Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Wondering what the LFS says. Or it could be the Top Ten Aquarium Related Nightmares That You've Had... I thought I had fixed my nitrates but found out my test kit went bad.
I tried vodka dosing in the past with no result. No matter how much i added i had gotten no results. I believe the case was nitrate limited. I had a DSB in the display, I had a fuge with a dsb.
I ran ungodly amts of po4 remover to rid the tank of po4, I never had any nitrates. Well detectable. PO4 was my Achilles heel.
I went with a shallow sand bed, and no fuge in my new tank setup. I run filtersocks now to remove detritus, and change them out when needed usually 1-2 times a week.
Now i have gotten my nitrates around 10-15 ppm, and po4 around .07 after cycling for 2 mos.
I added 15 ML of vodka, and the next day BAM! a nice BAK bloom.
It was not terrible, But it did milk up the water pretty good.
I set the skimmer to skim wet and it took 3 days and 3 full cups of skimmate in my BK 250 to clear it all out.
I tested today and nitrates at 5ppm, and po4 at .02.
This is the levels i was trying to get to in my last tank, and never could get my po4 to stay stabil and po4 was non existent. I had a hard time keeping coral colors bright even though i had better water than some with amazing tanks.
I just wanted to tell my story that i believe firmly that nitrates if limited will be a downfall with carbon dosing.
I am going to run out and get some biospira today and add a shotfull every few days to keep BAK strains in a healthy population ratio.
Started the vodka again today. Only 5 ml this time.
I ran ungodly amts of po4 remover to rid the tank of po4, I never had any nitrates. Well detectable. PO4 was my Achilles heel.
I went with a shallow sand bed, and no fuge in my new tank setup. I run filtersocks now to remove detritus, and change them out when needed usually 1-2 times a week.
Now i have gotten my nitrates around 10-15 ppm, and po4 around .07 after cycling for 2 mos.
I added 15 ML of vodka, and the next day BAM! a nice BAK bloom.
It was not terrible, But it did milk up the water pretty good.
I set the skimmer to skim wet and it took 3 days and 3 full cups of skimmate in my BK 250 to clear it all out.
I tested today and nitrates at 5ppm, and po4 at .02.
This is the levels i was trying to get to in my last tank, and never could get my po4 to stay stabil and po4 was non existent. I had a hard time keeping coral colors bright even though i had better water than some with amazing tanks.
I just wanted to tell my story that i believe firmly that nitrates if limited will be a downfall with carbon dosing.
I am going to run out and get some biospira today and add a shotfull every few days to keep BAK strains in a healthy population ratio.
Started the vodka again today. Only 5 ml this time.
Paul_PSU
In Memoriam
That is a lot of vodka for an initial dose. That is equivalent to 5ml initial dose in a 100gal system like mine. I started at .4 and then took a couple months to get up to 5ml. By the way my nitrates are zero and I am having issues with PO4 as you did. I would even start the vodka dosing lower for the initial dose if I was you, maybe around 1.5ml then go up from there slowly.
Reefski's
Active member
ok, no more Vodka for me, or should i say my tank.
going cold turkey.
check out this thread and the science in the references.
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic60528-9-1.aspx
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic94515-9-1.aspx
going cold turkey.
check out this thread and the science in the references.
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic60528-9-1.aspx
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic94515-9-1.aspx
Reefski, I didn't know you had an ATS setup. It is very nice. I'm sure that will do well in reducing your phosphate issue. It is interesting that people having nitrates under control have issues with phosphates. I would be curious to know if your skimmate declines in the next day or two and also whether your phosphates decline once the ATS begins working.
Graveyardworm, if you are using HA as a gauge of efficacy then once you find a dose that rids HA I would recommend staying at that dose. Cutting in half is only useful if you just detectable nitrate/phosphates and some people end up back at doses close to 80% of the reduction dose. Melev, you may want to take note as this will most-likely be you.
Graveyardworm, if you are using HA as a gauge of efficacy then once you find a dose that rids HA I would recommend staying at that dose. Cutting in half is only useful if you just detectable nitrate/phosphates and some people end up back at doses close to 80% of the reduction dose. Melev, you may want to take note as this will most-likely be you.
Paul_PSU
In Memoriam
Interesting. I just read a few pages of the first link. I like the part about the mucus from corals being a form of c dosing. I remember reading somewhere on RC about injecting air into the powerhead stream to encourage the corals to "slime up" and stimulate growth. Might be something to think about. I have an air pump and airline not in use. I may have to give it a try.
