Vodka?

Has anyone heard of dosing their tank with vodka? I have read a few articles on the net (mainly Melev's reef) and have heard nothing but good things.

 

I've heard of it but not sure about it. I do know I like dosing me with vodka. LOL I think there has been some here who have tried it.

 

It is a good enough method. It is very exact in the dosing. Starts small and works up. Thought about it myself. For some reason though, I shelved the idea. Read something I didn't like. Nope.....can't remember what that was. Old brain syndrome.

 

I dose vokda, it works well. You need a good skimmer for it to work.

It causes a bacterial bloom and reduces the organic matter in your water quite a bit, resulting in low phosphates and nitrates. Water will be less yellow.

I does 1.0ml of distilled unflavored vodka daily in my 120 gallon tank with 50 gallon sump. It will produce more darker skimmate.

 

But don't you have to ramp it up really slow? Seems like I remember that was key.

 

I'm considering using this on my new system, I've read a bit about it and it sounds good but you have to be careful and go slow. As far as I can tell it's far better to under-dose and take longer to ramp up rather than risk overdosing and causing a bacteria bloom or something.

Here's another article on it FWIW.
Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

I personally wouldn't use it to control high nitrates or phosphates because I don't like the idea of covering up the root cause of excessive nutrients but if you have things under control generally it seems like a good way to take things the last mile in making everything perfect.

 

You have to dose based on your nitrate readings untill they reach 0. But i just dose 1 ml. They recommend a gradual increasem but i just started with 1 ml and stayed there. Worked out pretty good.

 

Good to know. I think I will do a bit more research, but start dosing soon.

 

You may want to try Brightwell's Reef BioFuel, they claim it is a substitute for the “vodka method”. I use it with not ill effects other than it will tend to give your corals a slight brown color. 0 nitrate and phosphate.

John

 

Removing the PO4 and NO3 should have the opposite effect as they are some of the major reasons SPS become brown....

Vodka dosing sounds great, and all the pics people show look great but it always goes south after awhile.
Unless you have the time and diligence to test daily and to be very meticulous in your dosing things will go south faster!
I know a few people that have done it but according to them and many of the people on the vodka dosing thread on RC, after a few months of things looking and doing great the proverbial s*** hits the fan and things head south quick... So everyone I did know that dosed no longer dose nor do they recommend it...

It is a risk, and if you are looking to dose organic carbon, then just add a tablespoon of acetic acid to your kalk mix. The kalk will disolve more fully you will have less likelyhood that the pH will increase too much and you get your organic carbon source...

Good luck!