VODKA Dosing

[spawn]

Just wondering if anyone is still vodka dosing in the old fashioned liquid form, & what has your experience with it been? Good, bad, advice, & any before & after pics. Thanks.

[Lance]

Just wondering if anyone is still vodka dosing in the old fashioned liquid form, & what has your experience with it been? Good, bad, advice, & any before & after pics. Thanks.


I had been vodka dosing for several months and was starting to see a little bit of improvement with nitrate levels, but then the bio pellets became available and seemed like a lot less hassle than the vodka. I switched to the pellets and never looked back.

[tlo]

I used to vodka dose with good results. I switched to biopellets about 6 months ago and have nothing but problems so I am thinking of going back to vodka.

[spawn]

This is why I'm asking the questions. I have an RSM 250 so space is very limited for hooking up a reactor, & I've been told not easily achieved in my set-up. & the possibility of issues with the pellets. I'm on day 3 of .2ml vodka per day. Until recently, No3 never been an issue but likely over feeding coral & amino's led to 20ppm. Corals seem to be okay but don't want this again. 1 question I have is do I stop changing water for a while or longer term . I read one guy saying he hadn't done a water change in like 8 mons. ??? WTF.

[viperfish]

I used to vodka dose with good results. I switched to biopellets about 6 months ago and have nothing but problems so I am thinking of going back to vodka.

Same here I never dosed vodka before I started biopellets but a friend was doing it and I was impressed with his results. I'm in week 3 of dosing my 150 and I am up to 2.2 ml per day. I still have the biopellets running because I wanted an overlap between pellets and vodka. I have been running pellets since January and for the last month I seem to have hit a plateau where it is as if I wasn't running pellets at all. After 3 weeks of vodka I am noticing an improvement in my tank once again. I know manually dosing is a pain but I'm dosing Zeo supplements every night anyway, and I have the Wife all set up to dose when I'm out of town. Best thing about vodka is you can't beat the price!

[chris88]

I run a sps tank with vinegar dosing which is the same thing and it has removed my need for major water changes because my parameters are all zeros. The only reason I do water changes at all is to replenish trace elements which I do supplement but it can't hurt to do some water changes to help out.

When you start to notice a bio film on your glass or rocks it's basically when you have reached your saturation point and you should tone down your dosage. You will know it is a bioflim because it will have tiny, and i tiny air bubbles coming from it and it will not be green like algae or red like cyno. It is not harmful but it is a sign that you have gone a bit too far. Hope this helps. Oh and I forgot keep your alk (dkh) 7-8 and no higher or some of your sps male pale out on you. Also, keep your skimmer running top notch by cleaning it weekly. Carbon dosing is essential useless without a high function skimmer.

[Bloodasp]

I'm up to 8 ml a day and sticking to that amount. Haven't noticed much difference but then I was dosing since my tank was 2 months old last year.

[viperfish]

I'm up to 8 ml a day and sticking to that amount. Haven't noticed much difference but then I was dosing since my tank was 2 months old last year.
What is your tank volume?

[Bloodasp]

70 gal w/ a 25 gal sump.

[viperfish]

70 gal w/ a 25 gal sump.

I was just curious, my tank is 150 Gal and I am following the Advanced Aquarist dosing guidelines but you have to sort of determine yourself the right amount to level off at.

[Bloodasp]

Yup that's what I read too. But that's the amount I got where I saw good amount of reduction of algae. But then I was also using Tap water till about 2 months ago when I changed to RO/DI. I am not seeing any changes happening so I have not tried to reduce the dose.

[o.c.d.]

love how this thread gets jacked. People the mans has questions discuss your shiselle somewhere else like in the thread you started. To get back to the pressing question, Imo I wouldn't stop or cut back on major water changes. Skimmers are great for pulling out protein but they don't remove more than 30% of TOC (Total organic carbon) regardless of how expensive the skimmer is. I could also go into inorganic, but to put it simple skimmers don't remove them at all. I'll make it short. Fish,Coral Cleanup crew Skimmers all eat and remove organics,Algae scrubbers DO NOT. Algae eat Inorganics, Scrubbers remove Inorganics. and lastly Bacteria eat both organics and inorganics.
Water changes are still and will always be a good thing to do.

[chris88]

where did the thread get jacked, there hasn't been one reply that has been off topic?

[phi delt reefer]

anyone dosing VSV solution? (vodka sugar vinegar) I have ordered some pellets for my brs dual reactor but i am hearing pros and cons of both vodka and pellets. should we be dosing mb7 with the carbon source or is the bacterial load in the tank sufficient without additional bacterial?

[Bloodasp]

So venting on someone's thread isn't going off topic?
Anyway to explain I gave the amount I am dosing on my first post but did not give my tank dimensions which I should have so someone tried to clarify that, I also said there that it is higher than recommended for my tank size which I gave the reason why, and also why I have not lowered it after I changed to RO/DI.
I did forget to mention that I started with about .2 ml and increased dosing every 3 days by .2 ml till I reached a volume which I saw some improvements and continued at that level, though it is recommended to actually dose half that on a daily basis once you have reached that point.
And I don't have before and after pics cause I pretty much started dosing after my tank cycled. So if you ask if dosing is doing anything to my tank, IDK, after I got back from a week vacation last may though my tank was full of hair algae which went away after a few weeks when I got back to my daily task of taking care of my tank.
Also I do have a skimmer which is rated for a 180 gal tank as it is recommended to increase the oxygenation of your tank (aside of course from the other use of the skimmer).

[o.c.d.]

Bloodasp;So venting on someone's thread isn't going off topic?

Nope