Vodka Dosing

[Platehead]

Has anyone had success with vodka dosing? Nitrates in my 120 gallon reef tank are higher than I would like. I change about 10% water changes weekly and try to limit feedings. Have a tang and trigger and they like to eat daily.
Read about the process on reef central and it seems pretty straight forward.
Thx

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Worked wonders for my tank. Took about 3 weeks but nitrates dropped to 0. I have seen no ill effect either.

 

[choff]

I run vinegar. Exact same except vinegar tends to have less of an immediate impact on pH. I also read, but not sure how proven, that vinegar had a lower incidence of cyano.

Just go slow.

...stupid auto correct

 

[dz6t]

I think vodka has less impact on pH, not vinegar, which is an acid that will lower pH

 

[JohnK]

Vinegar has worked well for me. IME any organic carbon dosing seems to have the side effect of encouraging cyano if you over do it, but vinegar definately less so than bio-pellets IME (I never tried vodka).

I don't notice any PH effect, probably since it's a very small amount of vinegar being added. (I'll double check my APEX graphs tonight just in case I'm wrong)

 

[RMc]

Dosed vinegar - solved my red cotton candy algae problem. I stopped once the algae went away.

 

[Platehead]

Do you dose vinegar in the same proportion as vodka, I.e. .1ml per 25 gallons?
Thx

 

[JohnK]

8/1 ratio. 1 part vodka equals 8 parts vinegar

 

[chelxisg]

Can anyone explain to me how to go about vodka dosing in my 75 gallon tank? My nitrate has stayed around 40ppm, tank has been established for about 2months now. Not running a sump, skimmer only. I've been doing 10% water every week! Stressed! Help! Thanks!

 

[jselzler1]

At 2 months old I wouldn't start vodka dosing. How big is your bio load? How much are you feeding? Where did you get your LR? Any algae issues? What test kit are you using?

Keep up the water changes.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[Old Glory]

good info here:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

 

[chelxisg]

Currently using seaclone 100, which is used for tanks up to 100g. Although I can say that it hasnt really been producing micro bubbles consistently. Yes brown algae has been exposing on my LR-(Jays Aquatics), glass and sand >=/. I feed my 2 clowns spectrum pellets(5 each) once a day. Using Api water test. Thanks

 

[Reeferer]

Currently using seaclone 100, which is used for tanks up to 100g. Although I can say that it hasnt really been producing micro bubbles consistently. Yes brown algae has been exposing on my LR-(Jays Aquatics), glass and sand >=/. I feed my 2 clowns spectrum pellets(5 each) once a day. Using Api water test. Thanks

Your tank is brand new and probably just finished cycling. I don't think carbon dosing is going to hurt and worth a try but always remember rule #1.... Patience...

It might take another 2 months for your nitrates to go down, even with vodka dosing.

 

[chelxisg]

K thanks, so I shouldn't be too concerned about my black ice clowns health?

 

[Dashiki]

I dosed vodka for over a year.

IMO your tank is too new for it.

Can you tell us what corals you intend to keep?

 

[chelxisg]

Looking to get a rose bubble tip and carpet anemone for now- lets see what my clowns prefer hosting best=}

 

[Dashiki]

unless your plans are to be sps dominant then I would not get into dosing vodka.

the tank becomes dependent on it and you need to wean it off over a period of months.

it sounds like you are looking for a quick fix to your 40ppm nitrate.

the best solution is water changes even if you have to do a lot of them. if you are at 40 and want to get them don't to around 5-10 a few weeks of 20% water changes will get you there.

carbon dosing is to do a few things
1. keep nutrients really low for sps
2. keep bacteria count high so you can feed a ton and have an overloaded tank
3. keep your fish a little tipsy so they swim weird
4. keeping water really clear

vodka should be done on a doser so it is never forgotten and always the same amount dosed.

stick with water changes. have your water tested at the next meeting or at your lfs.

 

[JohnK]

I've had pretty good results running a modest vinegar does in my mixed reef tank (RBTAs, leathers, zoas/palys, misc montipora, no acros, no LPS). I run an automated system and a couple of times I have accidentially let the vinegar run out - nothing bad happens quickly, I'll notice little bits of nusiance algae starting to pop up here and there which reminds me to check the vinegar. I replace the vinegar jug and in a week or so everything seems back to normal. I suspect that if I was dosing more aggressively then there might be problems (most likely depleted O2 as the bacterial population dies back) with the dose cutting out, but at least at a modest dose my nutrients stay lower than without and I haven't seen any problems other than some cyano growth that may be related to the carbon dosing.

In terms of fish health, as far as I know the only concern is depleted O2 if the dose cuts out or if you have a power outage.