Vodka Dosing.

[jayson417]

Can Vodka Dosing be done on a FOWLR? i have a high nitrate issue. it hovers around 60-80 all the time. i clean out my canister once a week and my wet/dry once every 2 weeks. i do 10% water change every two weeks and there so no algae.
Stock List.
Dogface Puffer
Foxface
Lunare Wrasse
Domino Damsel
3 Striped Damsel
This is currently a 55 gallon but i will be upgrading to a 125 once my stand is fished being built and varnished.
Feeding takes place once in the morning.
Ammonia = 0
PH = 8.2
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 80
I have a skimmer running also.

 

[spanko]

To my knowledge yes, as what you are trying to achieve is a system with low nutrient. That said, in my tank the nitrates were always undetectable, even before dosing, with the test equipment I have. My goal was to maintain that even in light of increasing the amount fed to the system.
In you case maybe a weekly 10% water change would help to lower your nitrates. Also determining where the nitrates are coming from and controlling that would also be beneficial. (too much feeding, to large of a bioload, too small of a CUC)

 

[jayson417]

Thanks for that,
I'm still doing a bunch of research as tis is a last resort option. My filters are pretty well off and my CUC is a 3 inch hermit crab and a 1inch hermit and 2 snails.
I'm now going to cut down feeding once a day but half the amount im giving now to see if that helps.

 

[florida joe]

The goal again is to get to that point so that I may feed the tank (read coral here) more to obtain my desired results. As for your statement here "I think you need
Henry that IMO is the reason for the coral expansion. The force-feeding if you will without the downside of adding copious amounts of organic waste without a powerful tool to assimilate them

 

[florida joe]

New hobbyists please remember Vodka dosing is not a one-time thing. You will not see any results for weeks. If and when you lower your nitrates you will have to continue a dosage in a Prophylactic manner which you have established indefinitely. As my good friend Henry advises, finding the cause should be paramount

 

[locoyo386]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3065971
No rubbing alcohol is not to be used in this method.
Why is this, are both of them ethanol? I thought the only difference was vodka had a way much smaller concentration than rubbing alcohol. Or is rubbing alcohol only isopropanol and not ethanol. I know that some companies combine both ethanol and methanol, but I don't think they sell it here in the states.

 

[spanko]

You pretty much hit it, for the carbon source you are looking for ethanol. Vodka is used as it is more pure than the other liquors like brandy, wiskey etc. as they contain other additives that can adversely affect the tank.
Vodka is pretty much ethanol and water as distilled with no flavor enhancements.
Stay away from the rubbing alcohols because they are for the most part isopropyl.

 

[locoyo386]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3066121
You pretty much hit it, for the carbon source you are looking for ethanol. Vodka is used as it is more pure than the other liquors like brandy, wiskey etc. as they contain other additives that can adversely affect the tank.
Vodka is pretty much ethanol and water as distilled with no flavor enhancements.
Stay away from the rubbing alcohols because they are for the most part isopropyl.
Actually the alcohol sold in the USA is ethanol, but I think I found the difference; rubbing alcohol is prepared from a special denaturized alcohol solution and contains 97.5-100% by volume of pure, concentrated ethanol.
I was wrong the majority of the alcohol is isopropyl and not ethyl.

 

[al mc]

Spanko/Joe......Has anyone you know set up a continuous vodka drip once they establish their stable dose? I was thinking a microdrip would work well
and eliminate the need to dose daily. I know 'Mel' has set up a way to dose his tank continuously with a DYI syringe, but he has to 'load' it daily. Thanks

 

[spanko]

I suppose this could be done on a larger system that has the need for larger doses because of volume. In my tank it is literally 2 drops daily.

 

[al mc]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3067439
I suppose this could be done on a larger system that has the need for larger doses because of volume. In my tank it is literally 2 drops daily.
I think I will try this on my reef at work once I establish a steady state dose.
Thanks

 

[spanko]

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3067672

Now you're in trouble......"Do you know your Enemy...your enemy"
LOL...I heard that song the other night, and now it is on baseball commercials....can't get it outta my head

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
http:///forum/post/3067336
Spanko/Joe......Has anyone you know set up a continuous vodka drip once they establish their stable dose? I was thinking a microdrip would work well
and eliminate the need to dose daily. I know 'Mel' has set up a way to dose his tank continuously with a DYI syringe, but he has to 'load' it daily. Thanks
When I was dosing I dropped down to 2/ml a day for my 110G. I think it would be almost imposable to brake that dosage down for a continuous drip

 

[al mc]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3067691
When I was dosing I dropped down to 2/ml a day for my 110G. I think it would be almost imposable to brake that dosage down for a continuous drip
You are probably right Joe with a dose of 2ml/day. The 'drips' that usually accompany the Kent Marine and other top off/Kalk washer drips deliver their
contents at 15 drops=1ml; Microdrips deliver 60 drops=1ml. In your situation it would have to be set to deliver only 5 drops/hr....pretty tough I would say.
I was thinking that it would be useful in a situation where you needed to use 10-20 ml of Vodka daily.

 

[florida joe]

10 to 20 milliliters daily is big time dosing I would guess a 250-gallon tank with extremely high nitrates and even then the dosage would fall off greatly for prophylactic dosing once the nitrates were under control

 

[al mc]

My tank at work is a 175 with 125 gallon sump/refugium. When you take into consideration sand/rocks/equipment theer is maybe 220 gallons. If I can spare one I will just use one of the electronic fluid pumps. It can be set for any amount daily..even 1-2 mls and it will deliver the exact amount. The three I have are usually in use 24/7, but if I do get a reconditioned one and set it up I will post a picture.

 

[al mc]

Well I decided to give Vodka dosing a try. I considered using a electronically controlled microdrip, but after much reading and realizing the doses are very
small I decided to give two 'injections' of vodka daily. We shall see.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
http:///forum/post/3073748
Well I decided to give Vodka dosing a try. I considered using a electronically controlled microdrip, but after much reading and realizing the doses are very
small I decided to give two 'injections' of vodka daily. We shall see.
You should not see any results for about a month; do you have any pre filters coming off your overflow lines?

 

[al mc]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3073766
You should not see any results for about a month; do you have any pre filters coming off your overflow lines?
No prefilters, but I do have a RDSB, and realize it could take longer with the sand bed in the system.