Refugium or Vodka

[racingrich]

With more people having good luck with using vodka in there aquariums could you have the same results as a refugium?
Rich

 

[crvz]

"Maybe" is about as far as I'm going to commit. It's a very different methodology, and every application is unique. I view any carbon-source dosing as very active, where the user has direct control on the system. With a fuge, assuming you're trying to grow algae as a means of nutrient export, the user doesn't really have any control over how fast the macro grows and can only trim out excess growth. It's an active vs. passive approach. There are a lot of other factors to consider as well, particularly costs, logistics, hardware needs, space available. In some cases the end result may be identical, but I'd say that's very few situations.

 

[bubbly]

Vodka is not something you want to rely on as your main source of nutrient control. Vodka is like a "turbo boost" for your skimmer when you need it, not a replacement for a decent reef setup.

There are considerations about bacterial populations -- when you keep dosing vodka you are constantly selecting for bacteria that eats vodka, which may do something long term to your reef - we don't know yet.

But second, vodka is something you do when you want to kick your system into overdrive -- I don't know how it would be if you used it for your regular system and then needed an overdrive boost -- then what do you do?

A refugium also helps feed your main display, and may help to soak up nutrients that the vodka can't get out.

You can experiment with it and report back your results, and it may work, but I don't think it's realy a good idea.

 

[spleify]

Randy started a thread about this in the Reef Chemistry Forum.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1557772

HTH

Spleify