NEW Vodka and Vinegar Dosing Charts

[wickedxreef]

I just added a bunch of excess and had significant solids on the bottom. That's no concern. It doesn't actually precipitate, it just never dissolves in the first place.

Thank you Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you Randy!

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

 

[wickedxreef]

Anyone tried to spread out their dosing of vinegar over the course of a few hours vs one/two doses? Would it still be as effective as a single dose? Thinking spread out more might not affect ph as much.

 

[Miami Reef]

Anyone tried to spread out their dosing of vinegar over the course of a few hours vs one/two doses? Would it still be as effective as a single dose? Thinking spread out more might not affect ph as much.

Spreading it out more is no problem and is probably best to do. The pH will not dip as much. It should work very similarly as a single dose for nutrients.

 

[wickedxreef]

Spreading it out more is no problem and is probably best to do. The pH will not dip as much. It should work very similarly as a single dose for nutrients.

Thank you! Btw… really appreciate you putting this thread together.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Anyone tried to spread out their dosing of vinegar over the course of a few hours vs one/two doses? Would it still be as effective as a single dose? Thinking spread out more might not affect ph as much.

That's what I did. I recommend spreading it out over the early part of the lighting period to help offset O2 decreases and the pH decrease.

 

[Dan_P]

That's what I did. I recommend spreading it out over the early part of the lighting period to help offset O2 decreases and the pH decrease.

A recent observation. Dosing vinegar to a sample of aquarium water at a rate of 1mL/gal, nitrate reduction was complete with 8 hours. I don’t have data from 0-7 hours or anything yet for ethanol. Given this seemingly sluggish rate, is oxygen depletion concern?

 

[rishma]

A recent observation. Dosing vinegar to a sample of aquarium water at a rate of 1mL/gal, nitrate reduction was complete with 8 hours. I don’t have data from 0-7 hours or anything yet for ethanol. Given this seemingly sluggish rate, is oxygen depletion concern?

Any haziness?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A recent observation. Dosing vinegar to a sample of aquarium water at a rate of 1mL/gal, nitrate reduction was complete with 8 hours. I don’t have data from 0-7 hours or anything yet for ethanol. Given this seemingly sluggish rate, is oxygen depletion concern?

The O2 consumption may happen faster than nitrate consumption since cells will generate energy first then use nitrate to grow, but let’s take a worst case that it is just as slow and calculate how much O2 might be used.

Ethanol uses more than vinegar, but let’s use acetate since that’s what you have data on.

CH3CO2H + 2O2 —> 2CO2 + 2 H2O

Each 1 g acetic acid (20 mL vinegar) thus consumes 1.1 g O2.

If we dose 50 mL vinegar per 100 gallons (379 L) then that consumes 2.75 g O2, or 7 mg/L.

That’s all of the O2 present in seawater.

Spread out in time it is likely ok if aeration is high.

That’s why I recommend spreading out the dosing. If it is naturally used slowly, that helps too.

 

[Dan_P]

Any haziness?

Not for one dose. Multiple doses to the same sample produces haziness which viewed through a larger body of water would be very cloudy. I’ll have to come up with a way to describe cloudiness from small scale studies.

 

[Dan_P]

The O2 consumption may happen faster than nitrate consumption since cells will generate energy first then use nitrate to grow, but let’s take a worst case that it is just as slow and calculate how much O2 might be used.

Ethanol uses more than vinegar, but let’s use acetate since that’s what you have data on.

CH3CO2H + 2O2 —> 2CO2 + 2 H2O

Each 1 g acetic acid (20 mL vinegar) thus consumes 1.1 g O2.

If we dose 50 mL vinegar per 100 gallons (379 L) then that consumes 2.75 g O2, or 7 mg/L.

That’s all of the O2 present in seawater.

Spread out in time it is likely ok if aeration is high.

That’s why I recommend spreading out the dosing. If it is naturally used slowly, that helps too.

Thanks. This gives me food for thought.

 

[wickedxreef]

That's what I did. I recommend spreading it out over the early part of the lighting period to help offset O2 decreases and the pH decrease.

Curious, how many hours are you spreading your's out? I've set mine to start dosing when I see the daily rise in ph which is around 10AM.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Curious, how many hours are you spreading your's out? I've set mine to start dosing when I see the daily rise in ph which is around 10AM.

I spread it out over the day cycle, with most mid day.

 

[wickedxreef]

I spread it out over the day cycle, with most mid day.

Awesome! thank you

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Awesome! thank you

You're Welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[R2_Reef]

@Miami Reef This may have been covered ( I skimmed through 22 pages ) but after a week of dosing per your table I have yet to see a drop in my nitrates. 225G system. When should I expect to see a reduction in nitrates? Since starting this protocol I have reduced feeding to 5-7 cubes a day and one sheet of nori. Thanks for any insights.

 

[Dan_P]

@Miami Reef This may have been covered ( I skimmed through 22 pages ) but after a week of dosing per your table I have yet to see a drop in my nitrates. 225G system. When should I expect to see a reduction in nitrates? Since starting this protocol I have reduced feeding to 5-7 cubes a day and one sheet of nori. Thanks for any insights.

I am looking at this in the lab. Preliminary data seems to indicate little or no nitrate reduction occurs until the vinegar dose is greater than 0.5 mL per gallon, 1/8 this number for vodka. By the way, don’t starve your fish

 

[Miami Reef]

@Miami Reef This may have been covered ( I skimmed through 22 pages ) but after a week of dosing per your table I have yet to see a drop in my nitrates. 225G system. When should I expect to see a reduction in nitrates? Since starting this protocol I have reduced feeding to 5-7 cubes a day and one sheet of nori. Thanks for any insights.

Are you following the week 1 dosage? If so, that’s normal. When you increase the dose, you should start to see some results.

 

[R2_Reef]

Are you following the week 1 dosage? If so, that’s normal. When you increase the dose, you should start to see some results.

Yes sir. However I began to dose at .5ml Vin/G just two days ago per @Dan_P . Another quick question @Miami Reef …..do you find Vodka dosage has less effect on PH than Vinegar? And can you switch midstream from Vinegar to Vodka without issues? Thanks

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes sir. However I began to dose at .5ml Vin/G just two days ago per @Dan_P . Another quick question @Miami Reef …..do you find Vodka dosage has less effect on PH than Vinegar? And can you switch midstream from Vinegar to Vodka without issues? Thanks

Vodka has the same overall CO2 and H+ releasing effect as vinegar when following the chart, but vodka will happen gradually throughout the day, so the effect will be less noticeable if you have enough aeration.

You can most likely switch in between with no issues. I never had an issue personally.