Vodka and Vinegar combination dosing (DIY nopox variant)

drawman · Mar 25, 2017

I want to carbon dose using a combination of vodka and vinegar 2x daily. Now the schedule for vodka 80 proof dosing is essentially:

0.1mL/25 gallons days 1-3
0.2mL/25 gallons days 4-7
every week after increase by .5mL regardless of tank volume

The combination I want to dose would be comprised of 69% vinegar (5%) and 31% Vodka (80 proof). So for every 1mL it would contain .69mL of vinegar and .31mL of vodka.

My question is can I use this dosing schedule with vodka equivalents using a mix of vinegar and vodka without issue? Just wondering if there is something I am missing...

Since 80 proof vodka has 8x the carbon that 5% vinegar has than every 1 mL would contain this many vodka equivalents:
0.69 * 1/8 + .31 = 0.396 or 0.4.

So if I want to add 0.5mL of Vodka (the weekly increase after the first week) then I would need to add 1.25mL of this solution (0.5/0.4).

Thoughts?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 26, 2017

Dosing ramp up schedules are not at all critical. Some people (myself included) just picked a dose, and don't ramp up at all.

IMO, your plan is a fine one.

drawman · Mar 26, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Dosing ramp up schedules are not at all critical. Some people (myself included) just picked a dose, and don't ramp up at all.

IMO, your plan is a fine one.

Thanks as always Randy!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 26, 2017

drawman said:
Thanks as always Randy!

You're welcome.

Good luck!

RobertPoorman · Aug 4, 2020

is there a way to get the calculation of equivalent amount of carbon in nopox to vodka??

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 4, 2020

RobertPoorman said:
is there a way to get the calculation of equivalent amount of carbon in nopox to vodka??

I gave what I consider to be the best analysis, and it is close to amount of carbon, but not exactly the same. Amount of carbon is not itself any more meaningful than amount of organic. For example, methane is nearly all carbon by weight and is not particularly useful for most organisms. Formate, as in Tropic Marin's All For Reef, has one carbon per molecule, but does not provide nearly as much energy to an organisms as 1 molecule of methanol, which has much more chemical energy to it. All of those contain one carbon per molecule but have vastly different utility to organisms.