Jerrys Vodka Dosing Experience

[PokyReefs]

Jerry check your alk, I've noticed my alk drops alot faster with vodka dosing

 

[jerrcarlson]

Yes. Its funny you would mention that. My alk had dropped from 7 to 6. Although that is not a huge drop it is the only noticeable decrease I have been able to measure. I have some 2 part that I will start dosing for alk tomorrow.

 

[jerrcarlson]

However Pocky Reefs, correct me if I am wrong but I have read that you dont want your dkh above 9 while vodka dosing either.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, technically you want to keep it on the lower end while dosing. But I kept mine at 10-11 when dosing really high, no ill affects. It will react differently in everyones tank.

 

[jerrcarlson]

Day 19

After measuring nitrates today and measuring no change I have decided to speed up my dosing regiment. I increased my dose to 2.5 ml today and will up it by a 1/2 ml every 4 days until I measure a change in nitrates. One thing I have noticed is that my alkalinity is dropping. I think that is why I was noticing some changes in my corals a few days ago. After speaking with josh who's experience inspired me to dose i found that he has had the same problem. For some reason vodka dosing is decreasing his alkalinity as well. I am not sure of the process that could be causing this but am looking into it further. In any case, I put in some 2 part and my alkalinity is back on par and my corals are happy again! It is something I will certainly be keeping and eye on. Livestock and everything else appears unchanged.

 

[jerrcarlson]

Week 5

I have really noticed very little change in my tank since beginning vodka dosing 4 weeks ago. The Algae on my glass is much better and easier to maintain and my skimmer is producing a lot more skimmate but other than those two observations I have noticed very little change. My livestock seem to be doing great. My nitrates still have not changed. Perhaps reefing madness is right and it will take a tremendous amount of vodka to decrease my nitrates. I was hoping to have similar results to the experience that Josh had but its looking like that is not going to be the case. I am not sure I am committed to go as high as 10 ml's a day! Tomorrow I will increase my dosage to 3.5 ml's. I will continue to increase my dosage by .5 ml every 4 days until I notice a change in nitrates or until I dont feel comfortable increasing it any more!

 

[jerrcarlson]

Week 6

Not much new to report this week. My dosage of vodka continues to rise and my levels of nitrates remain unchanged. Fish and corals etc are all doing great but my nitrates remain at close to 80 ppm. I am now dosing 4.5 mls a day and will increase that to 5 mls a day on Saturday. My staff did clean my glass today which had not been cleaned since a week ago monday.

 

[jerrcarlson]

Week 7

This week I have actually seen a slight increase in my nitrates. However, i was actually expecting some increase due to an unfortunate situation that occurred early last week. I had a really nice male swallowtail that was fairly large 4-5 inches that has been getting thinner and thinner on me over the past couple of weeks. He actually was eating very well and I even tried to spot feed him individually every day with extra food. Despite my efforts he continued to get skinnier. I expected him to bite the dust sooner or later and last week it happened. He disappeared one day early last week and I have not seen him since. I tried and tried and tried to find him but was never able to see where he went to. It was actually really strange because I went to great lenghts to find him but regardless of what I did I could not find him! So rather than remove every piece of rock from my tank I decided to let nature and my crabs and shrimp dispose of him. Because he was large I actually expected to see an increase in my nitrates and phosphates. Although my nitrates are slightly higher it is actually a fairly slight increase. I am not sure how this will effect my vodkay dosing but I have decided to continue my current regiment. I am now at 5 ml's for 2 more days and will increase it to 5.5 ml's. Corals and fish etc still seem to be doing great. keep your fingers crossed that my swallow tail wont cause any ill effects!

 

[jerrcarlson]

Week 8

Absolutely nothing new to report. My dosage is at 6 ml's a day now but nitrates remain unchanged. It is possible I have had a spike in nitrates due to the demise of my swallowtail but that the vodka is decreasing the nitrate resulting in a net change of 0! But Im not holding my breath. I have noticed an increase of algae on my glass which I might expect to be an increase in phosphate from the death of the swallow tail. Perhaps this also lends credit to the fact that I may have expected a higher increase in my nitrates but that it is being tempered by the vodka dosing. I will continue to increase my dosage by .5 ml's every day until I start to notice a decrease in nitrates. Tune in next week!

