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VODKA dosing regimen- notes.
- Thread starter concept3
- Start date
Oct 14 (Day 8) 1.3 mL
Dosed 3 tsp of turbo calcium. Continued kalk drip, refreshed the Mrs Wages pickling lime sitting in the Kent 5 gallon drip thing. 2 capfuls of Strontium/Molybdenum in the kalkdrip since the directions indicated "can be dosed with Kalkwasser" Food- added a whole leaf of lettuce and 1 cube frozen. RK article states that dripping the vodka is more beneficial than dumping at once. I dumped it tonight anyways
Oct 15 (Day 9) 1.3 mL
sick today- dosed the 1.3 mL, kalk drip clogged up, let it drip through, no adding water.
Oct 16 (Day 10) 1.3 mL
forgot to dose. sick. fed fish. I dosed myself with 2 gallons of OJ, no vodka.
Added lettuce again, the tangs need to stay fat and happy, little poop machines that they are.
Oct 17 (Day 11) 1.3 mL
Added turbo calcium, 4 tsp. Threw in about 1/4 cup dissolved MgCl2. Added vodka to Kalkdrip, added water to drip
Oct 18 (Day 12) 1.3 mL
Added more vodka to kalk drip but was clogged again. Opened it back up. Fed fish 2 cubes frozen, some pellets too. Rocks look very clean, and detritus was in the same spot.
Oct 19 (Day 13)1.3 mL
Cleaned out skimmer. It's foul today since I cleaned it last. Almost 5 cups of sewer like odor. Skimmer neck is not as clogged, but very slimy. I think the whole romaine lettuce leaves are adding a lot more organic compounds in the tank. I'm switching out the romaine to Seaweed selects for fishies. I found it in my cupboard along with the Turbo calcium, strontium and Magnesium chloride when I did my water tests last week
Oct 20 (Day 14)
Played with the Tunze controller today. Re-adjusted the speeds and changed from Pulse to sequential. I now have a 1.5 inch wave on the top of the tank. detritus is everywhere, so I started making water to change tomorrow or thurs. Don't know if I want to keep the wave in the tank. It's a little scary, don't want saltwater everywhere. We'll see tomorrow. Took pics for reference. There's a remarkable difference!
I'll be cutting my vodka dosage back down to 0.8 again for THREE days starting tomorrow. PO and NO is still at 0.
Dosed 3 tsp of turbo calcium. Continued kalk drip, refreshed the Mrs Wages pickling lime sitting in the Kent 5 gallon drip thing. 2 capfuls of Strontium/Molybdenum in the kalkdrip since the directions indicated "can be dosed with Kalkwasser" Food- added a whole leaf of lettuce and 1 cube frozen. RK article states that dripping the vodka is more beneficial than dumping at once. I dumped it tonight anyways
Oct 15 (Day 9) 1.3 mL
sick today- dosed the 1.3 mL, kalk drip clogged up, let it drip through, no adding water.
Oct 16 (Day 10) 1.3 mL
forgot to dose. sick. fed fish. I dosed myself with 2 gallons of OJ, no vodka.
Added lettuce again, the tangs need to stay fat and happy, little poop machines that they are.
Oct 17 (Day 11) 1.3 mL
Added turbo calcium, 4 tsp. Threw in about 1/4 cup dissolved MgCl2. Added vodka to Kalkdrip, added water to drip
Oct 18 (Day 12) 1.3 mL
Added more vodka to kalk drip but was clogged again. Opened it back up. Fed fish 2 cubes frozen, some pellets too. Rocks look very clean, and detritus was in the same spot.
Oct 19 (Day 13)1.3 mL
Cleaned out skimmer. It's foul today since I cleaned it last. Almost 5 cups of sewer like odor. Skimmer neck is not as clogged, but very slimy. I think the whole romaine lettuce leaves are adding a lot more organic compounds in the tank. I'm switching out the romaine to Seaweed selects for fishies. I found it in my cupboard along with the Turbo calcium, strontium and Magnesium chloride when I did my water tests last week
Oct 20 (Day 14)
Played with the Tunze controller today. Re-adjusted the speeds and changed from Pulse to sequential. I now have a 1.5 inch wave on the top of the tank. detritus is everywhere, so I started making water to change tomorrow or thurs. Don't know if I want to keep the wave in the tank. It's a little scary, don't want saltwater everywhere. We'll see tomorrow. Took pics for reference. There's a remarkable difference!
I'll be cutting my vodka dosage back down to 0.8 again for THREE days starting tomorrow. PO and NO is still at 0.
