Mini crash- good fun.

[ripped tide]

Oy!!!!

Looking for some insight and opinions other than my own.

Something wiped out some of my beneficial bacteria. I don't know what, but I have a few suspicions.

Firstly, has anyone ever heard of vodka dosing wiping out beneficial bacteria? This all seemed to convieniently pop up when I started vodka dosing. For the first 4 days I added 0.5ml. After that, I bumped up to 1ml and a week later(current dose) up to 1.5ml.

Nitrites have been showing up at aroun 0.1-0.5.
A small amount of ammonia is present : ~0.2

All of the fish seem like there is no problem. Most of the corals look ok, but I am getting some stn on a few acros. I did a water change yesterday and the values of nitrite went up!

Maybe the vodka?
Maybe the batch of salt?
Problem in my RO water?
Switching calcium reactors?

FWIW- ca, alk, and mg are spot on.... Even pH has been staying stable and above 8.10.

To throw a curveball, I did a water change in my 210 yesterday with the same salt, and now I am showing nitrite there as well....

What do you guys think?

 

[rdnelson]

I think you should test the RO and a fresh mix if salt water for Nitrate. But I am a novice as you are well aware. Just seems like you already showed suspicion and it is easy enough to test and rule out.

 

[rjrgroup]

Can you test the fresh salt water? Don't know if that would help but seems weird...

 

[ripped tide]

I have made up a new batch of salt with a different brand to act as a control. No nitrite, and I am still waiting on the ammonia test to color up.

I'll mix up some of the salt I used yesterday and do the same test.

 

[rdnelson]

rjrgroup;824654 wrote: Can you test the fresh salt water? Don't know if that would help but seems weird...

Sick minds think alike.

 

[rdnelson]

What about the mixing container? Could it have been fouled somehow?

From you pics I assumed you did all you rock work in the kitchen but by chance did you do it in the fish room? Could the fumes from the epoxy have fouled something?

I know I am grasping at straws but.......

 

[ripped tide]

I've got some of the same salt that I used yesterday mixin up. If it is the salt mix, I'll contact the manufactuer and send a sample to be analyzed.

Edit:

rdnelson99;824659 wrote: What about the mixing container? Could it have been fouled somehow?

From you pics I assumed you did all you rock work in the kitchen but by chance did you do it in the fish room? Could the fumes from the epoxy have fouled something?

I know I am grasping at straws but.......

I did a lot of the epoxy mixing right next to the tank. Maybe the Protien skimmer pulled some in? BUT.... Before we go there, lets see what the tests say.

 

[ichthyoid]

My opinion, is you have starved your nitrifying bacteria.

Carbon dosing yields much better results when adding amino acids too.

One reason is, the amino acids are a source of ammonium ions (this is the 'amino' part).

Eventually, if using amino acids too, you may use up all phosphate. The bacteria have requirements other than zero, in order to live.

I suspect you had a very 'clean' (low nutrient) system to begin with. Once you started adding the vodka, this drove nutrient levels too low to sustain some of the nitrifyers.

Just my $0.02

 

[tangaray]

are your corals suffering from STN on the tips of the corals. If so check your alkalinity.

 

[ripped tide]

ichthyoid;824670 wrote: My opinion, is you have starved your nitrifying bacteria.

Carbon dosing yields much better results when adding amino acids too.

One reason is, the amino acids are a source of ammonium ions (this is the 'amino' part).

Eventually, if using amino acids too, you may use up all phosphate. The bacteria have requirements other than zero, in order to live.

I suspect you had a very 'clean' (low nutrient) system to begin with. Once you started adding the vodka, this drove nutrient levels too low to sustain some of the nitrifyers.

Just my $0.02

Bill, your $0.02 cents may be worth a million bucks. PLUS I have been feeding that ultra clean food: REEF FRENZY!

Before I started carbon dosing, my po4 was at 0.03ppm and nitrate under or around 1ppm.




The newly mixed salt water tested clean. Actually one thing I did find, was that the Instant ocean contained some ammonium, but no free ammonia. The Salinity contained neither.

