of dumping vodka daily. But ive tried phosban and kent po4 remover to no success.
 
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phi delt reefer

Guest
have you tried a stronger PO4 remover like pool grade one. I think the active ingredient is Lanthium or something like that. You need to run a skimmer and a sock to remove the precipitate.
 
Blob-79

Blob-79

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Jan 13, 2017
Location
Tillsonburg
ya you could. has to be a good accurate peristaltic pump imo. It does come with risks though, any sort of malfunction will cause an overdose=system crash.  Personally I think if your going to spend the money on a good peristaltic pump, containers, vodka and so on to dose vodka for the sole purpose of lessening your daily fish duties..you would be better off going with bio pellets. I have had great success with the bio pellets.

in my experience..the only way to test P04 is with a hanna tester. anything else seems to be more guess work then anything. If your reading .5 on a test, that is definitly your problem :p running biopellets with no gfo or anything my phosphates are normally between .040-.100
 
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Krazykarl

Super Active Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
I need a checker ya, it too hard to compare the colour in the vile to the card... Diff lighting gives diff colour... This could become a prob for me now that i think of it cuz if i cant read it priperly then i could od my tabk :( anyone have a no3 or po4 chexker lol
 
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