Weird thing about the following corals below is the faster lightening of the ones that remained closer to the light source. The first coral in the next pic, or Coral #5 (on the top) USED to be halfway down the tank directly under the 6500K halide. It used to be much paler in color, but browned out. I have moved it to another spot since it broke, but much closer to the bottom and away from the halide, in slight shade. The last two corals are at the same locations, and have lightened up FAST. Of course the other coral will darken to the variance of light, but is regaining back color as well. Could it be that it likes less light, since color has always been an issue with it?
So, a quick update before I update this thread- Here is Coral #1 on the 7th, 14th, and the 20th....
I took the last pic with no topdown box on the 21st. The lights used were 2X250w 6500K Iwasakis and 220Watts of VHOS.
I just redid my lighting Sunday the 25th, so I will be posting that update a little later (I forgot to take pics with the old lighting before I dismantled the hood, which I'll be posting in the DIY section)
I took the last pic with no topdown box on the 21st. The lights used were 2X250w 6500K Iwasakis and 220Watts of VHOS.
I just redid my lighting Sunday the 25th, so I will be posting that update a little later (I forgot to take pics with the old lighting before I dismantled the hood, which I'll be posting in the DIY section)
Im thinking he got rid of the 6500Ks MHs.
12k reeflux + T5 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D ;DWell, I got stuff from Chris during the frag swap. I decided on that after talking to Steve pnoy (that his lights were popping his corals into eye candy), after the lecture by Dana, after everything came together and I looked to see how much I had left in my pocket.
I looked around the hall only to notice that the selection of T5's bulbs were like staggering compared to VHO's. "Procolor" was violet. Blue was Blue. Actinic 03's were bugging my eyes when I stared. 14K's were cool. 10K's were white......wait. Procolor was Violet, and I remembered something about Dana's lecture on Violet VS coral color and inducing certain pigmentations. I wanted to try procolor and Actinics in T5's instead of actinic VHO's.
I confirmed with Chris that my two VHO's will work with two T5's when I run them on an Icecap 660. COOL.
What I didn't realize was that my 48 inch VHO's were in fact, 48 inches. The new T5's were "48 inches" but were physically 46 inches to accommodate for the endcaps. Bummer. So, I wired TWO t5's in series, not realizing that ALL 4 bulbs need to be running to fire.
I also just got a pair of 6 month old Reeflux 12K's from Tom (mott768) so I was gonna try them with my new PROCOLOR and ACTINIC T5's..... No dice on the t5's. Need to have 4 running. BUT I only bought a PAIR of t5 standoffs and two bulbs. The old VHO's were just too big to try and reinstall. The heck with it.
THE CURRENT SETUP now is 12K Reeflux only. (or until Chris ships more t5's and reflectors to me next week)
Anyways, here's a comparison of the t5's vs VHO's. Note the VHO's hanging precariously on the top of my newly modified moveable light hood located here:
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=13179.0
That was how I figured out I needed 4 to fire.....
I looked around the hall only to notice that the selection of T5's bulbs were like staggering compared to VHO's. "Procolor" was violet. Blue was Blue. Actinic 03's were bugging my eyes when I stared. 14K's were cool. 10K's were white......wait. Procolor was Violet, and I remembered something about Dana's lecture on Violet VS coral color and inducing certain pigmentations. I wanted to try procolor and Actinics in T5's instead of actinic VHO's.
I confirmed with Chris that my two VHO's will work with two T5's when I run them on an Icecap 660. COOL.
What I didn't realize was that my 48 inch VHO's were in fact, 48 inches. The new T5's were "48 inches" but were physically 46 inches to accommodate for the endcaps. Bummer. So, I wired TWO t5's in series, not realizing that ALL 4 bulbs need to be running to fire.
I also just got a pair of 6 month old Reeflux 12K's from Tom (mott768) so I was gonna try them with my new PROCOLOR and ACTINIC T5's..... No dice on the t5's. Need to have 4 running. BUT I only bought a PAIR of t5 standoffs and two bulbs. The old VHO's were just too big to try and reinstall. The heck with it.
THE CURRENT SETUP now is 12K Reeflux only. (or until Chris ships more t5's and reflectors to me next week)
Anyways, here's a comparison of the t5's vs VHO's. Note the VHO's hanging precariously on the top of my newly modified moveable light hood located here:
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=13179.0
That was how I figured out I needed 4 to fire.....
Oct 21 (Day 15) 0.8 mL
Adjusted Tunze. Water waves splashed over the top of Eurobrace up front. Cleaned glass and skimmer, threw in half a cupful of MgCl2 mixed with water. Lettuce on clip.
took a few topdown pics with no box
Oct 22 (Day 16) 0.8 mL
tests measured 0 for NO3 and PO4. Ca is 420. Added more Turbocalcium to maintain higher levels, I am aiming for 480-500, topped off kalk drip. I know the reason why Ca went down a little. CO2 tank was empty after 2 years!
