Vodka dosing, I need help

m2434: You seem really knowledgeable in this area. Have you dosed vinegar? And if so, would you say you liked it as much, more, or less than vodka. I've read alot of article and blogs from many different vodka dosers and have seen a myriad of different outcomes (each reef is different as is each reefkeeper's routine) and was just looking for your opinion, as it would seem pertinent to the thread.

 

The biopelets certain;y soud easier to judge if ODing... I actually wanted to eliminate both nitrates and phosphates but mostly the latter

 

Different biopellets are made differently, and the Warner Marine pellets don't report having this issue as much as others. I guess I shouldn't say you CAN'T overdose them, but I don't think that it's AS EASY to overdose it as vodka. It is certainly a lot less maintenance.

From what I understand, you can't just suddenly STOP dosing vodka either, you need to bring the dose down slowly, otherwise bacteria die off fast and pollute your tank.

 

I haven't seen any of the negative issues either They are reported a fair amount though. Some do have to do with dosing incorrectly, others do not. Some that do not for example, seem to be the result of accumulated organics for example. This seems to occur in old tanks. Sand, rocks etc.... are nutrient sinks. When vodka is dosed to an old tank, it can feed benthic bacteria on these surfaces. These aren't necessarily removed via skimming because they are on the surfaces and not in the water column. Also, it may be that certain sedimentary processes are effected by their byproducts changing the composition, but this is speculation, I don't think anyone has analyzed this material.

 

You can have the same problems with vinegar as vodka as it converts to acetate and the bacteria consume it.

 

I think I have decided on biopellets, how should I run them?
Please continue commenting as I am sure this will help others

 

DO A SEARCH ON HERE FOR VODKA.. there will be many members that have used it including myself. under my profile page/favorite threads is my experience.

 

Some people claim vinegar is less likely to drive cyano. I certainly couldn't say for sure. I've just started adding vinegar to my kalkwasser to increase the potency, but I'm going slow so it will be a few more weeks weeks until I'm up to my target dose. Really the vinager is more to simplify things, since kalk isn't keeping up with demand, so I can kill two birds with one stone, not because I necessarily think it's better.

 

Well, you can run them in a reactor like a phosban reactor, but instead of using the foam inserts use a screen grating material made of a cut up embroidery thingys...

Or you can hang a filter sock of them in your overflow, like I do. I've had them in my tank for about 8 months, and I now have no detectable nitrates. I need to test phosphates, but as I understand the amount of phosphates that are lowered are less than that of nitrates.

As for lowering your phosphates, you may want to consider GFO...

Apart from the link I posted above (which has plenty of good info) you can check out this one on RC: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1694529

 

Thanks, could I run it in a modded HOB filter. My phosphates are not incredibly high, so I think I could take a multi-pronged approach. Run biopellets, add desireable macros and a bigger CUC to contain algae. This should work, right?