Vodka, Vinegar, Sugar (Carbon) Dosing info

[ralph atl]

for those that wanted a little info:

 

[rostato]

thanks. interesting, but seems like it is pretty risky business

 

[ralph atl]

yes, it's risky to start. must take about 3 months to acclimate. no issues here. started august 2006.

 

[rostato]

What exactly are the benifits? The article doesnt seem to have much info on that. Just keeps the nutrients low?

 

[ralph atl]

nitrates between .25 & .75 twenty-four seven. However, it's like starting gfo (albeit not as hard to acclimate animals), you have to go SLOW, SLOW, SLOW!

 

[ralph atl]

nothing that I would try if I already had a mature sps full blown reef already in progress though. best to start in the beginning before you have sps, or at least while they are still frags/small colonies.

 

[rostato]

Yeah I only have a few very small sps colonies. But my nitrates are undetectable with an API kit now...

 

[ralph atl]

FYI:when I tested someone's water with my Salifert kit, it measured 50, while their API kit showed undetectable. Titration kits are much more accurate than deciphering shades of color.

 

[rostato]

Hmm, now you have me worried. I would take some water to a LFS, but they all use API here.

 

[rostato]

I do have an algae bloom that I cannot get rid of. I only have 55G total volume, and have slowly worked my way to having half of a phosphate reactor full of GFO. Still have algae all over my sand bed. I am just beginning to think it is a flow problem and not a nutrient problem since nothing grows on the rocks...looking for a vortech pump to fix this

 

[ralph atl]

 

[derek_s]

That is so interesting to me. I have really wanted to do the research on zeo but just havent yet.

 

[rostato]

I am very much contemplating this now. I just cannot get the cyano off of my sand bed no matter what I do, and I would love to be able to feed more.

The added benifit of removing my phosban reactor makes it more interesting too, because I hate having water moving outside my sump...desaster waiting to happen.

My only concern is trying to get my alk down while using a kalk reactor. That should prove to be difficult. At least I only have 3 different sps right now...

Mystery,
Do you use just vodka, or a mixture of sugar, vinegar and vodka? All the reading I have done in the last few days leaves me wondering why use all three? Everyone who uses all three doesnt really say why.

 

[ralph atl]

Actually, I use AZ-NO3. Vodka would have been my 1st choice, but too late now. Most large reef additive companies have their own stuff, too.

people use all three as they are assuming that each type of carbon source produces a large amount of a specific type of bacteria. maybe? maybe not. I don't know what the benefit would be.

I would not dose vodka only because of cyno. cyno does not go away with vodka. most other algae problems "go away", but cyno is a bacteria.

 

[rostato]

Hmm, I figured the 3 different kinds was for different bacteria to go away, but wasnt sure, thanks for the clarification.

I always forget cyano is bacteria. I just wish it would go away...

I am interested in doing it to rid myself of changing phosban every two weeks, and being able to feed more. I am off to read some more.

Thanks for the help.

 

[ralph atl]

I have less cyno issues, but I still have issues (and cyno issues, too!)

 

[fabbss]

I have been dosing vodka on my 25 gallon starfire for sometime. I don't have any issues and i have seen an increase in color on my sps and more polyp extension. But just as mysterybox mentioned you have to go slow...

 

[fabbss]

Sorry wanted to include this. This is the tank of the month on reefcentral this is an awesome looking tank. He doses vodka daily and iodine and has been for years.

 

[glxtrix]

I started dosing vodka last year on my full blown reef and had no issues at all. Then again, I started below the recommended dosage level. I never ran into any issues. I don't do this anymore....mainly because my reef is crap these days (mostly softies) so running higher phosphates isn't too much a concern to me anymore. Start low and go slow and you'll have no issues.

 

[rostato]

I think I will. I need to get a good nitrate and phosphate test kit first. My API's always reed 0, but I know they are there...any recomendatiions?