Time to start Vodka Dosing.

sbritt123 · 11-25-2010, 08:54 PM

Tank has been up for 4 months, algea battle 2 months. I have tried many different methods. Cutting back light cycle, completly shutting down lights for days, limited feeding, rinsing food, water changes, activated carbon. Nothing has worked, no matter how much I remove it comes right back. My paramaters are fine, by me and my LFS. PH-8.1, Nitirite-0ppm, Nitrate-5ppm, Ammonia-0ppm. I do not have a test for phosphates. My only concern is the age of my tank, is it too young? Other than that I would love any advice you guys have to offer. I have done a good amount of research on VD and feel confident I can do it properly.

tcamos · 11-25-2010, 11:19 PM

My personal opinion is that your tank is too young. At four months you really aren't that long out of the cycle period, let alone a stable system. Having issues like this at four months is really common, especially if you have stocked the tank too fast.

CueMusic · 11-26-2010, 01:01 AM

Don't Dose your tank is too young.

mrplum · 11-26-2010, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbritt123

Tank has been up for 4 months, algea battle 2 months. I have tried many different methods. Cutting back light cycle, completly shutting down lights for days, limited feeding, rinsing food, water changes, activated carbon. Nothing has worked, no matter how much I remove it comes right back. My paramaters are fine, by me and my LFS. PH-8.1, Nitirite-0ppm, Nitrate-5ppm, Ammonia-0ppm. I do not have a test for phosphates. My only concern is the age of my tank, is it too young? Other than that I would love any advice you guys have to offer. I have done a good amount of research on VD and feel confident I can do it properly.

Your tank is still cycling. You haven't tried everything, add a phosphate reactor with granulated ferric oxide as the media. You have another 3-4 months to get through the "complete" cycle.

jalexuk · 11-26-2010, 02:29 PM

dont add anything, no vodka no phosphate reactor no ferric oxide... nothing. let the tank run its cycle. Its still a young tank, eventually when the tank has settled and the bacteria has got up to speed with the load in tank the algae will die off on its own. For now just keep scrubbing it off the rocks with a soft brush.

ebross67 · 11-26-2010, 03:58 PM

Brown algae, green film algae, and red slime algae are common to new systems (and old if you replace the LS or LR). What you don't want is hair algae at any stage. You need to vigorously battle HA if this is your problem. If you let it linger, it will NEVER get better. If it's HA the source problem must be dealt with, and saying it will just go away with time will leave you pulling your hair out.

harveyandbanjo · 11-26-2010, 04:07 PM

My tank is only 3 months old. I had a quick outbreak of HA but my hermit and yellow tang took care of that in no time. It has yet to come back. The only algae I have now is red slime algae and I was wondering how long would this take to sort itself out?

mrplum · 11-26-2010, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalexuk

dont add anything, no vodka no phosphate reactor no ferric oxide... nothing. let the tank run its cycle. Its still a young tank, eventually when the tank has settled and the bacteria has got up to speed with the load in tank the algae will die off on its own. For now just keep scrubbing it off the rocks with a soft brush.

Don't quite understand this post. The reactor and Ferric Oxide are preventative measures. This is sound advice.

tcamos · 11-26-2010, 06:07 PM

What he means is at this point in the tank's life there's no need for even those measures. The tank is still in the process of stabilizing and adding GFO at this point would just prolong it.

Plaz · 11-26-2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcamos

What he means is at this point in the tank's life there's no need for even those measures. The tank is still in the process of stabilizing and adding GFO at this point would just prolong it.

I'm not sure I buy this. What part of tank cycling requires elevated phosphate levels? I would be comfortable with running GFO from day one.

FutureDoc · 11-26-2010, 06:54 PM

I agree with several opinions that the tank is too young for vodka, especially for algae control. The tank is not mature enough, as vodka (carbon dosing) is bacteria driven. GFO should be used before vodka and I like the idea of waiting until 6 months (although I normally start with GFO from the beginning... but I only use mature live rock when setting up so my tank dynamics are always different). Vodka, in my experience, should be only started in an established tank. I do not mind carbon dosing at 6 months but only if that is going to be a long term (permanent) method for the tank (NOT ALGAE CONTROL). With young tanks different organism are populating, reaching their carrying capacity, and then dying off so young tanks are almost always going to have nutrient available to algae. Eventually the tank will have a point of equilibrium and then you can address nutrient issues. Considering you have nitrates, normally then there is phosphates (and since you have not tested, I will assume) when you are not using GFO or other additive. I would work on the water changes first. Baste you rocks and stir up any organics that might be lying around and the siphon them out. What type of algae are you fighting anyways?

Also, check your source water, that is a common issue with chronic algae!

mrplum · 11-27-2010, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plaz

I'm not sure I buy this. What part of tank cycling requires elevated phosphate levels? I would be comfortable with running GFO from day one.

Exactly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FutureDoc

I agree with several opinions that the tank is too young for vodka, especially for algae control. The tank is not mature enough, as vodka (carbon dosing) is bacteria driven. GFO should be used before vodka and I like the idea of waiting until 6 months (although I normally start with GFO from the beginning... but I only use mature live rock when setting up so my tank dynamics are always different). Vodka, in my experience, should be only started in an established tank. I do not mind carbon dosing at 6 months but only if that is going to be a long term (permanent) method for the tank (NOT ALGAE CONTROL). With young tanks different organism are populating, reaching their carrying capacity, and then dying off so young tanks are almost always going to have nutrient available to algae. Eventually the tank will have a point of equilibrium and then you can address nutrient issues. Considering you have nitrates, normally then there is phosphates (and since you have not tested, I will assume) when you are not using GFO or other additive. I would work on the water changes first. Baste you rocks and stir up any organics that might be lying around and the siphon them out. What type of algae are you fighting anyways?

Also, check your source water, that is a common issue with chronic algae!

Yes, I was keeping things simple as we are discussing an immature aquarium. I didn't want to go too deep with explaining that bacteria have different strains and mature at different rates, saturation etc.

tcamos · 11-27-2010, 03:54 PM

Nothing requires it, but of course a tank doesn't require GFO at all if it is properly stocked. I don't run GFO anymore on either of my tanks because I have the fish down to a minium and so feeding is minimal as well as waste. It's a matter of balance. GFO allows you to run a tank out of balance in a manner of speaking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plaz

I'm not sure I buy this. What part of tank cycling requires elevated phosphate levels? I would be comfortable with running GFO from day one.

cutietwo · 11-27-2010, 07:36 PM

Here is what worked for me...
1. If you DO NOT have a deep sand bed when you do your water changes vaccume it with the water. Each time vaccume about 20% of your water volume or so every time.
2. Use ro/di water with every water change and top off
3. Use frozen foods and of cours rinse well (like you said you did).
4. Do water changes weekly (20% every time using ro/di water).
5. Have very high water current and enough live rock for good bacteria. Usually it is about a pound per gallon...depending on how porous rocks are. Strong flow will keep tank cleaner as well, and have a good skimmer.
Here on TRT the key is more export than what you import. It works!

mrplum · 11-28-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcamos

Nothing requires it, but of course a tank doesn't require GFO at all if it is properly stocked. I don't run GFO anymore on either of my tanks because I have the fish down to a minium and so feeding is minimal as well as waste. It's a matter of balance. GFO allows you to run a tank out of balance in a manner of speaking.

I simply have to disagree. Phosphates enter the tank from a variety of different sources. To say that a balance will eliminate phosphates and/or algae is to not understand the dichotomy of the aquarium.