I have zero nitrates but had been having phosphate issues. I currently have HA on my rocks but just this week I went from cleaning my glass every other day to every four days. The only thing I have left is HA.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
I'm running GFO too so its a bit difficult to guage whats giving me the best results, atleast the combination seems to be working. I had a big patch of HA on the glass which is now completely gone. Diatoms on the sand bed have receded considerably and now only appear in a couple lower flow areas. The HA on the rocks is a bit more difficult to guage. The effect of the GFO is much more pronounced for sure, as the GFO becomes saturated the diatoms on the sand begin to become more visible until the sand is completely covered, I know then its tme to change the GFO, as soon as I do the diatoms disappear.
The Saltman
New member
Does anyone still run gfo with carbon dosing? My nitrates have been 0 for the past few months, but phosphates have remained high at 0.09 on hanna meter. I currently use glassbox design method of v/s/v with prodibio biodigest. I don't know whether to increase the dosing or run gfo to achieve low phosphate. My only rationale to this is there must be some unbalanced nutrients in my tank. There must be leaching of phosphate that is fueling some of the algae outbreaks I am having with dinos.
Ralph ATL
Formerly mysterybox
Question or 2:
soon enough I will be out of AZ-NO3, and I will be making the change to VSV (or VV). In a 1 liter bottle, I was planning on 90% & 10% vinegar (not sure how much sugar?), can I store them together premixed at room temp? no water in mix at all.
Thanks!
soon enough I will be out of AZ-NO3, and I will be making the change to VSV (or VV). In a 1 liter bottle, I was planning on 90% & 10% vinegar (not sure how much sugar?), can I store them together premixed at room temp? no water in mix at all.
Thanks!
teamdulski
The Saltiest!
I read through the entire thread and there wasn't a real definitive answer, but my question is: For example instead of dosing 6ml once a day and you dose 3ml twice a day, is there any pros and cons to either? Also if you are splitting up the dose should you make any other adjustments?
Paul_PSU
In Memoriam
I had been dosing vodka with Biodigest and developed an outbreak of HA. I am still testing zero for Nitrates on 3 different test kits. My phosphates are showing zero but on an API kit. I have not been able to test on a Hanna Meter. I also run GFO. I'm kind of at a loss right now. The HA is all over my rocks. I am manually removing it. I esd dosing 6ml of vodka per day. I have stopped to see if it makes a difference with the HA. I don't know if maybe I should just dose vodka and not the Biodigest. I don't overfeed my tank either.
Last edited:
Guys, I have a question.
Do you only dose Vodka, sugar OR vinegar? OR you dose all 3 together?
I found one of the thread the instruction for vodka dosing.
So, e.g. for a 500 L tank:
day 1-3: 0.1 * 5 = 0.5 mL
day 4-7: 0.2 * 5 = 1 mL
2. week (day 8-14): 1 mL + 0.5 mL = 1.5 mL
3. week: 1.5 mL + 0.5 mL = 2 mL.
What about the instruction for sugar and vinegar?
Do you only dose Vodka, sugar OR vinegar? OR you dose all 3 together?
I found one of the thread the instruction for vodka dosing.
So, e.g. for a 500 L tank:
day 1-3: 0.1 * 5 = 0.5 mL
day 4-7: 0.2 * 5 = 1 mL
2. week (day 8-14): 1 mL + 0.5 mL = 1.5 mL
3. week: 1.5 mL + 0.5 mL = 2 mL.
What about the instruction for sugar and vinegar?
stony_corals
New member
Jefftse, since you are a premium member, you could search as there are a few threads about dosing regimens for vinegar and sugar... I don't know. I have tried both (individually) but I don't have enough experience with them to provide dosing info.
stony_corals
New member
hmmm....Unfortunately, what may (only a *may*) be happening is that the HA is masking what your tank is really producing (in N and P). HA are very efficient at uptake of nutrients.... It could be that your HA and bacteria are competing for nutrients, and given the amount of HA, it may be outcompeting. I've dosed both vodka and Biodigest and never had hair algae.
I'd continue to manually remove as much as you can. Do you know what kind of HA it is? Do you have any rabbitfish or tangs? Urchins are very good as well (don't seem to be nearly as picky as fish are), but they can act like bulldosers.....
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