Spartanman's cube

I believe that this answer would be different for everyone since it's really based off of how much water you making and how good the filters you have are.... For me due to all of the other expenses involve in this hobby, I would base my decision on what my TDS meter reads, I mean that's what it's for. Just my $.02 guys.
 
Ya I agree and depending on location source waters are different. But like I said I haven't changed mine in 6 years and still have 0 going out

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Spartanman22 said:
I've decided to give MB7/vodka dosing a go. I ran my old 75 gallon with vodka dosing and it was very successful. My plans are as follows:

Days 1-3: 0.2 mL per day
Days 4-7: 0.4 mL per day
Week 2: 0.9 mL per day
Week 3: 1.4 mL per day

The criteria I'm following states to dose 0.1 mL per 25 gallon net system volume for days 1-3. Days 4-7, double the initial dose. Then increase dosage by 0.5 mL per day until a nitrate and phosphate zeros out. Once nitrate and phosphate reach zero, cut your dosage in half. This then becomes your maintenance dose and you can adjust as needed.

My system is currently at 0 ppm phosphates (Salifert) and about 50 ppm nitrates (Salifert). So really not looking for phosphate reduction just nitrate.

I will dose the MB7 per the bottles directions. My plan is to dose vodka in the sump and MB7 in the display.

My new skimmer should fit the requirement of an oversized skimmer for vodka dosing. I will monitor Alk, Ca, NO3, and PO4 daily, as well as record daily dosages.

For this dosing regime I intend to keep my alk right around 8.0. As of last night I'm at 8.3. I've decreased the dosing time slightly to try and drop it a bit closer to 8.0. Yesterday was the first dose of 0.2 mL and I'm hoping to get the MB7 in today or tomorrow.

I'll update this thread to document my results and will do my best to take lots of photos!



Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I've used the same Vodka/MB7 method before with good success, and I've also most recently nearly killed my tank because I was too lazy to test my NO3 and just kept increasing the dose. I basically starved everything because I had 0 nitrates for so long, and now I am battling to get some nitrate back. So, if I may suggest, monitor your NO3 closely, and I would cut the dose in half once you are registering about 5 ppm so you don't get too low and have trouble getting them back like me. :)

Also, you can get away with dosing MB7 like once a week, and I'd recommend turning off your skimmer for a few hours. If you've never used it before, you will be amazed how clear the tank water becomes right after dosing. But the skimmer needs to be off for a few hours otherwise it will pull it right out. One other suggestion, I'd run the tank in the mid 7's Alk when vodka dosing. My SPS start showing stress over 8 when the tank is ULNS. Also don't expect much reduction in PO4 with vodka, but you already have none so you're good :)
 
Ok thanks for all the suggestions! I've done just vodka before but never MB7/vodka. I was in the same boat as you for a while. I could never register nutrients, my sps were paling. I would dose amino acids and feed heavily and still nothing. Then somewhere along the line the scenario reversed!

I also used to operate at an alk of about 7.3 but brought it up a bit when I nitrates exploded. I'll slowly drop it down to mid 7's

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Got some goodies in the mail today. 2nd Miro-4 T5 retrofit kit for the upgrade (canopy will be 4×54 watt T5s and 2×OR-T247s), MB7, and a Vertex IN80 skimmer body in case the RO Diablo XS160 proves too large. The Vertex IN80 with a psk 600 should be a great combination!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Last night was day two of vodka dosing and day 1 of MB7. Little recap on system condition: all existing SPS except for a pocilliopora and blue gomezi are continuing to slowly fade. I have had to remove multiple colonies and am close to being at ground zero as far as stock is concerned. Now for some positive news, I added 4 new SPS frags from AP about 2-3 weeks ago. Those 4 are doing quite well. They are maintaining color and encrusting onto their plug. This leads me to believe the system is on the mend, but unfortunately all the SPS I had just haven't recovered well from the shock.

Since my display is looking pretty empty I've been compiling a list of frags I'd like to replace everything with. If anyone has some recommendations for some must haves I'd love to hear it! My list so far is:

Red Planet
Red dragon
Pearlberry
Pink lemonade
Shades of Fall
Strawberry Shortcake
Green slimer
Purple Stag
Jason Fox Flame

Last night I continued with the second dose of vodka (0.2 mL), and my first dose of MB7 (2 capfuls). I turned the skimmer off for about 2 hours while dosing MB7. I tested my parameters after dosing and got the following:

Alk: 8.15
Ca: 440
NO3: ~35-40
PO4: Undetectable
Temperature: 77.9
pH: 8.42

All tests were done using Salifert test kits, pH and temperature are recorded via RKE. My goal is to get alk to about 7.6. It has been dropping over the last 3 days. So, I plan to just let it continue to drop and then adjust the timer settings to maintain.

I'm struggling with the decision of when to throw in the towel on struggling pieces. On one hand I'm hoping for a turn around, but on the other I think it's just fouling up the water. I'll give it one more week, but if no turn around then I'm going to just call it quits on all the sps I currently have, stabilize my parameters and start over.

I also intend to remove the chalk basslet and threadfin cardinal to try to reduce the overall bioload a bit. If anyone would like them let me know.

Now onto some pics
c6d5966310209359f5475e81addf631d.jpg


Only SPS that seems to have done well through the whole ordeal
79d3c8e66bb8cb828aceab440dbdf817.jpg


The AP frags doing well and a desperation frag I made last night of my purple stag
cf21f0160a98b717af48e9727d040d25.jpg


This one's hanging in there but has some burnt tips
78060ff55bcf58f7997a35b36868b7bb.jpg


This one's hanging in there as well
ce0e78d25962905fe575d90d9ad6598c.jpg


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Adam glad to hear things are going a better direction for you , if there is anything you seen in my tank your more then welcome to whatever you want


Tom
 
I've got chunky frags of super green slimer for you when you are ready and can probably frag you some pink lemonade too

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
Thank you everyone I really appreciate everyone's generosity! I'm really hoping I can get things back on track soon here, I'd like to spoil myself with a BC pack for my birthday end of November!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Well today has been a Rollercoaster ride in my tank. This morning I pulled out a large boot tray I keep stored under the couch. I put the boot tray in front of my tank as a spill guard while doing water changes. When I pulled out the tray I found my Golden Dwarf Moray dried up on it. It must have happened sometime yesterday when I was gone. I'm not sure how he got out my tank is covered with a screen. By far the coolest fish I've ever had, and the most expensive...

I went to AP to pickup some peppermints to try and eradicate some apstasia, and since all the newer sps additions have been doing really well (coloring up nicely and encrusting) I decided to roll the dice and pick up some sps pieces. And how can you turn down RR Applejack and RR Peacock frags for $15/ea! Picked up 2 more sps and called it a day.

Then I got home and noticed that the gig reached up again and got caught in the vortech again. This time is not nearly as bad as the previous so it should recover just fine, but still not something I like to come home to.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
bryman said:
Yikes! Its always something with SW tanks. Hope your new additions do well.
Click to expand...
It most certainly is! All the new additions I've added in the past month or so have done quite well. I think it's just the older pieces I had that weren't able to recover from the initial problems I had.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Just did a 10 gallon water change and will run through testing soon. I'm now on 0.4 mL of vodka dosing and 10 ml MB7 dosing.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
madjoe said:
Man dude u having some crap luck . Hope luck changes and the new stuff does good
Click to expand...
Yes well with all the bad luck there's bound to be some good luck around the corner, hopefully it's sooner rather than later!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top