Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing

[Genetics]

There is alot of people interested in VSV dosing. My take on it though is why? Using multiple organics seems appealing but isn't the original goal to reduce nitrates? If you've done that then why change? But if you are looking at VSV, you can go about it in a few different ways.

One way is to continue vodka dosing with the addition of sugar in your foods you feed the fish (if you prepare your own) and vinegar through the kalk reactor.

The other is mixing all three together and dosing using 200mL vokda, 1.5Tblsp sugar, and 50mL vinegar. You can find a recipe here

http://glassbox-design.com/2008/achieved-through-observation-and-experimentation/

As for the dosing I would scale back to 3mL morning, 3mL evening and measure to see if the nitrates/phosphates begin to increase and then work your way up slowly from there.

 

[Carlsburg]

vodka dosing questions

vodka dosing questions

Hello all,

Been out of the hobby for a couple years now, but want to get back into the hobby soon. I plan on a smallish ~ 40 gal tank and I want to try either zeovit or vodka dosing on my new tank. I probably will go with vodka due to the overall cost compared to zeovit.

My question then is when is a good time to start dosing? Should I set the tank up, let it complete any subsequent cycle, then start dosing and let it equilibrate before adding SPS, or should I add the SPS and stock most of the tank, then start adding vodka?

Any thoughts?

Thomas

 

[mflamb]

Genetics, Thanks for the article. I'll try the mix and cut back to 3ml am and pm.

 

[AD87]

Dont know if this has been covered, can I use ozone via skimmer and still dose Vodka(recipe) Prodibio and AA without being counter productive?

 

[tmantaylor18]

Re: vodka dosing questions

Re: vodka dosing questions

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13621046#post13621046 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Carlsburg
Hello all,

Been out of the hobby for a couple years now, but want to get back into the hobby soon. I plan on a smallish ~ 40 gal tank and I want to try either zeovit or vodka dosing on my new tank. I probably will go with vodka due to the overall cost compared to zeovit.

My question then is when is a good time to start dosing? Should I set the tank up, let it complete any subsequent cycle, then start dosing and let it equilibrate before adding SPS, or should I add the SPS and stock most of the tank, then start adding vodka?

Any thoughts?

Thomas

Hey Thomas,

I set up a 110 about 6 months ago and have been dosing vodka since. I got all the live rock from an established tank. After I let the tank run for a few weeks I put my sps from my nano in. After a few weeks of them in I very slowly started dosing. I started at .5ml and added .1 ml a week untill now. I am dosing 2ml a day now whenever I get a chance. I also dose aminos every other day as well and have been getting awesome colors. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[newsalt]

I've been dosing 1.8ml of vodka for 3 weeks. I took a PO4 readings this morning with my Hanna meter. 1st reading was 0.04. 2nd reading was .14. Very inconsistant. I'm not sure what to do. The article I've read says to cut dosing in half once levels are undetectable. At 0.04, I'd say that's still detectable. Nitrate I would have to say is undetectable using Salifert. What should I do?

 

[Genetics]

That's quite some variation in the readings. With my Hanna I usually read between 0.01 and 0.04. You figure in +/- 0.04 in error and you have nothing. When you say 2nd reading, are you talking about the same vial read twice at different times? Or two completely different readings?

At first I was also bouncing around with readings. I eventually figured that I my feeding within an hr or two of reading was throwing it off.

 

[nextlevelreef]

i started at .25 ml a day and im up to 1.25 ml and my nitrates went from.25 to 0 in no time so im quite happy all other levels stayed the same!!! colours same no other noticalbes other than my nitrates

 

[newsalt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13757522#post13757522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Genetics
That's quite some variation in the readings. With my Hanna I usually read between 0.01 and 0.04. You figure in +/- 0.04 in error and you have nothing. When you say 2nd reading, are you talking about the same vial read twice at different times? Or two completely different readings?

two different readings.

 

[pfy333]

Just sharing my experience with vodka dosing. When I was dosing, at first I didn't notice a drop in phosphate but at 2 months in it would fluctuate at .03 to .08 with hannah. This is with a 100 gal total at 40%. I couldn't understand why it would not drop, then I decided to run my skimmer wet, I mean really wet where I would have to empty the cup everynight. 2 weeks later my my readings fluctuate at .01 - .03 before finally hitting .00 which was 3 days ago. I think the key is not just having a good skimmer but actually setting it to skim wet (light green tea color).