Oct 23 (Day 17) 0.8 mL
Skimmer 2 cups. cleaned out. Fed nori and 2 cubes.
Oct 24 (Day 18) 0.5 mL
placed 0.5 mL inside Kalkdrip. Added Strontium/Molybdenum (2 capfuls)
wiped front glass. Installed co2 tank
Oct 25 (Day 19) forgot
swapday
Oct 26 (Day 20) forgot
busy building hood.
Oct 27 (Day 21) 0.5 mL
wow, skimmer production slowed. Apparently, forgetting two days of Vodka slowed down skimmer production.
Lighting regimen is a little out of whack since I took the hood apart and timer needs to get reset.
Oct 28 (Day 22)
Skimmer cleaned out this evening, 1 cup. Skimmer production is somewhat back to normal. I will be keeping to 0.5 mL as my maintenance dose.
Adjusted Tunze. Water waves splashed over the top of Eurobrace up front. Cleaned glass and skimmer, threw in half a cupful of MgCl2 mixed with water. Lettuce on clip.
took a few topdown pics with no box
Oct 22 (Day 16) 0.8 mL
tests measured 0 for NO3 and PO4. Ca is 420. Added more Turbocalcium to maintain higher levels, I am aiming for 480-500, topped off kalk drip. I know the reason why Ca went down a little. CO2 tank was empty after 2 years!
Oct 23 (Day 17) 0.8 mL
Skimmer 2 cups. cleaned out. Fed nori and 2 cubes.
Oct 24 (Day 18) 0.5 mL
placed 0.5 mL inside Kalkdrip. Added Strontium/Molybdenum (2 capfuls)
wiped front glass. Installed co2 tank
Oct 25 (Day 19) forgot
swapday
Oct 26 (Day 20) forgot
busy building hood.
Oct 27 (Day 21) 0.5 mL
wow, skimmer production slowed. Apparently, forgetting two days of Vodka slowed down skimmer production.
Lighting regimen is a little out of whack since I took the hood apart and timer needs to get reset.
Oct 28 (Day 22)
Skimmer cleaned out this evening, 1 cup. Skimmer production is somewhat back to normal. I will be keeping to 0.5 mL as my maintenance dose.
Bear with the pictures since I had a glitch on my hood. SO moving forward, the pics will be taken under Reeflux 12k's and T5's instead of 6500K's and VHO's from the previous pics.
Just bear with me since UNTIL I get to finish this hood, there will be a transitional color shift between pics until I'm done with my upgrade.
Just pay in mind the circles that show growth differences, so disregard color shifts for now.
Just bear with me since UNTIL I get to finish this hood, there will be a transitional color shift between pics until I'm done with my upgrade.
Just pay in mind the circles that show growth differences, so disregard color shifts for now.
Oct 29 (Day 23) 1.0 mL (2 day dose)
added 1.0 mL to the kalk drip for a 2 day dose. Cleaned out kalk output so it won't clog again. Skimmer production is a little less than before (probably due to me forgetting and reducing the dosage) also noticed tank glass is hazier than normal. The one large frag/colony(over 6 inches)of my Lavender prostrata isn't doing so well. It was fragged on accident from the mother colony when I dropped something over it. The polyps had never come back to its full glory from that fragging accident.
Oct 30 (Day 24) kalk drip still going from yesterday
Changed out about 10 gallons of water, enough to siphon out detritus accumulated at the bottom of the tank, it looks like a lot of detritus is produced by my Urchin, which now has spines over 6 inches long. Funny thing is, I don't recall them being this long since I purchased it a few years ago. I guess that's another calcium hog benefiting from the Kalkwasser drip. Prostrata is getting progressively worse, its starting to STN, but all the corals look great and are perfectly fine.
Added Strontium/Molybdenum
Oct 31 (Day 25)0.5 mL
Prostrata continues to STN upward on this one frag. Now I notice the original mother colony is doing the same. Could it be a case that since they're from the same piece that they will both eventually succumb? The bottom is a little green, so maybe the phosphates have come back up? Too tired to test, so I'm adding a fresh batch of GFO and a cup of fresh carbon to the phosban reactor.
Skimmer slowed down production to 1/2 cup, 2 days. I am contemplating on slowly bumping back the Vodka to 0.8 mL. Will be testing water for PO4 on Sunday. I have a wedding to shoot tomorrow in North Jersey. Waaaay North jersey. Took pics of prostrata, will post pics up Sunday.
