VODKA dosing regimen- notes.

[pnoyreefer]

Merv its looking pretty good and corals looks very happy and colors are in check ... I give you lots of credit for having all this thing documented with pics..Looks great so far..

 

[concept3]

Great update, Merv, and your corals look super.

One request: Can you please PM me that recipe? Because despite putting on my reading glasses and nearly having my faced pushed into the monitor with a magnifying glass, it's hard for me to read the recipe. :-[

Here you go Wendy. I made it smaller since I didn't think anyone was interested in it-

The recipe if anyone is interested:
5 medium squid tubes, cleaned, frozen and GRATED while frozen
1/2 lb frozen shrimp, no shell and GRATED while frozen
3 fresh chowder clams, frozen and GRATED while frozen
2 fresh oysters, frozen and GRATED while frozen
3-4 sheets of sushi Nori, unsalted, no flavoring
6 cloves of garlic
2 packets of frozen Daphnia, defrosted and drained
1 bulk frozen package of Bloodworms, defrosted and drained
1/2 bulk frozen package of mysis shrimp (like 4-5 prepackaged cubes), defrosted and drained
small container of any small pelletized fish food, I used New life spectrum pellets
+Any coral food (you wish to add, like Selcon, pods, etc)

I grate the first four since I can control the size instead of placing them in the food processor and turning it to mush. I place these in a sieve and let it drip while I prepare the rest.
In the food processor, I start with the Nori and do a rough chop to size (so its manageable by the fish you have), I take it out and set it aside. A garlic press works best to get the juice of the garlic out, but I smash the garlic on a cutting board with a little salt until it's a paste and mix that in the frozen mix.

Basically, just incorporate everything together by folding the mix, it may be a little too moist, but once you add the Nori and pelletized fish food, it will start to come together.

I place them back in fish food trays, or use "eggcrate" (the ones we use for frags) to make sectioned portions. Once frozen, you can just pop them out into a ziplock bag and keep it frozen as long as its airtight.

Making food this way allows me to stock up for at least 8 months. That's right. 10 months for me (with 2-3 cubes a day, every other day)

 

[concept3]

Threw some comparisons in here so that I have a reference on growth and coloration. I'm gonna stick with the Reefluxes by themselves for now since I want to see the impact of reduced lighting has on my tank. I currently only run my halides on for 6-7 hours to begin with (actinics were 8-10, overlap), but I want to see if they will affect corals negatively. I know, I know, too many variables in this experiment, but you learn and note stuff as you go right?


Here are TWO week comparisons on growth- notice the thickening of the branches on the first coral, the growth on the SPS tip on the second pic (out of pic frame), and the darkening of the last coral-

 

[concept3]

Growth of the Orange Cap from Oct 3rd to Nov 11:

Growth of the Yellow Prostrata:

"Noteable Notes"
Day 1- first dose of 0.4 ml for 3 days
Day 4- ramp up to 0.8 ml for 4 days
Day 4 of dosage- max amount of particulate matter in water column, cleared by Day 7
Day 7 of dosage- re-started kalk drip after a few months, consistent skimmate, about a cup/day
Day 8- ramp up vodka to max of 1.3 ml
Day 8 of dosage- Started adding Turbo Calcium
Day 9 of dosage- started dosing MgCl2
Day 14- started reduction of vodka to 0.8 ml for 3 days
Day 19- FORGOT vodka for 2 days!!!
Day 21- resumed dosage to 0.5 ml
Day 21 of dosage- skimmer production slowed down. Also changed out lights to Reeflux 12K's
Day 30 of dosage- started dosing Iodide i found in my supply stash. Not testing for Potassium at this time.
pH in tank is back above 8 since a few weeks. Addition of consistent Kalkwasser attributed as a factor.
Day 24- ramped up to 0.8 mL again, for the next few days
Day 33- target goal of 1.0 ml vodka achieved.
Day 32 of dosage- Added Epsom salts to the Magnesium Chloride pre-mix
Day 36 of dosage- Skimmer back to about a cup a day. However, it is very light and doesn't smell as bad.

 

[blange3]

Well here's one thing that stinks about the new job, whatever hosting site you use for the pictures is blocked!

I'll have to wait until I get home to go ooh and aah!!! ;D

 

[concept3]

Look what I learned today on CS3!!!


This is soooooo much easier to watch!

 

[concept3]

there's not much growth between the 3rd and 11th now is there? must be the new lights..........

 

[concept3]

Nov 12 (Day 36) 1.0 mL
Minor water change to remove detritus behind rock pillars. 5 gallons of water, no supplementation added. Played with lights a little to see the difference between 6500K's and 12000K's. Here's what I got:

Nov 13 (Day 37) 1.0 mL
Finally got about 3 cups of skimmate, but only after feeding with 3 cubes with the pumps shut off. Weird. About 3 cups of light skimmate and 3 cubes. Too much coincidence. Vodka in sump



Nov 14 (Day 38) 1.0 mL
added Strontium/Molybdenum, 5 mL. Same with Iodide. No cubes, just Nori and pellets


Nov 15 (Day 39) same
Feeding- 3 cubes just to see what happens just as in the skimmate from two days ago. Added some small pellets as well. Sure enough, about 2 3/4 cups of skimmate! what's goin on? The skimmer apparently is skimming out all the excess organics quickly. I will try again tomorrow. same dosage as yesterday, as this will be my maintainance dose.



Nov 16 (Day 40) same
3 cubes- 2 hours, about 3 cups of skimmate. Very consistent. I am marking the 2 liter bottle with red nail polish (Permanent marker may go in the water) I will try this with 2 cubes, and 1 cube, but very interesting process. Added Turbo calcium and Kalkwasser as usual.

