Vodka dosing experts

[cchomistek]

@aeras1131
Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely keep an eye out for this. Is dr. Tim's waste away worth it do you think. I am already dosing vodka and vibrant. Both vibrant and dr.tims are a bacteria source. While one goes after the algae the other one seems to seed the bacteria in the sand bed. Any thoughts?

 

[aeras1131]

@cchromistek Yes. Anecdotally, it can achieve an instant cycle of your anaerobic bacteria. I would purchase a bottle that is large enough to 2.25x the amount of 1 dose for your reef. I recommend lowering your dose of vodka initially until your bacteria stabilizes after the rapid bacteria population increase. You could potentially have a catastrophic tank failure and gas your reef. I believe the bottle states the initial dose should be 50%. You should turn off the skimmer and the UV sterilizer if your tank has it for a day. I would halve the dose of the vodka you are currently doing the day you begin dosing Dr. Tim's. I would then restart the increase of vodka from the lowered dosage. I would repeat this once a week at the half does for 3 weeks increasing your dose of waste-away until you complete one full dose of Waste-Away while continuing to gradually increase the vodka dose from reduced rate. I would then discontinue the dosing of Waste-Away. I would then continue the gradual increase of the vodka dose until you reach the desired NO3 and P04 levels. I am not a spokesperson for Dr. Tim's product. I know it seems like I am reading the back of the bottle. I am not this is my logical conclusions after using the product which match the instructions. I can only speak anecdotally as a fellow fish keeper. However, my nitrates went through a rapid reduction that did not correlate to the amount of water I changed historically. After the anaerobic population was established my Biopellet denitrifying reactor, My Nitrates tracked linearly with the amount of biopellets I had in my reactor. My nitrates were <200 ppm 6 months ago they are now >2 ppm. At a certain point, it becomes difficult to discern on the Salifert Ultra low colors of the Nitrate test kit. Is it 2ppm or 1 ppm. Idk, I would walk away and smile to myself. If you need any assistance. I am at your beck and call

 

[cchomistek]

Right on. I appreciate the help I will get on this right away. Thanks again. I will keep you updated on the progress once I get the dr. Tim's probably have to go the amazon route as I am in canada and doubt anyone stocks this stuff near me.

 

[cchomistek]

@aeras1131

So you figure get the 16oz bottle for a 230 gallon tank roughly. How many times do you have to dose this??

 

[aeras1131]

Crap my detailed post disappeared when I logged into reef2reef. If you want, I could talk to you on the telephone. PM me for my contact. I feel like this is an easier conversation to have over the phone. My response was over 1000 words. Please do not dose Waste-Away til we discuss a dosing regimen. I would recommend the 32 oz bottle for your total water volume.

 

[cchomistek]

I am in canada so that phone call may get expensive for both of us.

 

[cchomistek]

I have the 16oz bottle coming on thursday. My plan was to cutback the vodka on thursday to 7 mls a day and dose 5 mls of waste away to start and see what happens.

 

[cchomistek]

@aeras1131 I know you want me to watch for an bacteria bloom. Is there any other cause for concern with waste away?? If I seed the tank and tgen a week later adjust the dosage up slightly it should do the trick or is there something that I am missing.

 

[aeras1131]

@cchomistek
I am concerned that you will increase the Anaerobic bacteria population too quickly while dosing the same amount of vodka that you used in the past with a lower anaerobic bacteria population. Anaerobic bacteria utilizes oxygen in it's chemical reaction on NO3 and PO4. You will also need to turn off your skimmer and UV sterilizer for one day after dosing the product if you have one. Broad strokes for your Waste-Away regimen. I would recommend 4 total doses total 1x .25 the recommended dosage on the bottle. 1x .5 the recommended dosage on the bottle. 1x .75 the recommended dosage on the bottle 1x full dose. Spread the doses by a week. You should complete the dosing of the product in a month. After each dose, I would I would turn off the sterilizer and the skimmer for one day. In conjunction to the first dose. I would reduce your vodka dosing by half. Bacterial blooms will happen. This is normal. Do no worry. The anaerobic bacteria will settle. You will have a little bit of waste away at the end of your dose. You can use this for adjustments in the future. Once you reach your target ppm of NO3 and PO4 adjust your dosage down and work to maintain equilibrium. If you reach your target ppm for NO3 and PO4 Early. You end your regimen of weekly dosing of Waste Away. If you do not reach your target value for nutrients by the end of the month. I would complete one more full dose of the Excess Waste-Away. If you do this you should be well on your way to a low nutrient tank.

 

[cchomistek]

No worries. That was basically my plan. The algae in the tank is definitely receeding so things are moving in the right direction that is for sure. I already set up my doser to drop the amount of vodka starting tomorrow.

 

[aeras1131]

If your algae is already receding. I would start drip dosing Fuel, or Red Sea Reef Nutrition Part A+B at the recommended dosage while implementing the regimen we discuss. It will benefit the anaerobic bacteria and and the coralline algae. It would be a win win for your tank.

 

[cchomistek]

I put in 50mL of br. Tim's waste away. No adverse affects and no bloom. I am at 7 mls of vodka right now. I will most likely dose 100mLs on Monday. Skimmer is back on after 24 hrs being off and lots of foam in the collection cup quickly. I attribute that to a large bacterial population.

 

[aeras1131]

I would wait the full week @cchomistek. This is a not a race it is a marathon.

 

[aeras1131]

Take the full month it is worth your time.

 

[cchomistek]

I do actually have the ability to do this. I have 2 50 lb bags of new seaflor select reef sand that I could put in or are you saying that this would cause a new cycle and I would need to use the sand already in the tank just cleaned? I would have to purchase some large Rubbermaid but this could be done. I have always rinsed my sand before using but I either am not doing it enough or not sure as when we set this tank up 4 years ago it still gave the milky water. How long do you rinse the sand for? Not sure if I will go this route but right now is the time as I am resetting my tank and getting back into the coral game.

I am seeing progress in what I am doing. Not too much on the lowering of the nitrates yet but the algae is going away but with cyanob growing on the sand now and on the rocks probably taking the place of the dead algae. With the carbon dosing this is probably feeding the algae aswell.

hey would you ever consider a bottom to top rip cleaning in such a large system? The reason I ask is we like to collect and implement that work in restoration threads and large tanks are particularly challenging solely due to the volume of makeup water needed for a clean reset...

a neat inversion is to siphon off all your current water into rubbermaids, then we completely replace the sandbed, and detritus-dislodge all the rockwork, then reassemble the entire system detritus free as a skip cycle setup which we collect in the threads.

you can then re use all your old water saving the makeup hassle. the entire technique is centered around instant restoration, not delayed restoration, within the boundaries of what nitrifier beds allow when taking on cleaning tasks. predictable like clockwork

go extra mile and produce 50% new makeup water

your need for carbon dosing and time waiting drops 90% in the presence of a detritus-free system. not anything will cloud upon disturbance post arrest if you ever want Id be down it would be a neat giant cleaning run. it will be so easy to correct nutrient issues in that older water when its not being fed from the bottom up.

 

[cchomistek]

Here is a picture of my tank after I blew off the cyano that has accumulated on the rocks. If I coukd keep it looking this clean all the time I would be really happy.