Curious about vodka dosing

[wolffman1992]

I have been researching carbon dosing out of interest and while I do not have a nutrient problem in my tank I am interested if anyone here doses vodka and how have the results turned out? I have read the commonly found articles on the subject but I want to hear from actual experience. How did you start it? Why did you start it? And what were the results, particularly in SPS dominated tanks.

 

[JohnK]

I've been dosing modestly with vinegar in my mixed reef for a few yrs now. I've found it helpful in keeping nutrients manageable, but I also don't push the limits on the dose or strive for a ULNS condition in my system.

 

[PSU4ME]

I would dose vinegar in my ato. Prob not enough to do anything but my tank was really clean. Also like John, I didn't push the limits with the system

 

[wolffman1992]

How much vinager did you start with and were you precise with it. On and off dosing when you thought of it or regularly added to ATO

 

[JohnK]

I always had a well controlled dose via peristaltic pump on a timer. IIRC I went with the recomended starter vodka dose X8, and then increased slightly over time when I saw no bad things happening.

I would not recomend organic carbon/vodka/vinegar/sugar dosing unless you have a reliable way to deliver it consistently and at least daily.

 

[wdebenedettojr]

I started with vodka dosing and after a year I switched to vinegar. Vodka worked excellent for me but towards the end I noticed a bit of cyano starting to act up. Sometimes vodka dosing will cause that so I switched to vinegar at the normal dosage like john stated. With that being said I ran out of vinegar about 6 weeks ago and never got around to replenishing. In this last six weeks tank has only looked better than before. As of right now I think I will keep a very low vinegar dose going as it helps the production of the skimmer; maybe 5-10 ml's of vinegar. Just like john stated thought, I would definitely get a reliable delivery method to dose though. I used a brs pump programmed on my apex for about a year. I bought a pacific sun core dosed around Christmas and since it has 5 heads I use that now. Definitely get yourself a dosed of some kind to evenly spread out the dosage over the day.

 

[wolffman1992]

Awesome thank you!! Any one have any experience with Red Sea's NoPoX? Heard it is just like carbin dosing just more expensive and with a fancy box?

 

[reefstarter]

Honestly , Vodka , vinegar or Bioplastics all doo pretty much the same thing and all are in-expensive to run .the drawback with all of them is that once you start you have to keep at them . You can stop but it requires a slow stepping down and not a sudden stop . As for dosing amounts that depends on system volume , start very very slowly there is a chart online that Randy Holmes Farley made that is very helpful

 

[reef87]

I have been using vinegar for the last five yrs. Not a lot, but was just enough to keep nitrate in checked.
Here is my experiences.
Vinegar helps with lowering nitrate but not so much on phosphate.
Vinegar can make sps coral to go pale.

Just so you know, dosing zeovit is also another way of doing carbon dosing. It is nice to take your coral to the next level with ulns.

I have never tried vodka so i have no experience with vodka.

Good luck



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[dz6t]

I prefer vodka dosing.
1. It won't affect pH dramatically as vinegar for small tanks
2. It is more controllable than Biopellets. When you use biopellets, it varies depend on the quality of pellet and the manufactures as well as the kind of reactor you use. It is almost impossible to measure.

 

[ttboys]

And an added benefit is an occasional nip or two off the vodka bottle always make the tank look great

 

[choff]

Vinegar is less prone to cyano than vodka

 

[delta]

I would not recomend organic carbon/vodka/vinegar/sugar dosing unless you have a reliable way to deliver it consistently and at least daily.

This is key no matter what actual choice you make as you need to be vigilante with dosing. Can't be said enough


While you get supplements coupled with the commercial product you still go through the same trial and error in the beginning as you do with the DIY.

As far as result depends on what you are trying to accomplish.