Nov 17 (Day 41) same
Took pics of the corals, also took a pic of the skimmate which has become a very light tea color. A far cry from the original sludgy skimmate from 7 weeks ago, it still smells though. Nori in clip.








The coral pics:

 

[concept3]

this thread needs an update, lol...

working in retail has slowed my updates tremendously! The past 2 and a half weeks has been a blur, and Christmas is right around the corner. I have been diligently keeping the dosages, however, and have been jotting down (as minimalist as it can get) on the daily sheet. I did take pics of the corals on Monday the 24th, but forgot to take pics this past Monday the 1st. I'll try and update for tomorrow since I may have a few moments available tomorrow eve/night.

Finally bit the bullet on a set of T5's+endcaps to complete the light setup, so by next week (hopefully), I'll be armed by a barrage of t5's as well....

 

[Jf2381]

I have been dozing for the past month with great results. My corals are growing faster and all brown corals a finally coloring up.

 

[concept3]

I have been dozing for the past month with great results. My corals are growing faster and all brown corals a finally coloring up.

yep, that's the same result I got in the initial stage. careful with the doses though, you want to find that happy medium where the tank balances itself.







I've been tied up, and between not being able to log online and take pics, I was able to get through a couple of projects within the tank.

I finally received the t5 lights I ordered the week before, and found out that my ballast was faulty (some kind of short?) I got the ballast back last week and finished the installation of the T5's in the hood. I went with the combo of Actinic03--AquaBlue--Procolor--Actinic03. The lights were added in a pair configuration, 2 on the hood and 2 mounted on the light rack. Man, are these t5's bright! I decided to cut the halide photoperiod down to 4 hours, right in the middle of the t5 photoperiod of 10 hours.

I also played with some of the waterplug that BruceK graciously left us for the Nov meeting, I made some liverock shelves as I was running out of room with the sudden growth spurt my tank has been going through. I've been toying with the idea since I talked to Panmanmatt during the NJRC frag swap, and I was able to finally acquire some super strong plastic covered magnets. They came in one day, and I decided to put some epoxy and superglue gel to use. These neodynium magnets have a pull force of 16 lbs on bare metal, and wow, ya gotta be careful when handling these babies. I bought the 3/4 inch diameter ones.


This rock actually comprises of 3 pieces ziptied and shafted with a coat hanger and water plugged. Cured in less than 2 minutes! To be on the safe side, I soaked it in saltwater with tank crud that I siphoned the night before. For larger batches, I would suggest doing this for over a week to cure the rock.

 

[concept3]

Here's the shelf on her maiden dunkage in the tank.... not the final resting place of course.

here is the final resting place with a few frags already mounted. All the corals on the shelf was mostly dedicated to pnoyreefer's frags Ralph's idaho grape representin' too!

All the pics below are under the T5's only. The halides shut off early now, I only have them on for 4 hours!

 

[concept3]

and I made a little baby shelf too, to squeeze behind the efflo.....

and the mandatory FTS with the T5's only (actnic--aquablue--procolor--actinic)

 

[concept3]

October 7th to December 16th CAP growth sequence:

So, dosage is still at 1 ml, and umm, every now and then I miss a day, but it hasn't shown any deleterious effects. Still continuing the potassium dosage and regular additions of MgCl2 as well as Turbo calcium. I slowed the Kalk drip to every 3 days.

 

[ricwilli]

Merv, your tank is looking better and better. But i must say, that shelf rock is sick. What a great idea. I will definitely be using that idea. If you don't mind, can you tell me where did you get the magnets? I can't wait till I finish building my sump so that I can start dosing. I purchased a skimmer and it does not fit in my current sump.

 

[concept3]

Merv, your tank is looking better and better. But i must say, that shelf rock is sick. What a great idea. I will definitely be using that idea. If you don't mind, can you tell me where did you get the magnets? I can't wait till I finish building my sump so that I can start dosing. I purchased a skimmer and it does not fit in my current sump.

thanks brah, and by all means, feel free to reach out once you start putting live rock shelves together. there's a bit of a trick in getting the magnets to work and attach properly, so let me know when you get closer to playing with them. I also just realized that you don't need the plastic covered ones for the outside (of the tank). The bare metal ones will suffice as they are quite expensive.

the site is kjmagnetics . com (thanks matt)

As far as the dosing goes, slow is better

 

[Altohombre]

Your rock shelves are so badass! I can't wait to see them with coraline growth on them.

Do you equate your coral growth and color to the vodka dosing or the other new additives and lighting you have added? Or is it because the vodka has diminished your phosphates and nitrates and therefor your algae that they are flourishing?

 

[concept3]

Your rock shelves are so badass! I can't wait to see them with coraline growth on them.

Do you equate your coral growth and color to the vodka dosing or the other new additives and lighting you have added? Or is it because the vodka has diminished your phosphates and nitrates and therefor your algae that they are flourishing?

Thanks for the compliments!

I attribute the growth to the increase of Magnesium which I assume led to the bio-available Calcium. The vodka definitely starved the algae out (which in turn may have released chemicals that inhibit coral growth, and add yellowing compounds to the water). The water is definitely clearer since the vodka dosing, and the only supplements I add now are potassium in the form of iodide. Switching out my lights to 12K's definitely made the corals color up (as you can see on some of the pics) but I think that with the many changes made in the tank, the corals were still able to grow rapidly.

Also, had I left the 6500K lights in there, the increased water clarity could have bleached the tank since more light now penetrates the water column.

 

[evoIX]

your tank is freaking amazing! ha. i like those rock shelves i'm going to have to steal that idea!!!

 

[ricwilli]

Merv, sorry if you mention this already, but are you running carbon? What % of water changes are you doing?