Advice? vodka dosing

Been doing some reading on vodka dosing while I'm waiting on a system upgrade, only problem I'm having is all the schedules are for daily dosing but I'm only home 3 days a week, can someone point me in a good direction?

 

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Hmm idk if that worked very well lol I'll try again if it didn't

 

Here is where I got it from

Reefkeeping Magazine - Vinegar Dosing Methodology for the Marine Aquarium

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You can dose vinegar with a dosing pump. It will do the same thing as vodka

 

Only problem will be the first week. It's only about once a year I have 7 days at home

 

A dosing pump can do it for you daily

 

Agree with Donny about a dosing pump as the best way to go. Also, vodka rates are much lower than vinegar so be sure to find a schedule for vodka or use vinegar instead.

 

I use vodka on a dosing pump with my apex, works really good. Just make sure your bottle doesn't run empty. I let a bottle go dry and my tank nutrients spiked, my fish had "withdrawals", and I lost a bunch of fish.

 

I use a gravity feed tank to a float for top off. With a similar setup you could put the vodka in the top off tank

 

I have a couple brs dosers, but from what I gather from their videos it's almost impossible to do the amounts I need with them. I'll just pick up on the water changes till I switch systems.

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT OVERDO. The first time I tried it, the results were amazing except the room smelled so bad I could not go in it.

 

Never underestimate the power of a 48 hr tank blackout. Does not reduce nutrience but does wonders for appearance of the tank.

 

I have been dosing Vodka to my tank for probably 3 years. Not very consistent with it, but have had very good luck.

 

If you want to dose a very small amount with a dosing pump just cut it with RODI water.
Example - if you want to only dose 1ml of vodka, mix 1 part vodka and 9 parts water into your container you're pumping out of and then pump 10ml.

 

Lol Adam!! Sounds like they needed AA!!!!

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Curious, what are the NO3 and PO4 running at? Do you run a bacteria driven system?

 

Bio pellets would be easier if your not around much. But if you do them research them first. They are a good tool to use but can cause problems if misused.

 

Exactly what I was thinking Jer! Can work, and, less oversite needed and less maintenace!

 

Currently don't have a reactor that will work with biopellets, at least not till my spyglass arrives

 

I ran vodka in all my SW tanks for years and imo it's been the biggest advance in 15-20 years with the exceptions of greater understanding of water movement needs and coral feeding - but those have been more incremental improvements. Anyway...

I used a digital timer and brs doser for couple years. Easy. $100 initial cost and something like $20 a year for cheap vodka. Didn't miss a beat, nothing but good results.

Eventually moved to apex and same doser - still great results. I love feeding the tank from the bottom up and keeping larger number of filter feeders while keeping low nutrient water for sps.


Heck... I recently started dosing vodka into my planted FW tank. Our tap water has so many nitrates they are hard to keep down without a full on high tech planted system.

 

According to my tests the only issue I have is phosphates. But since I'm transitioning to a bigger tank with more equipment I'm looking for something easy to help. It's just my schedule that's a pain. Always knew it would be from day 1

 

Yea, that is why I went with timer and dosing pumps. I only did water tests every couple of weeks to see if the dose was right, otherwise the bottle of vodka lasted a couple of months and I didn't have to touch it.

With the 120 I had I didn't vodka dose for any nutrient issues, in fact I had to dose nitrate from time to time, but I used vodka just for feeding the tank an inverts. I think many people look at carbon dosing as only for nutrient control, but I feel that is missing a huge portion of the benefit.