Mixing. Vinegar with Vodka, still unclearly

[rob safron]

I have been dosing Vinegar in my 120 SPS tank for couple years. Had decent success. Recently been getting more hair alge/bubble alge even though nitrate remains 1-2 and phosphate 0-0.02. Tried increasing dosage from 45 to 70 and now getting cyno. Thinking of adding Vodka to the vinegar to see if it works any better. Have not been able to find a solid thread on how much Vodka I should add to the Vinegar and if I should lower my overall dosage amount due to Vodka being stronger than Vinegar??

 

[andrewkw]

The 2 common mixes are 500ml vinegar, 375 vodka, 125ml ro/di. You can also do 50/50. Personally I use the diluted version since I don't need a stronger dose. Of course I could just dose less. If vinegar has been working for years for you there is no reason it shouldn't continue. In fact the primary reason I went with this as my carbon source is because I started with red sea nopox and this was an easier switch since it's very similar.

 

[mta_morrow]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/change-from-nopox-to-vinager.347715/
Check post#3 in this thread........hope its what you're looking for

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You may not be able to eliminate the algae with organic carbon dosing, especially the bubble algae (valonia). It can apparently compete well with corals for nutrients.

Your current nutrient values are good, and lower may be undesirable for various reasons, so I'd to biological control of the algae (e.g., creatures that eat it) along with manual removal.

 

[rob safron]

Thanks for the feedback. I suppose I was going off the idea that any alge uses nutrients before a test kit can see them. If the groups concensous is that’s probably not the case I will just stick with current vinegar only. I will probably have to go back to lower dosage before the cyno gets out of hand like it did in the past.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the feedback. I suppose I was going off the idea that any alge uses nutrients before a test kit can see them. If the groups concensous is that’s probably not the case I will just stick with current vinegar only. I will probably have to go back to lower dosage before the cyno gets out of hand like it did in the past.

Algae can drive nutrients down, as can bacteria and other organisms. But in terms of starving them out, that generally doesn't work with valonia because corals suffer first.