Quote:
Originally posted by SimilanRocks
Dave, good point. How is your vodka dosing so far? I'm thinking of doing some soon.
|
I did this a long time ago just to test it out.. I only did it for several months. I had no real problems before it though but still had positive results but can not tell you long term affects. I wish I would have recorded all my results and took pics.
Water was much clearer than anything I had ever seen. Even when using carbon or ozone. Also my skimmer pulled out about twice the amount of skim mate and it was far smellier than anything I had ever had. I am sure alot of this was bacteria because it was slimy.
Phosphate is all I tested for with a hach low range test kit and again I wish I had recorded my results. I had started with low phosphates and still they dropped.
I also dosed in the morning and in the evening instead of one large dose a day. This way you would not get the huge spikes of bacteria. Basically it is a pain to do though and you can not miss doing it or you can kill off large populations of bacteria and really have to start over. I had no adverse affects on my tank though and only positive. i had lot less algae on my glass. I also saw some positives in my coral which could be because of the bacteria as food or cleaner water. I saw better polyp extension on some of my corals. I did not observe much color change though, maybe if I would have done it longer or maybe my tank was at maximum before starting. I always wanted try this on a dirtier tank.
Honestly if you have no problems, do not do it.. Instead of maintaining a tank with vodka I think it could be used to clean up a tank. The bacteria will consume lots of phosphates or nitrogen in the tank. Make sure to bring the populations of bacteria up slowly and let them down slowly. Bacteria can consume lots of oxygen and you can have a massive bloom right off the bat. Also if you have a huge die off they can realease alot back into the tank.
I imagine the method people use to cook rocks could be accelerated by vodka and a skimmer big time.
D/E halides for sure put out large amout of uv compaired to other lamps but people use a uv shield and I am not sure how much actually gets through. I think Dana may have done tests on this though but I am not sure where the Data is... I have never used d/e myself but know several people who have and most claim less color. I really do not understand this myself. Maybe their problems have nothing to do with the lighting though.
Dave