Doug's 250, now 300, in wall build

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DSB's do not make water change obsolete. you put too much stock in them. It's just like having plenty of live rock....You still have to help it along with water changes and mechanical filtration.
 
mr_X said:
Oh yeah...the more anaerobic bacteria the better.
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Then are you a fan of carbon dosing to increase bacterial count? I feed like crazy and found that the bio pellets would drop my phosphates from 1ppm to under .10ppm. I can only assume that is because the extra carbon boosted the bacterial load.
 
Sniperhank said:
But disturbing the dsb wouldn't be a good thing and not something I'd recommend to a beginner. A dsb is def something I'd consider for my next setup though, for just all those reasons.
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disturbing it in its young stages, but once it matures up theres nothign really to worry about.

i forgot who but one of the forum mods had a powerhead fall off and blew away a section of his 6" DSB right down to the glass and not ill effects, the life will die but the life will breack down any organic compounds trapped and any pockets of H2S that may form in the bed.

while i don't agree totally with alot of things newyorksteelo says he did a video of him disturbing his DSB and made a few H2S pockets form, in a matter of 10 days it was pretty much all gone and no effects on his livestock. its really pretty impressive what nature is capable of doing. thats one reason i love this hobby, you get to see how nature works and how it builds life to maintain a livable environment, just can't throw to much at it so it can't keep up with its job like the human race is doing to the atmosphere
 
Speaking of vodka, I'm drinking some, and adding some to the tank (actually I've been dosing vodka for a few days now). Skimmate is increasing and i'm trying to address a coral browning. I refuse to test the water...lol.
 
mr_X said:
DSB's do not make water change obsolete. you put too much stock in them. It's just like having plenty of live rock....You still have to help it along with water changes and mechanical filtration.
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agreed, you can't put 100 fish in a 100 gallon tank and thing that a DSB will purify it. lol i just did another post and explained you can't over do things because nature won't be able to keep up, but normal stocking with regular feedings a good skimmer a DSB and a well stocked refugium and you're pretty much set, but yeah i do agree with you that a heavily overstocked system will still need waterchanges.
 
mr_X said:
Speaking of vodka, I'm drinking some, and adding some to the tank (actually I've been dosing vodka for a few days now). Skimmate is increasing and i'm trying to address a coral browning. I refuse to test the water...lol.
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Does it work if you run the vodka thru your bladder first?
 
mr_X said:
Speaking of vodka, I'm drinking some, and adding some to the tank (actually I've been dosing vodka for a few days now). Skimmate is increasing and i'm trying to address a coral browning. I refuse to test the water...lol.
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mainly what vodka dosing is good for pulls makes skimmateproduction much better.
are you still running the Octopus and the bubble magus or have you upgraded? i don't think those two are large enough for your system the way it stands now so i'm sure they are constantly pulling out skimmate
 
I've never been able to pour vodka into my system, I know it's silly but it seems wrong. For some reason I find the bio pellets more civilized.
 
Sniperhank said:
Vodka dosing will increase skim mate? That is interesting. My octopus is rated for a 150 on 75 gallon system...it just doesn't skim regularly. Possible option?
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a skimmer shouldn't constntly pull skimmate, if it is the skimmer is constantly tryign to keep up with the organics compounds, and probably never will. thats why reefdynamics has different ratings for their skimmers, their modle 180s are liek the sizes of other manufactures models rated for 400 gallons. reefdynamics rates them liek this because they can effectivly handle 180g of normally stocked systems and progably around 150g of heavily stocked or mixed reefs. they will pull out skimmate and then they will stop once it is all removed while smaller ones will just keep pulling skimamte and never fully take it out.

for the vodka dosing yeah it increases skimmate, thats what carbon dosing does, it pretty much makes the organic compounds stickier and easier to pull out but you have to be careful with carbon dosing because it can reduce the O2 levels in the water and you can cause cyano blooms from the low oxygen and make it very dificult for fish and corals to breath

if you are having issues with algae dispite this then maybe try adjusting your skimmer or maybe dosing, but if no real nurtrient issue then my suggestion is don't bother
 
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hows the dosing goign so far doug. i'm sure you're still in the beginning stages but how much a day do you dose and did you skip ahead a few weeks?
 
I'm up to 3 ML's a day, split in half. Skimmate has increased. I recently noticed that the T.D.S of my R.O. water was freaken 80.....no wonder i had a few pieces of sps brown lately.
 
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