Who's dosing vodka? And why?

Ok this may sound funny to most but not to me. if were dosing vodka for N and P why do I need RO/DI unit? If water changes are really not needed then this sounds like there is more research that needs to be done on all our parts. I am so glade to have been lead into this thread.
Makes you think there is more there then I once new.
Wow I love this thread.
P.s about 20% of my bubble algea is turning clear is this the result of Vodka dosing?
Thanks
Michael Anthony
 
Ok this may sound funny to most but not to me. if were dosing vodka for N and P why do I need RO/DI unit?
Click to expand...

I use RO/DI to remove phosphate and anything else that is bad in my tap water Not just these two things. Stuff like copper or chlorine which I believe are in my tap water. HTH
 
Exactly. Plus, we have to top off daily to replace for evaporation. I've been using 0 TDS water for many years. If you can rule out issues in the first place, it makes it easier to overcome the hurdles that occur within the four walls of our ecosystems.
 
Has anyone taken tap water and dosed Vodka to it and had it tested after treatment of vodka and see if it purifier the water????? I only have limited test kits and can only test salt water. But if anyone can test for water quality on fresh water to see if vodka can help out? Man this Vodka dosing may be more there then I thought. Let's say I make up 55 gallons of water in my plastic water drum. I add new salt mix in my case reefcyrstals and then add vodka to it. Will there still be a need for RO/DI system? Nit leaving out hevy metals but what else could affect the water quality?
Anyone willing to test water or have access to test kits on this matter?
Just trying to see if there is more then one use for Vodka
Michael Anthony
 
I will let you know after I have been dosing for a few months. I think that it does not because it's cyno does not need nitrate or phospates to grow. But I could be wrong with that information let's hope someone else chims in.
Michael
 
Diatom or cyno ? Very different I have been told. Do you have a picture to share so maybe someone else can ID and further assist?
Michael Anthony
 
errr, brown sand is diatom. Cyano is nasty red stuff that covers stuff like a film.
 
Cheers, but I think you're missing the point (by a few light years). I'm not talking about cyno. I know what it is and I know what causes brown sand. I was asking if people that are dosing vodka found that it cured brown sand. Most people have brown sand. My sand goes a bit brown uner halides. I'm not asking what it is as this isn't the New To The Hobby forum.
 
A little biochemistry can help us answer these questions. In a typical system, the growth of bacteria is limited by available carbon. Adding vodka allows those bacteria to proliferate. As bacteria proliferate, they incorperate NO3 and PO4 into their cells. The skimmer then removes the bacteria (and thus the N and P with them). With vodka addition, the water is not cleaned by an increase in conventional denitrification as occurs in the nitrogen cycle. Several things are apparent from this understanding. First, vodka could not substitute for an RO/DI system. Second, vodka wouldn't do much for a freshwater system since skimmers are very inefficient on freshwater systems. Third, an efficient skimmer is vital for vodka dosing to work properly.
 
I believe it would since from what I understand, diatoms(brown sand) is caused by excess nutrients such as no3 and po4. As long as you take it slow as recommended, I don't see how it could hurt. But take it from me, it can be a very slow process. But nothing good in this hobby comes fast.
 
Yea, I know it could take a long time. I'm on week 2 and dosing 2ml. I believe melev said it took him 4 months for it to start working? But it took about 4 months for my Denitrator to start working so I'm used to waiting. I don't have a huge diatom issue but I would love to have lily white sand under Halides.
 
It took seven months for my tank to finally see the NO3 drop, but then it dropped quickly over the next two weeks. Those seven months of dosing & testing was quite frustrating.

As Nathan pointed out in the article, it should happen faster for most. My system may be unique in that it took much longer than expected, but I'm just glad it worked.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15475776#post15475776 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
It took seven months for my tank to finally see the NO3 drop, but then it dropped quickly over the next two weeks. Those seven months of dosing & testing was quite frustrating.

As Nathan pointed out in the article, it should happen faster for most. My system may be unique in that it took much longer than expected, but I'm just glad it worked.
Click to expand...

ok i believe this is what is happening to me now, the nitrates dropped already, i dunno if its due to the "new" rocks in the system or just the vodka, but there is a clear improvement in the color of the test results, now it is closer to 80ppm. (this is with water change at 20%) still better than the close to 160ppm test results a few days back.

phosphates remained at 10. should phosphates also drop with nitrates when you dose vodka?
 
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