Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing

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in order of most effective i've found vodka>sugar>acetate

i dose accordingly per 20g of water.... .5ml vodka, a pinch of sugar (~1/5 a tbsp) and when ever i remember (~1 a week) i'd replace the vodka with vinegar.

i calculated it the carbon equivalents of each once when i was initially interested in C-dosing, but forgot the results...the above has been my experience and works well so i stick with it :)
 
Eric is the acetate the same dosage level as the vodka? Do you increase the dosage per Jorg's initial recommendations or start out at the .5ml of 80 prrof vodka per 20g, net gallons I'm assuming.
 
yes that's correct...i used it once a week max in replacement of the vodka, so .5ml of the acetate as well.

i am not sure what jorg suggests, but i started very conservative at .1ml vodka, increasing by .1ml every week until i got to 1ml...i never had a true bloom but began having issues with stringy bacteria in my skimmer and filter feeder growth...that is when i began introducing other bak strains and consistently adding sugar and acetate.

when i start my new set up i will begin with .1 ml per 20g net and work my way up to .5ml per 20 g net and probably keep it there. i will also use a RDSB and dose near the intake of the RDSB feed and stir the top layer daily...

hth

eric
 
I dose my kalkwasser at night to balance the natural drop in pH. if i would add vinegar to the kalkwasser solution i wouldn't get the same effect wouldn't i ? (vinegar is acidic therefore titrating the hydroxide ions in the kalkwasser solution)
i still want my top up water coming from the kalkwasser reactor to be with a pH of at least 10. Did you check the pH when using vinegar?


Another thing, i started using Vodka in my system 10 days ago following the original german article and in the mean time it works like a charm!!! i have a 1000lt system and i started with a 10ml dose per day, i am now at 25 and all my bryopsis are finally dying!!!:D
 
Try dosing Vodka. I do 6ml of everclear (95%) per 100g of system volume. If you do 40proof (20%), you would do 28ml. You will be shocked as to how much skimmate your system can produce if you do this. The ethanol feeds bacteria in your system which also feed on nitrates and phosphates... and then your skimmer pulls it all out (normally nitrates and phosphates cant be directly skimmed, so the vodka 'enables' the skimmer to do more). Seriously, I had tea colored skimmate, and not alot... and my water was sorta yellow. A few weeks later, and my water is much clearer (havent even changed the carbon recently... oops), and my skimmer is filling up every other day with dark coffee... no adjustments to the skimmer either for darker skimmate... its all the ethanol.
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I found one place where Hahn mentions the difference in dosing amount between vodka and everclear. Although I'm not aware of any vodkas at only 40 proof.
 
For everyone's information, the new (Oct-Nov 07) English edition of Coral Magazine has the 2nd part of an report by a Dr. Dieter Brockmann on nitrate and it deals mostly with denitrifying filter systems including dosing vodka directly into a tank and also dosing it into a closed denitrator.
It also covers the sulphur denitrators.

I myself have been running an vodka fueled Aquaripure denitrator (http://www.aquaripure.com/) for 3 years and it always keeps my nitrate level below 3ppm as read by a colorimeter.

Anyways, good reading for those interested.

James
 
James,

sorry for the ignorance but how can i read coral magazine?
is it on the internet(e-magazine) or is it on paper?

Thanks.
 
i still want my top up water coming from the kalkwasser reactor to be with a pH of at least 10. Did you check the pH when using vinegar?
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No. I checked my tanks pH afterwards...I was trying to lower my pH because it was pushing 8.5 during the day. I have been adding 25ml per gal. and the pH is down to 8.2 now.

Can corals eat these bacteria?
 
Damura,

Its a real (paper) high-end Reef magazine out of Europe that a English edition is brought into the US by Leng Sy of the Miracle Mud Ecosystem company. You can subscribe or find it in many of the better Reef Shops.

See this link:
http://www.coralmagazine.com/

James
 
Thanks James,

since i'm from Israel i'll contact their european office.

seems like a very advanced magazine. It's quiet expensive.

Anyway, corals and all filter feeders eat bacteria, but the thing that "eats" them the most is your PS.
 
Everclear is either 190 or 200 proof. I think it is 200 proof, but I would have to check. So you would dose less than half as much of an 80 proof vodka?

To fliintneric: I have been dosing only sugar for a few months now. Everyone is concerned with a monopoly by one bacterial strain with using only one C source. I have seen no ill affects of doing this. Should I start using some vodka or prodibio to counterbalance this? Is it really needed or is it conjecture?
 
I've been dosing a mixture of 1cup vodka, 1cup vinegar and 1tsp. suger dosed at .6 mL twice per day in my 37 for about two weeks now. I have noticed all macro turning white and dying, so it seems to be working. I'm thinking about upping the dose a little to see if it changes anything.
 
with a dose of 10ml for my 250g i have noticed my long lasting bryopsis losing their colors in only 3-4 days!!! since then they are dying.
I can say that after 18 months of struggle with them, they are history:D
 
In California, for instance, 190 proof non-denatured alcohol apparently isn't legal to sell so Everclear there is only 151 proof. Check the label before calculating the dose.

200 proof would be 100% alcohol. It's hard (expensive) to get that last bit of water out so you can't really get 100% alcohol, except from a chemical supply house. Worse, the water goes right back in as soon you open it since alcohol is hygroscopic.

So if you have an old bottle of alcohol sitting around, odds are it has less alcohol than is stated on the label.
 
burris hi,

i wouldn't dig into the purity of your alcohol too much. just use whatever you have even if it's cheap vodka, as long as it's not denatured(mixed with toxic chemicals like methanol).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10953223#post10953223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jamesdawson
For everyone's information, the new (Oct-Nov 07) English edition of Coral Magazine has the 2nd part of an report by a Dr. Dieter Brockmann on nitrate and it deals mostly with denitrifying filter systems including dosing vodka directly into a tank and also dosing it into a closed denitrator.
It also covers the sulphur denitrators.

I myself have been running an vodka fueled Aquaripure denitrator (http://www.aquaripure.com/) for 3 years and it always keeps my nitrate level below 3ppm as read by a colorimeter.

Anyways, good reading for those interested.

James
Click to expand...

As I recall he wasn't too hot on it, I'll have to re-read it...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10958094#post10958094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crab0000
I've been dosing a mixture of 1cup vodka, 1cup vinegar and 1tsp. suger dosed at .6 mL twice per day in my 37 for about two weeks now. I have noticed all macro turning white and dying, so it seems to be working. I'm thinking about upping the dose a little to see if it changes anything.
Click to expand...

Just curious how you came up with this solution? Did you just start dosing at that level? How long?
 
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