dosing

I dont think stopping hurts as long as your skimmer is big enough to pull the carbon out.

 

alright... im still very skeptical about it and all but im not ruling it out.
by algae i assume you mean nice colorful Zooxanthellae?

and my lights:
175W MH 14K
LED's that emit specifically 460nm and another set that emits 420nm
32W fluorescent actinic

 

Read, Read, Read before you put your first dose into your tank. Basically you are introducing a carbon source (sugar and vinegar also work) to fuel bacterial growth. Both good, and bad, unfortunately. You must make sure you have some phosphates and nitrates in your tank before starting as well. The bacteria will grow and break down the PO4 and NO3 into waste. You start slowly, and gradually increase dosing, and test religiously until your NO3 starts to go down. When it reaches 0, you do maintenance dosing at a small level. If you dose too much, you can cause a bacteria bloom which will suffocate your tank as the bacteria will start utilizing all O2 available.

You also must (MUST) have a good skimmer to remove the byproducts (possibly excess bacteria as well). If you have a good skimmer, it will react like it's supercharged - very smelly black skimmate. It will skim so well you will need to replenish what it removes. Dosing amino acids and vitamins and phyto become a necessity, otherwise your corals can starve. If you overdose, you can again cause problems with your tank.

You must be very diligent when starting the routine, which is one reason I stopped this week until I get a controller for my tank to monitor levels and set alarms, etc. I am also not comfortable with the capabilities of my skimmer, as I find it unreliable and I need something more efficient to be able to consistently and reliably remove the byproducts. It makes no sense and is very dangerous to dose and have the NO3 and PO4 broken down and then to not remove the final waste.

Make sure you understand everything and have excellent equipment before starting. I am upgrading my skimmer soon and will be buying either a ReefKeeper Elite with 'net or Aquacontroller Apex to monitor my tank. I think that both will be necessary to safely continue my dosing. Also note that cyanobacteria (remember I said bad bacteria earlier) can sometimes appear when you dose. The vodka fuels it all. Make sure your tank is stable before starting - if done properly, and carefully, the outcome can be a beautiful tank, I've seen the results firsthand.

Now to answer your original post. It won't bring out more Zooxanthellae in your corals. The color of your corals depends on water quality, lighting, and feeding. SPS benefit the most from vodka dosing as they require very pure water. Softies and LPS can actually grow slower in purer water. If you vodka dose, and skim the water until there are few nutrients (i.e. - ultra low nutrient system) your LPS/ softies will probably grow slower. Light alone won't help- you will need to dose amino acids, vitamins , and provide other food for your corals. If you think putting vodka in your tank will color up your corals without a great deal of diligence and feeding, you are mistaken.

 

well thank you very much for that input zachb

 

Added additional comment at the bottom. You're welcome

 

thank you... i feed phyto and add vitamins and minerals. I was just snooping around 3reef and found this old post... theres like 10 articles by advanced aquarist in there that i have to read! hopefully it will turn up something i find of interest

http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral-health/zooxanthellae-coral-color-55032.html