 

[MRRBW]

you have any before and after photos? Would love to see the changes. Been humming and hawing over starting vodka dosing on my 60G

 

[jerrcarlson]

I didnt think to do that before I started! A true scientist would have done that ! But I can say, I have been doing it for over 2 months and I have worked my way up to 6.5 ml's and noticed very little if any changes other than more, stinky skimmate! I know people that have done it before love it but I gotta admit I am losing confidence. I had a friend that had a 500 and ended up with a 4 ml maintenance dose. I guess I was hoping for that. Maybe wishfu thinking but im not sure how comfortable I am putting a 5-6 ml maintenance dose in a 210. We will see how it goes but I wont go up any more than 10 ml's.

 

[chrisfraser05]

Am I right in thinking that you have 0 Phospates buddy?

If you saw a spike in Nitrate with the death of the fish, then this dropped back to where it was but was accompanied with a little algae on the glass, I think your Nitrate removal is actually being Phosphate limited!

If you are interested in experimenting you could add a small amount of Potassium Phospate to get a level of say 0.02 and see if this drops quickly and takes a little nitrate with it.



My thinking is that very early on in the process the bacteria population expanded and consumed your Phos then it became the limiting factor, not the carbon (vodka) hence the clean glass.

 

[jerrcarlson]

That is very possible chrisfraser05. I do have some measureable phosphate. Unfortunately, the only phosphate kit I have is an API. I am not real confident in API and even if it is measuring accurate it measures in 0.25 ppm increments. After the death of my fish I tested the phosphates and they were more than 0 but less than 0.25 which is the smallest reading on my API test. As a result, I have not measured my phosphates as often as I have measured my nitrates. I should probably go invest in a better kit. I do remember measuring when I started and measuring what looked like 0 nitrates.

 

[chrisfraser05]

Although it's expensive, I really recommend the elos hr/pro kit.
I'm the UK it costs £40 (approx $55) but it reads accurately and precisely at the very bottom of the scale. Essential when doing this sort of testing, it for keeping sps long term.

 

[jerrcarlson]

I will have to try that chrisfraser05. I have never used any elos products. Most of the testing kits I have are salifert and I have been fairly pleased with them. My hope is that the vodka dosing will kick in and eliminate most of the nitrate and phosphates and make it a little less relevant! But, we shall see!

 

[Reefing Madness]

I didnt think to do that before I started! A true scientist would have done that ! But I can say, I have been doing it for over 2 months and I have worked my way up to 6.5 ml's and noticed very little if any changes other than more, stinky skimmate! I know people that have done it before love it but I gotta admit I am losing confidence. I had a friend that had a 500 and ended up with a 4 ml maintenance dose. I guess I was hoping for that. Maybe wishfu thinking but im not sure how comfortable I am putting a 5-6 ml maintenance dose in a 210. We will see how it goes but I wont go up any more than 10 ml's.

My maintenance dose in my 240g tank daily is 20mls. your buddy may have a huge skimmer on his system, or a fuge with macro. But got lucky only having to dose 4mls in a 500g, thats just not normal.

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Any updates?

 

[jerrcarlson]

Week 11

I am sorry aqua fire/medic I have been slacking the past couple of weeks with my reporting:angel:! The answer to your question is a simple one. Yes I have been continuing to dose and it has done absolutely nothing except make my skimmate really stink! I am up to 9 ml's a day but no change whatsoever in nitrates levels. I am starting to wonder how much Vodka I am going to have to dose to get the desired results. And, Im not sure Im comfortable going that high!

 

[Volpone]

I have the same issue in my tank , and blindly I can tell u check out ur skimmer and be sure its at least double volume of ur tank , I try many methods to resolve my high nitrate which was 40+ ppm , as change all sand and all rock , weekly water change , refugium , dosing vodka , nothing work with it till I find out that my skimmer so so small for my bioload , and I start dosing no3 po4 x and my nitrate 20 ppm in the second week dosing

 

[Reefing Madness]

With a 210g tank, your daily maintenance dose will be from 15-20mls, which means your knock down dose will be 30-40mls a day.