Vodka, vinegar,biopellets and other organic carbon dosing

[Nizz]

I have to dose my vodka every two days. If I dose it sooner. The water gets really cloudy

 

[TRUKINGNY]

wow what a great thread took me about 3 days to read it little by little thinking about starting to dose vodka and see what happens my po4 is great but no3 is between 10-25 and cant get it down hopefully it works.. thanks again TMZ

 

[trueblackpercula]

I have to dose my vodka every two days. If I dose it sooner. The water gets really cloudy

That's not good. That is a clear indication of bacterial bloom. You are probally dosing too much.

 

[tmz]

I have to dose my vodka every two days. If I dose it sooner. The water gets really cloudy

How much are you dosing and how large is the water volume?

 

[tmz]

wow what a great thread took me about 3 days to read it little by little thinking about starting to dose vodka and see what happens my po4 is great but no3 is between 10-25 and cant get it down hopefully it works.. thanks again TMZ

You are welcome ;glad you fund it helpful.

 

[Panta rhei]

Hi Tom,
thanks a lot for the very useful info!!
I'm currently running a biopellet reactor, but considering to switch to vodka or vinegar.
I have a 40 gallon tank with DSB, most sps and some lps.
Which method would you recommend with the setup I have?

 

[tmz]

I personally have used vodka and vinegar for the last 5 years with good results on my mixed reef sps dominant system. Vodka and vinegar are almost the same .

 

[Panta rhei]

Vodka and vinegar are almost the same .

Based on what I have read in various threads, differeneces are vodka more expensive and vingegar potential pH drop... am I missing anything?

Also, do you recommend any procedure to shut down the pellet reactor?

 

[trueblackpercula]

You can always try VSV

 

[tmz]

Vodka is less expensive by a little actually if you use the plain basic brands.
Both effect pH the same overtime but vinegar drops pH quickly when dosed all at once.
Viengar and vodka are almost the same The ethaonol in the vokda oxidizes to acetic acid ( which is the organic in the vinegar). Neither of the m go to monomers like sugar and carbohydrates do. One study suggests excess glucose is inked to coral mortality.I used a bit of sugar along with vokda and vinegar and by itselff early on with very poor resutls in tetms of coral browning, recission and some coral death.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Here is what I started to use last night. I have been dosing biodigest for a couple weeks, but now I am full blown prodibio system. I did get very good PE last night after dosing both pappone an the Bioptim iodi and stonti+

 

[Panta rhei]

Thanks Tom

 

[tmz]

You are welcome.

 

[Nizz]

How much are you dosing and how large is the water volume?

The water volume including sump is about 190 gallons. My schedule at the time was 060:30/000:30/000:00. But that was too much. So now I am dosing 119:30/000:30/000:00. The cloudiness is down and so is the algae. I can't remember how many mL that is. But I think it's in the ball park of 26ish mL.

 

[trueblackpercula]

26 ml for 180 gallons seems to be a lot

 

[Nizz]

26 ml for 180 gallons seems to be a lot

Well if it works. I can't complain.

 

[tmz]

FWIW, I dose about 40 ml of 80 proof vodka to a water volume of 650 gallons . If I go higher I see bacteria and cloudiness. So that's the limit for my tank, could vary for others but most settle in at lower levels . 26 ml to a 190 gallons is more than double what I'm dosing, btw.

 

[bif24701]

I dose 30-40 ml of vinegar currently for about 120 toltal system volume, any more than that my filter socks and reactors clog to quickly also get the cloudiness too. So far my rocks are nice and clean looking, thus the dosing keeps nuisance algae, cyano, and bryopsis at bay.

 

[Nizz]

Well it's a guess at the moment. I have the measurement of what I can dose at home. But currently I am deploy. So I am unable to do the rough math on how much. I did have a bad out break of algae on my pukani rocks. So I don't know what to say about the dosage if it work.

 

[bif24701]

Well it's a guess at the moment. I have the measurement of what I can dose at home. But currently I am deploy. So I am unable to do the rough math on how much. I did have a bad out break of algae on my pukani rocks. So I don't know what to say about the dosage if it work.

I am in Niceville, work at Eglin, also military, send me a PM.