Vodka dosing for large system - Need Help!

[Dmitri]

Hi folks, I need advice here please!
My nitrates are super high at 50 ppm last checked 2 days ago.
I’ve been dosing vodka for 7 weeks now and I’m up to 17.2ml
Raising dosage 1ml per week

phosphates are at 0.09ppm

total water volume is about 1400gal

I was wondering if it’s okay to try and increase dosage more than 1ml per week?

I hear success with lowering nitrates and phosphates for large systems where dosing is 30-60ml daily. If I keep increasing 1ml per week it will take another 15weeks to those numbers at minimum, maybe longer

so again, what would be safest / higher number to increase dosing by of 80 proof vodka? Please share and thank you !

 

[ichthyoid]

Here is link to a table for recommended vodka dosage. You are on track. What you don’t want to do is cause a large bacteria bloom by sudden increases & overdosing. That can cause a rapid drop in the O2 level, leading to far more serious things than high NO3.

For your volume, just add the 400 & 1000 amounts.

Also, try to limit nitrate sources, especially flakes & some pellets. A quality frozen food should help.

Vodka dosing

So ive decided to try vodka dosing instead of using an ats on my new 235 net gallon setup. How much vodka should i be dosing to combat algae? Currently i put in 1.2 liters of water and added 175ml of vodka to that (80 proof). The ghl doser is dosing 5ml 10x a day. When i get more vodka, i...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dmitri]

Here is link to a table for recommended vodka dosage. You are on track. What you don’t want to do is cause a large bacteria bloom by sudden increases & overdosing. That can cause a rapid drop in the O2 level, leading to far more serious things than high NO3.

For your volume, just add the 400 & 1000 amounts.

Also, try to limit nitrate sources, especially flakes & some pellets. A quality frozen food should help.

Vodka dosing

So ive decided to try vodka dosing instead of using an ats on my new 235 net gallon setup. How much vodka should i be dosing to combat algae? Currently i put in 1.2 liters of water and added 175ml of vodka to that (80 proof). The ghl doser is dosing 5ml 10x a day. When i get more vodka, i...

www.reef2reef.com

View attachment 33956

I’ve been following this exact table for 7 weeks now. When I read how much people dose in their tanks with success, it’s becoming concerning to me. For example this one guy is doing 50ml daily into his 650gal tank, then another one 30ml to 320gal system.
On that scale I will be on track in a year or two to get to that dosage amount increasing only 1 ml per week.

 

[ichthyoid]

Follow the table. You will be at 26.2 ml in 9 weeks.

If your NO3 has not dropped, I would continue increasing the same amount per week until I did see a drop.

Some people have increased every 3-4 days, but it may be lesser amounts. I would have to research that to be sure.

 

[Adam]

Dmitri, you're tackling your nutrients from multiple angles, which is good but none of them are are at full potential yet. There's a fuge, a denitrator, my ATS, plus the vodka. If two or more of those hit their peak at the same time you can tank the nutrients entirely. As long as your PO4 is under 0.10 and under control, slow and steady is going to be better.

Adding the the vodka upstream of the denitrator could get it working a little better. Also as Bill said, reducing pellet and flake foods will help lower the input of the nitrate.

And don't forget, when the coral really starts growing they will be part of the export and it increases exponentially with the growth.

 

[lmm1967]

I wouldn't do any more than you are - 50 ppm is really not that bad.

Give that denitritor & ATS time to do their magic - once they do you're going to wish you had measurable NO3 & PO4.

A few years we had a 60 gallon cube. That thing would run 80 - 100 PPM nitrate AFTER a 30% water change. I tried vodka dosing, NoPoX, bigger/better skimmer etc.

Then I built a DIY denitritor (Donavans from R2R) - it took a while, probably 4 - 6 weeks - for it to really kick in. Once it did, WATCH OUT - NO3 going in was at 80 and 0 coming out. Once it got going it ran my nutrients down to 0 within about 2 weeks - after them being there for a bit and not wanting to deal with dosing NO3 - I took it offline. After that I found it fairly easy to manage NO3 & PO4.

Like Bill said above - if you go too quick you're gonna have a crazy bacteria bloom to deal with - not a big deal as long as you have a ton of flow and a large skimmer to keep your O2 up - but it will be ugly for a few weeks and not fun to deal with that slimy snot getting stuck to everything.

What carbon source are you using to fee your denitritor and do you have the flow dialed down going through it?

 

[Adam]

It's a Sulphur reactor. Uses the little coated pellets. He's got a pic of it in his build thread.

 

[Dmitri]

What carbon source are you using to fee your denitritor and do you have the flow dialed down going through it?

I use sulfur media in reactor. 1 drop per second is the rate at the moment. Still very new, not sure if bacteria has established there yet. Two days ago I checked nitrates from it and still high. Will test today again.

Only carbon source is daily vodka dosing.

 

[Dmitri]

Some people have increased every 3-4 days, but it may be lesser amounts. I would have to research that to be sure.

Im gonna try 4 days increase to see how it goes.

 

[Adam]

I use sulfur media in reactor. 1 drop per second is the rate at the moment. Still very new, not sure if bacteria has established there yet. Two days ago I checked nitrates from it and still high. Will test today again.

1 drop per second is 3ml/min or 180ml/hr. That's only 1.1 gallons a day! What do you have 1400 gallons? At that rate it will take almost 3.5 years, not including water changes! LOL
Might as well take it off line and sell it.

 

[Dmitri]

1 drop per second is 3ml/min or 180ml/hr. That's only 1.1 gallons a day! What do you have 1400 gallons? At that rate it will take almost 3.5 years, not including water changes! LOL
Might as well take it off line and sell it.

Just following directions of initial set up

gotta wait until dripping constant is registering zero nitrates

oh yea it’s another one of those things takes forever, already did the math on that drip rate lol

 

[Adam]

Just following directions of initial set up

gotta wait until dripping constant is registering zero nitrates

oh yea it’s another one of those things takes forever, already did the math on that drip rate lol

I've never had or seen a denitrator in action. I've got agree with Leo on it. You've got too much going on with removal. With good old Murphy's Law they all come into their own at the same time and your nitrates will be zero. Then you'll have bigger problems on your hands. When that happens which one do you tune, all of them? Before you know it the organics will be bouncing up and down and you're stuck playing Whack-A-Mole.

 

[lmm1967]

I use sulfur media in reactor. 1 drop per second is the rate at the moment. Still very new, not sure if bacteria has established there yet. Two days ago I checked nitrates from it and still high. Will test today again.

Only carbon source is daily vodka dosing.

output should drop to zero once it's working.

I'd be patient - it took several weeks / couple months to really get rolling (mine was carbon source instead of sulfer though)

 

[qasimja]

With that much booze in your tank how rowdy do your fish get how many duis or public intox complaints over the last 3 months

 

[qasimja]

I'm only kidding of course lol

 

[ichthyoid]

My methanol batch reactor took about 2 months for the rate to become high enough to process 4 batches per day.

Eventually the system nitrate was so low I began dosing strontium nitrate, which both supplemented nitrate and provided strontium to help precipitate phosphate.

If I hadn’t found All for Reef, I’d be starting that thing back up.

If AFR doesn’t give me what I’m looking for, then the denitrator is plan B.

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

If you feed the reef manager more of the vodka medication the problem will become inperceivable.

 

[Adam]

If you feed the reef manager more of the vodka medication the problem will become inperceivable.

I've always had a hard time pouring good vodka in an aquarium or down the drain. @Dmitri as a Russian you should surely understand that