Edit:

Tangaray;824672 wrote: are your corals suffering from STN on the tips of the corals. If so check your alkalinity.

At the base. I have been keeping a VERY close eye on alk. It has stayed stable right around 3.2-3.5mg/l

Edit: Something else to chew on, I have been adding amino acids here and there. Could THEY be the source of ammonia?

Edit: When I first started the vodka, I was not adding amino acids. I started adding them random after a week or so.

Is there a chance I starved the bacteria and then after they were deninished, actually added more ammonia to the tank by adding the amino acids?

 

[reeferman]

i agree with Bill.
i alternate Reef Frenzy and the Herbivore blend every day for the past month.thats the most frozen ive ever used in my systems [just to get a copperband fat] and my po4 is still 0.02[hannah].that food is super clean.

 

[ripped tide]

reeferman;824683 wrote: i agree with Bill.
i alternate Reef Frenzy and the Herbivore blend every day for the past month.thats the most frozen ive ever used in my systems [just to get a copperband fat] and my po4 is still 0.02[hannah].that food is super clean.

I went from tossing a huge hunk of PE mysis into the tank to the reef frenzy. I guess that the beneficial bacteria wasn't very happy.

 

[ralph atl]

I would add some stability and/or bio-gest capsules.

Albeit it's possible that the 1.5 dosage (I am dosing 10ml 90-10 vodka vin) of vodka is the cause, I'm thinking either too mich food source while building up bacteria, or too high nutrients, or lack of O2 from bacteria?

1.5 is a small dose, relatively.

You might need to restart notifying bacteria.

Alk should be 9.0 dkh or below when carbon dosing....

 

[ichthyoid]

I would add a liter or two of Fritzzyme #9, add good amino acids daily and test to find good dose response endpoints.

I mentioned some time back I would be dosing ammonia in the future along with organic carbon. I believe that amino acids are a good way to do so, for multiple reasons.

What is needed is a way to balance the amino/carbon ratios and regulate the rate of reaction.

 

[reeffrenzy]

What is this "Reef Frenzy" of which you all speak?....sounds like reef voodoo......LOL....(Waiting in the wings to be a sponsor)

Larry

 

[ripped tide]

I have a liter of microbacter 7(Thanks Randy!!!!). I added some earlier and will continue adding it daily. I might just throw in the towel for carbon dosing. We'll see how this goes. Hopefully I won't loose much. I think I did to many 'cleaning things' at once.

New, bigger, better skimmer
Carbon dosing
More gfo than normal
Cleaner, smaller amounts of food


I was on a war against bubble algae. Bubble algae 1: Dylan 0

Edit:

ReefFrenzy;824701 wrote: What is this "Reef Frenzy" of which you all speak?....sounds like reef voodoo......LOL....(Waiting in the wings to be a sponsor)

Larry

Well, you're doing something right! Unfortunately my tank probably could use a little bit of the "nasties"!!! Or I should have "left well enough alone" and left off the vodka.

 

[sewer urchin]

I know what caused it...

Aren't you handing some corals for me?

The last two times I had problems with my system I was holding stuff for someone else ( now that I think about it it was for the same guy). I think once I come down and get those everything will clear right up! Hehe

 

[ripped tide]

Sewer Urchin;824711 wrote: I know what caused it...

Aren't you handing some corals for me?

The last two times I had problems with my system I was holding stuff for someone else ( now that I think about it it was for the same guy). I think once I come down and get those everything will clear right up! Hehe

You better hurry!

 

[rjrgroup]

So is that pack of food you gave me, Reef Frenzy? I want more, oh and my fish too. It leaves a little after taste but it is very good!!!

 

[sewer urchin]

I've been trying, the last couple of times I've thought about it, some sort of emergency has come up.
The week I ran down and saw you my mom fell and broke her hip and had it replaced.Then Christmas, that's not an emergency but you know how that is. Then my father (lives in New York) had a heart attack they did a quintuple bypass.



I swear I'm gonna make a trip down that way and get them

Edit:

I want more, oh and my fish too. It leaves a little after taste but it is very good!!!

I think that's what the vodka dosing is for!