Restarting vodka and siphoning sand bed?

[t5Nitro]

When I started dosing MB7, I did the instructions and dosed the amount for a new tank for 2 weeks and then backed off and started the vodka dosing. The tank started to grow some dinos. Can I keep dosing about 3 drops of MB7 daily and stop vodka? This is what I've been doing for a few weeks and the dinos have nearly disappeared. There are still some strands of it on the front glass.

Or with the 3 drops of MB7 daily should I do .1 mL of vodka with it? Keep it to 3 drops MB7 and .1 mL vodka and see how it goes?


For the sand bed, I have 4-5" DSB.

There was some black looking algae growing on the sand so I siphoned it tonight. Normally I siphon part of the sand bed every water change (just the top layer). I haven't done a water change in over a month now, the whole sand bed was hard. I don't know if that's just because I haven't been siphoning it in a while or what? And no idea what the black stuff on the sand was. I tried to siphon most of it during a 5 gallon water change just now.

Should I even be siphoning the top layer of the sand bed or leave it alone forever?

As recommended by others, I am needing to up the water changes I do to around 15 gallons per week. I already bought a 32 gallon brute trash can so I can mix water in it.

[eggiel]

whats your total water

[sedor]

I don't think mb7 would be necessary without vodka or a similar product along with it. I would just slow again with the vodka and when you notice your seeing negative results just step down to wherever you were right before that. Personally on my 75G I only dose 0.2 ml of vodka and 2 drops of mb7 per day. Anymore than that and I tend to see a bacteria bloom.

As far as siphoning your sand, are you actually removing it from the tank? A typical DSB used to help with denitrification in the tank is around 6 - 8", a shallow would be anywhere up to 3" so with 4 - 5" like you have, your not really accomplishing anything. Unless you like the look of the amount of sand you have I would just siphon a bit out of the tank each water change until you get down to about 2 or 3". Then since your not attempting to utilize a DSB you can stir it up as much as you want without causing problems. Its a great way to keep a nice, clean looking sand bed.

[SWINGRRRR]

The point of dosing only the MB7 is to re-seed the tank. Its possible the dinos have gotten to a point where they are out competing the bacteria in the MB7. I would try stopping the vodka and follow the high dose instruction on the bottle for the MB7. Do this for 2 weeks and then start the vodka again. It'll allow the good bacteria to take hold, then start feeding it again.

Start all over back at day 1 with the vodka dosing.

[t5Nitro]

Good idea with the MB7. Maybe I'll stop vodka altogether for now and go back to dosing a few capfuls of MB7 daily for two weeks again.

Total volume is probably 100 gallons of water.

And no, I'm not siphoning the sand out, I'm siphoning the buildup in the first layer of it or so.

[SWINGRRRR]

Taken from the master:

Originally Posted by SunnyX

The red slime likely killed off some of the beneficial bacteria so I would start over. Run the MB7 for two weeks and then start up the vodka once more.

substitute red slime for whatever you have growing thats bad.

[t5Nitro]

Alright, thanks. I will get going on dosing 4 capfuls of MB7 daily (100 net gallons) again for two weeks and then restart the vodka.

[SWINGRRRR]

Good luck.