[proranger]

hello all :

i was just looking around on here and seen the post about vodka dosing , what is the reason for doing this and how do u kno when it needs to be done.

 

[soloimpression]

From what i have found out ( still learning alot too ) is that vodka dosing is to get your no3 and po4 levels down and to help maintain them at or near 0 but this sounds a bit tricky at first to start but dont sound to bad i would google search how to vodka dose and that will probly give you a little bit better info than me Hope it helps a little

 

[tdb560reef]

Purpose

Clean Water.

It is not a need but more of a method. The idea if the method is to provide the bacteria in a tank with a carbon source that encourages it to proliferate. This bacteria explodes and consumes phosphates and nitrates and other thinks. So now what well you tune your skimmer a little wet and export the profound bacteria along with the thing it consumes and it is in is stomach.

I do vodka and have great results. However at first something went wrong and I lost a old clam. I followed the schedule on the internet and still had a problem. Subsequently I cut the dose in half from the published schedule and now things are fine.

To answer your second question about need. I don't dose every day but when I see brown film algae growing I dose and it clears up over night. This is true in both tanks. That typically equals about 1 ML a day.

 

[reef120]

hello all :

i was just looking around on here and seen the post about vodka dosing , what is the reason for doing this and how do u kno when it needs to be done.

Hey proranger
Welcome to Michigan Reefers, My best suggestion would be to do all your research on this topic because dozing vodka is considered an advanced technique . You can do search on the word vodka and should pull up lots of information from other members that have posted this topic, read read & read until you are either ready or required to start dozing this stuff

 

[KingChris444]

Yea, I'm a bit interested in this too, But it appears you need a skimmer, which I don't have so looks like this is out of the question for me lol

 

[Jim Z.]

The essential item that is necessary in reefkeeping is exporting or removing excess nutrients from the tank.Yes, a skimmer is necessary with vodka dosing because the skimmer is used to remove excess bacterial cells which now contain the excess nutrients. If your tank does not have a skimmer, then water changes are your best option for excess nutrient removal. I vodka dose in my heavy bioload 50 gallon reef and my skimmer cranks out over a cup of skimmate in 2 days. I also do weekly water changes and replace sea water lost in the skimmate with fresh sea water...............Jim Z.

 

[KingChris444]

But I do have a hang on the back...

 

[Gyyro]

Here's a link for your reading pleasure....

Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Thomas712]

I've been vodka dosing for not quite 2 weeks. In my case its been hair algae that finally pushed me to do this. Last year was a year of upgrades, new skimmer, lights, cleanup crew, better tank maintenance, GFO/Carbon reactor, new powerheads, cleaning shallow sandbed in main, but not touching the DSB in the 55 filtration tank. I even have a new 30 gallon sump I'm working on, just need new pump and some more baffles.

So far the vodka dosing is pulling out darker skimmate, clearing up the water, and the hair algae is finally starting to lose its hold. In other words its not as green and seems easier to manually pull the small amount that is left. Film algae is also becoming less heavy and easier for the cleanup crew to manage. Light penetration in the clearer water is causing the corallline to explode and in lower areas of the tank become quite a beautiful dark pruple.

For me it was a last resort after a year long battle scrubbing and removing hair algae. So far I think it will be worth it.

 

[Administrator]

Here's a link for your reading pleasure....

Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

We have added this to our article section with credits given to the appropriate site.

Michigan Reefers - Vodka Dosing...Distilled!

If you have additional articles please feel free to post and share your articles in our articles section.

 

[Decalf]

Look into Macrobactor 7 and Biofuel. I had phosphates of 5ppm and nitrates of 2 ppm and lower them to 0 each using these and a skimmer in about 21 days. Any product added to your tank is risky but these two products are considered less risky for a novice aquarist than vodka. If you dont have success (which I think you will )you can always use the vodka with the MB7 until its used up.