Started vodka dosing

that's true. nothing good comes fast. my objective in the hobby is to make it be a bit self maintaining if possible because I do travel a lot throughout the year. not long trips but a few days that I would want to enjoy the hobby and it's beauty yet at the same time feel good leaving it alone unattended for a few days.

 

Completely understood. So in this case it is more about making a drastic change all at once, instead of spreading it out over time. Kind of like acclimating corals to new lighting.

 

yea kinda. I know I'm kinda playing with fire but hopefully it won't backfire on me. I don't think it will though. everything is growing and I don't do changes to the tank much otherwise other than this now. parameters staying consistent and my alkalinity and calcium are matching with natural ocean waters.

 

RC, from personal experience, do not start out with the full dose! You also want to make sure the output of your pellets goes directly to the intake of your skimmer. Actually, most of the time it's recommended that you start with 1/4 of the full dosage and up 1/4 more about every 10 days to 2 weeks. Watch your fish for any signs of 02 depletion. I'd be concerned about combining the vodka dosing with the biopellets and how this may affect the tank. Is your plan to eventually switch from vodka to the pellets?

 

I didn't dose vodka today after adding the biopellets and don't plan on dosing it anymore and let the biopellets build up their bacteria. I don't have a top on my tank and moved the skimmer over to the output of the reactor. I also added another powerhead pointing upwards to the surface for more gas exchange. I think I took all the steps prior to the pellets. I know I spent countless hours researching before buying them lol. And I will be sticking with weekly 5 gallon water changes also during the "break-in" period of the pellets. If you guys think I should still take some out I'll do it without a doubt. My experience with reefs is still a drop in the bucket compared to most of you guys on here. But just to throw it out there, my steps that I took and things I did before adding the full 200ml lol. I figured also it would be an under dose since my tank volume is about 10-12 gallons more than the dose recommendation.

 

well, the beauty of this hobby is varying opinions and then making an informed decision. There really isn't a rush per se, because you've already been doing the carbon dosing and your parameters are good. I respect whatever direction you decide but IMPE, I'd add gradually.

 

Agreed. Most of the crashes associated with Bio Pellets are people rushing the process. I went from dosing vodka to pellets 8 months ago. I continued to dose vodka for 1 month after the initial pellet addition. I decreased my dose by 25% weekly until I stopped. I added 1/3 of the recommended amount of pellets initially, then 2 weeks later added another 1/3. The day I stopped dosing vodka, I added the remaining pellets.

It has been 8 months, and my nutrient levels are non-existent. Going from an ULNS to begin with (and I had a good amount of Acro's) to pellets, which have a "break-in" period, it was necessary for me to continue with the vodka to keep nutrient levels stable. I consulted Jon Warner on this decision, and he assured me this was the way to go. Good luck to you.

Oh, and the reason I made the switch to pellets was due to similar circumstances as the OP. I travel quite regularly for business, and my wife doesn't have the keen eye to see something amiss. This allows me to make sure that nutrient levels stay stable, without the worry of "someone" forgetting to dose vodka.

 

PLEASE take out 3/4 to 1/2 of those pellets, you will not be happy if you leave them all in there. Always start with 1/4 dose and add 1/4 every month-ish. Sudden nutrient drops are not good, you can have cyano outbreak or algae outbreak,Bleach corals....and more trouble.

 

looks like I'll be taking some of them out tomorrow then lol.

 

just a question for curiosity. how would you have a sudden nutrient drop if you are already measuring zero nitrates and phosphates?