 

[Safedad]

Vodka & Prodibio

Vodka & Prodibio

I have been dosing vodka for about a month now. I have gotten my Nitrates down to 0. My cyano is around but not spreading. My hair algae that came with the switch to Prodibio last summer is still solidly in place but not expanding. I am increasing the vodka dosing by .1 ml each day. I am doing it to rid the tank of hair algae. How do I decide when to stop increasing and how do I determine a "maintenance" dose? Are there any containdications with soft corals? I have four types of zoos and one colony doesn't seem to open fully this week. It is the closest to my MH bulb. I have recently switched from 10K 400W to 14K 400W bulb. This is in a 55g tank and my dosage is 1.8 am and 1.8ml pm.
Thanks,
Bob

 

[Genetics]

Safedad, a few things can happen with vodka dosing. One possibility is that the water can allow more light to penetrate which may upset some corals. The second would be a potential interference from the vodka itself, or the bacteria it promotes, on the zoos. If the zoos seem perturbed you might want to cut back on the dosing to last week's dose when they were open. When they open again you can increase vodka to determine if the vodka is interfering or if it was a response from possibly the light. For the hair algae, I would decide your dosing based on whether it grows back after pruning. By this I mean if you remove a small part from a rock does it grow back. Not the most scientific method but if it is still growing then you know you need to add a bit more vodka to outcompete for the nutrients.

 

[Safedad]

Genetics, That makes sense. Is the maintenance level determined by reducing the dosing level after the HA is gone? If so, I would assume backing down at the same rate I worked up until I see some again might prevent a shock. or Is there some "formula", like cut it in half?
Thanks,
Bob

 

[Genetics]

I recommend cutting it in half when dealing with detectable nitrate levels. When you are dealing with algae, I would back off a bit less than for the nitrate detection method. Decreasing in a similar way that you increased should work but I think you'll find you don't need to decrease as drastically since you are looking for a dose that slightly outcompetes for nutrients to that of the algae. The reason the algae is different is that with the nitrate testing, these molecules (NO3) have built up over time and once depleted the maintenance dose is often much less than what they were adding to get the drop to zero.

 

[OnlyCrimson]

I dosed for 2 months and I have to say I had decent results. Algae growth was null, but coral color was not rich. Even with 6 feeding a day and AA's I couldn't get it to richen. After I ramped down the dosing the corals became more rich. I had one fish get popeye shortly after. Could have been the cutoff of vodka and power vacum created for other bacteria to get in. It healed itself though.

 

[Genetics]

Did you completely stop vodka dosing or just cut back? Was there any fish additions for the LFS around the time you noted pop-eye?

 

[TeeJay77]

Im thinking of starting to dose vodka or vsv and happen to have a spare channel on my Grotech TECIII. As this will dose in minimum of 1ml increments can i just mix the vodka with RO water, say in a ratio of 1:10, so that i can dose smaller amounts?

 

[Genetics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13834831#post13834831 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TeeJay77
Im thinking of starting to dose vodka or vsv and happen to have a spare channel on my Grotech TECIII. As this will dose in minimum of 1ml increments can i just mix the vodka with RO water, say in a ratio of 1:10, so that i can dose smaller amounts?

Yes. This shouldn't be a problem.

 

[stony_corals]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13832730#post13832730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Safedad
Genetics, That makes sense. Is the maintenance level determined by reducing the dosing level after the HA is gone? If so, I would assume backing down at the same rate I worked up until I see some again might prevent a shock. or Is there some "formula", like cut it in half?
Thanks,
Bob

Zoas do not usually respond that well to ULN tanks is what I've heard. I do not keep them so I can not say first hand exp. Do not go by the amount of HA in your tank to determine the maintainance dosage, this is very dangerous. You need to test! Hair algae grows on the reefs, and they have lower nutrients that the vast majority of reefers. The reality is that you could cause nutrient limitation in your animals before the HA. (The HA on most reefs are kept in check via herbavores, not nutrients).

 

[stony_corals]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13834831#post13834831 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TeeJay77
Im thinking of starting to dose vodka or vsv and happen to have a spare channel on my Grotech TECIII. As this will dose in minimum of 1ml increments can i just mix the vodka with RO water, say in a ratio of 1:10, so that i can dose smaller amounts?

Sounds good! I'd do this once you are in maintenance mode....