Vodka dosing my 180

[alexf762]

I had never been much of a number chaser, i test alk & ca, but as long as they are in an acceptable range I don't worry much. I use my more sensitive sps as an indicator and go from there. After having a small cyano and some sort or dense brown/ green o2 producing algae pop up and live through persistent vacuuming and scrubbing I began to wonder what made it come up. I do regular roughly 27% water changes every two weeks and run Gfo and carbon. No changes to feeding. I dosed cyano solution and did a water change the next day. Killed all remaining cyano. I decided to pick up a Red Sea "algae control" test kit. PO4 = .08 & NO3 = 16ppm one day after water change. ( all corals look normal). I decided to try vodka dosing as I've heard much success with it. I have a new 1456 deltec skimmer to handle the extra waste produced. And a bottle of skoal for the ethanol.

I want to use this thread to share my experiences and learn from others that have tried this approach.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[cginter]

Following as well. Maybe before and after pics?

 

[alexf762]

Yeah, that's a good idea I will try to post some tomorrow!

 

[alexf762]

Here's some pics for comparison later and an update of the spreadsheet

 

[alexf762]

I am now up to 2.4 mL a day and I haven't missed a day. There is a noticeable reduction in algae on the rocks, but no changes in the water parameters. I am assuming the bacteria is consuming some of the NO3 & PO4 that was keeping the algae fed and starving that off, but not enough to see a change in testing. Corals are all handling it fine with no visible changes.

 

[dragon99]

Seeing any reduction in NO3 yet?

 

[alexf762]

None yet. Up to 3.5 mL

 

[alexf762]

Update. Now up to 4.9 mL/ day. All nuisance algae is gone. PO4 holding steady NO3 has decreased slightly. This is with regular 25% w/c, still replacing carbon& GFO monthly. I believe the numbers will begin to drop much more quickly now. Still no I'll effects. I automatized last week adding a BRS dosing pump. It adds 1/2 of the amount every 12 hours. So far really liking the vodka dosing.

 

[thejuice24]

Any update? Starting my dosing.... on day 2...

What your results so far?

 

[alexf762]

Well there was a bit of an upset, I had to move my tank to my new house and honestly I haven't checked either parameters since. No nuisance algae and still dosing the 4.9mL/ day. Very happy with results so far