I'll be ordering Amino acids next week, can anyone recommend me what they used (I've used selcon before)
HMMMM.... a lot of views on this thread, not a lot of posts..... I feel like I'm talking to myself
added 1.0 mL to the kalk drip for a 2 day dose. Cleaned out kalk output so it won't clog again. Skimmer production is a little less than before (probably due to me forgetting and reducing the dosage) also noticed tank glass is hazier than normal. The one large frag/colony(over 6 inches)of my Lavender prostrata isn't doing so well. It was fragged on accident from the mother colony when I dropped something over it. The polyps had never come back to its full glory from that fragging accident.
Oct 30 (Day 24) kalk drip still going from yesterday
Changed out about 10 gallons of water, enough to siphon out detritus accumulated at the bottom of the tank, it looks like a lot of detritus is produced by my Urchin, which now has spines over 6 inches long. Funny thing is, I don't recall them being this long since I purchased it a few years ago. I guess that's another calcium hog benefiting from the Kalkwasser drip. Prostrata is getting progressively worse, its starting to STN, but all the corals look great and are perfectly fine.
Added Strontium/Molybdenum
Oct 31 (Day 25)0.5 mL
Prostrata continues to STN upward on this one frag. Now I notice the original mother colony is doing the same. Could it be a case that since they're from the same piece that they will both eventually succumb? The bottom is a little green, so maybe the phosphates have come back up? Too tired to test, so I'm adding a fresh batch of GFO and a cup of fresh carbon to the phosban reactor.
Skimmer slowed down production to 1/2 cup, 2 days. I am contemplating on slowly bumping back the Vodka to 0.8 mL. Will be testing water for PO4 on Sunday. I have a wedding to shoot tomorrow in North Jersey. Waaaay North jersey. Took pics of prostrata, will post pics up Sunday.
I'll be ordering Amino acids next week, can anyone recommend me what they used (I've used selcon before)
HMMMM.... a lot of views on this thread, not a lot of posts..... I feel like I'm talking to myself
I use the zeo amino acids from AquariumSpecialty. Does the green happen that fast? I thought that was an "over time" thing that happened to the skeletin if there was too much phos in the water for a prolonged period?
The Zeo people will tell you that phos remover products will drive the PO4 into the rocks (only to leach back out later). That's why the zeo product is better because it EATS the PO4 instead of driving it into the rocks. By that same theory, is it possible that it is also able to drive the PO4 into the coral skel? Not saying anything other than I've always wondered (I do use PO4 remover).
The Zeo people will tell you that phos remover products will drive the PO4 into the rocks (only to leach back out later). That's why the zeo product is better because it EATS the PO4 instead of driving it into the rocks. By that same theory, is it possible that it is also able to drive the PO4 into the coral skel? Not saying anything other than I've always wondered (I do use PO4 remover).
Merv nice to see that you hooked up the lights and liked it. Make sure you check for PH. That tends to drop and when I started BW products some of my corals reacted to it and checked all my parameters and all of them are inline . ThenI can't seem to find whats causing it till I saw my PH drop to 7.8 which I was running my PH for the past yr to 8.1-8.3. Since I dose more of my 2 part then everything went back to normal. It also happen to WES and he is using PRODIBIO .
Just to chime I dont run GFO on my system since I started BW last august. My po4 as of Thursday was .02 ( using Hannah).
As for Amino I heard that AA from zeo are good but I personally use BW Coral Amino to just stick with one product.
I also started dosing Vitamin C and Strontium on my system last thursday.
Keep us updated..
Just to chime I dont run GFO on my system since I started BW last august. My po4 as of Thursday was .02 ( using Hannah).
As for Amino I heard that AA from zeo are good but I personally use BW Coral Amino to just stick with one product.
I also started dosing Vitamin C and Strontium on my system last thursday.
Keep us updated..
I've been dosing vodka since 10/5. I'm up to 1.8ml daily. So far it seems like things are doing well. The clarity of the water is fantastic. I've noticed the colors the corals to have greatly improved. I have one milli that I got from Steve68 back when I started my tank. It never had the color it did in his tank. Lately, the tips have been a beautiful puple. My wife thought it was a new piece. I'm dosing some Zeo additives as well. I dose the following 3x/week:
4ml of Coral Snow mixed with 2 drops of Coral Vitalizer and 2 drops of Amino Acids
2 drops of Sponge Power
3 drops of Potassium Iodide Flouride
My PO4 has been about 0.03 (Hanna) and NO3 I'd have to say is non detect (Salifert). I'm using Zeo Carbon changed once a month and 1 cup of ROWAphos changed once a month. So far so good.
4ml of Coral Snow mixed with 2 drops of Coral Vitalizer and 2 drops of Amino Acids
2 drops of Sponge Power
3 drops of Potassium Iodide Flouride
My PO4 has been about 0.03 (Hanna) and NO3 I'd have to say is non detect (Salifert). I'm using Zeo Carbon changed once a month and 1 cup of ROWAphos changed once a month. So far so good.