vodka users
- Thread starter zapata41
- Start date
johndoetheguy
New member
This is my denitrifier in which I can either use vodka or ethanol. Since I have vodka in the house i will just use that. The idea is that the acrylic container will be filled with aquarium water from the sump but stop just at the point where it starts to overflow back into the tank through the pipe that is in the container (aprox 5minutes with pump i am using). At that point the vodka or ethanol will be added at a minimal amount and raised as needed. the pump will be on a timer that will be set once the amount of time has been determined on how long it takes to remove the nitrates back to zero (in the container). Then the whole thing starts again...the pump turns on...dumps out the older (cleaner) water as the new (dirty) water is being pumped in. Considering that the water temp is going to being at leat 1 0r 2 degrees difference (assuming that the water in the container is warmer than the aquarium water) I have decided to add the new cooler water at the bottom so that the warmer water can stay on top for the most part and get flushed out. (thoeretically) . I have worked with a much larger version of this and it dropped nitrates to zero within 2 weeks in a aprox 600 gal tank with nitrates at 50 mg/l
johndoetheguy
New member
as far as we know. there were no detectable phosphates. Every time we tested it came out negative.. all the water that was used was ro/di and other than food, nothing else was added to the water The fluctuation of nitrates from med to high to med levels were due to the stock that was being added or sold. Every week when the tanks were filled with livestock the nitrates would rise so then we would do water changes.. then we just decided to add the denitrator to reduce the amount of times we did water changes. Now they are done just to remove any floating debris.
zapata41
In Memoriam
well thanks for the input guys.
i decided to startthe dose off at 1ml a day. been three doses now and everything seems fine. my big arse skimmer is really liking the vodka though, before it would just hang out and skim wet and the skim a lot when i would feed, i have now had to lower the water level a bunch and am still getting my usual 2.5g a days of skimmate, now it just darker.
corals seem to be just fine, if anyhting i would say that my formosa is looking better, a bunch, about 15, new axial coralites just popped out so growth is increasing for whatever reason.
no other changes have been made to the tank out of the norm.
well i know where my nitrate source is, 4 tangs in the display and 1 in the frag tank. i have a big valamingi that likes to poop a lot.
i only feed 1-2 times a day and very small amounts, the tangs get nori 24/7 though in a gutter gurad vegi clip so no nori makes it into the water column un-eaten.
i do weekly water changes at 35g a week, but the last month have been having issues with my rodi filters and have only done about 3 changes in the month. i do top off about 5-7 gal a day of either saltwater or freshwater.
so in short i know what is going on with the tank and know it can be better. i am trying to get the nitrates down, they are around 60ppm right now, and then try to back off the vodka slowly and see if the system cant maintain itself.
i think i have had the high nitrates for the better half of the year, just havent checked for them since a few months ago.
sac..dots glad to hear the frags are doing and looking great. the colors should get awesome very sonn as everything is on the brown side in my tank
i am not trying to take the easy way out with the vodka, just experimenting with it like i did the BB trend. heck i am still BB cuz it works.
also i dont wish to have a fuge, well ATM atleast, so that is not really an option.
well glad to see that some good input is being given here. keep it coming though
Tim
i decided to startthe dose off at 1ml a day. been three doses now and everything seems fine. my big arse skimmer is really liking the vodka though, before it would just hang out and skim wet and the skim a lot when i would feed, i have now had to lower the water level a bunch and am still getting my usual 2.5g a days of skimmate, now it just darker.
corals seem to be just fine, if anyhting i would say that my formosa is looking better, a bunch, about 15, new axial coralites just popped out so growth is increasing for whatever reason.
no other changes have been made to the tank out of the norm.
well i know where my nitrate source is, 4 tangs in the display and 1 in the frag tank. i have a big valamingi that likes to poop a lot.
i only feed 1-2 times a day and very small amounts, the tangs get nori 24/7 though in a gutter gurad vegi clip so no nori makes it into the water column un-eaten.
i do weekly water changes at 35g a week, but the last month have been having issues with my rodi filters and have only done about 3 changes in the month. i do top off about 5-7 gal a day of either saltwater or freshwater.
so in short i know what is going on with the tank and know it can be better. i am trying to get the nitrates down, they are around 60ppm right now, and then try to back off the vodka slowly and see if the system cant maintain itself.
i think i have had the high nitrates for the better half of the year, just havent checked for them since a few months ago.
sac..dots glad to hear the frags are doing and looking great. the colors should get awesome very sonn as everything is on the brown side in my tank
i am not trying to take the easy way out with the vodka, just experimenting with it like i did the BB trend. heck i am still BB cuz it works.
also i dont wish to have a fuge, well ATM atleast, so that is not really an option.
well glad to see that some good input is being given here. keep it coming though
Tim
zapata41
In Memoriam
ok well here is a little update on the situation. TOTAL SYTEM CRASH !!!!!!!
NOT.
ok well i started dosing on 9-27 adding 1ml in the am when the frag tank lights come on and then .5ml in the pm in the middle of the display lighting period. started with NO3 at ~60ppm. As of this morning 10-1, i tesetd the NO3 and it was down to ~30-35ppm. no changes to the system have been done since starting the vodka dosing. i had to adjust the skimmer a little drier but that is it, weekly water change scheduled for this weekend was skipped to ensure fair testing results. all in all things are looking great, no signs of stress to anything. next week i will increase the dosage by .25ml for both AM and PM dosages.
Tim
NOT.
ok well i started dosing on 9-27 adding 1ml in the am when the frag tank lights come on and then .5ml in the pm in the middle of the display lighting period. started with NO3 at ~60ppm. As of this morning 10-1, i tesetd the NO3 and it was down to ~30-35ppm. no changes to the system have been done since starting the vodka dosing. i had to adjust the skimmer a little drier but that is it, weekly water change scheduled for this weekend was skipped to ensure fair testing results. all in all things are looking great, no signs of stress to anything. next week i will increase the dosage by .25ml for both AM and PM dosages.
Tim
