Vodka dosing recommendations

[drydock]

I've been vodka dosing for a couple of months now, should I put some in the tank also? :lol2:

 

[realfish]

Drydock;764277 wrote: I've been vodka dosing for a couple of months now, should I put some in the tank also? :lol2:

The closest my Vodka gets to water is when I sit by the pool.

 

[liverock27]

For those dosing vodka at what point did you discontinue use of any nitrate/phosphate removal media(ie GFO or Phosban)?

I am on week 4 of dosing vodka, but have been running phosban still. It is time for me to switch out the phosban on my next water change and wondering if I should discontinue use or maybe just stat cutting back on the amount I use.

Thanks.

 

[dr_ fish]

The idea is that nitrate and phosphate are both consumed by the bacteria you are trying to proliferate. The stoichiometry of consumption of each compound is not equal in that nitrate is consumed at a faster rate than phosphate, therefore you can be nitrate limited.

So, if you take this into account you can try and skip the use of GFO until you are showing a reading of 0 nitrate and see where your phosphates end up at. If they are above what you like, but nitrates are now at 0 you can resume a small amount of GFO to bring your phosphates back to zero.

 

[liverock27]

Dr. Fish;766507 wrote: The idea is that nitrate and phosphate are both consumed by the bacteria you are trying to proliferate. The stoichiometry of consumption of each compound is not equal in that nitrate is consumed at a faster rate than phosphate, therefore you can be nitrate limited.

So, if you take this into account you can try and skip the use of GFO until you are showing a reading of 0 nitrate and see where your phosphates end up at. If they are above what you like, but nitrates are now at 0 you can resume a small amount of GFO to bring your phosphates back to zero.

Thank you for the information. I just wanted to check and make sure that going cold turkey on the phosban would not cause any problems. I understand that there might be an increase in PO4, but just wanted to make sure there was nothing else to worry about.

 

[ripped tide]

I keep my po4 between .10 and .04 purposefully!!! When I took it down to .00 and .01 my coloration suffered. I measure using a photometer, so I get very precise readings. As far as nitrate goes, I haven't tested that in months. I feed like crazy! But thanks to good ol biopellets, I keep both levels controlled and corals happy.

My biggest mistake with gfo was changing it until my meter read .00 . It felt good in the sense of accomplishment and the actual defeat of my enemy. But like my signature USED to say "the smarter I get, the more dumb I feel."
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer... Totally eradicating po4 ended up depleteing food sources.

 

[ralph atl]

shouldnt this be in the "reef" forum? you might ger more responses than in "The Lounge" which consists of non-reef related jabber.....just sayin'....

 

[dawgface]

mysterybox;766553 wrote: shouldnt this be in the "reef" forum? you might ger more responses than in "The Lounge" which consists of non-reef related jabber.....just sayin'....

Aye sir, Moving.

 

[ralph atl]

Lol....thanks..

Edit: Or was he/she kidding? Lol

 

[liverock27]

I think I choose the wrong thread to add on to. I just saw that there was a number of vodka threads already when I did a search and decided not to create another. I really should have read through it better.