Vodka dosing

[scotty333]

Todays params

Salinity 1.026
Kh 8
Calcium 470
Mag 1350
Phosphate 0.20
Nitrate 27 (hanna) , 25 on Salifert

Gfo reactor gone online to bring down slightly the po4 , still dosing vodka to reduce nitrates

Looks good to me to me though

 

[killer2001]

What I typically do is, check nitrates, dose a daily amount for 3 days, then check nitrates again (same time of day). Then make adjustments based off of that. Eventually you will see the numbers start to make the turn, especially if you keep your feeding routine exactly the same.

Right now my daily maintenance dose for my 45 gallon tank is about 15mL on a DIY NOPOX. This keeps my tank within about 5 to 15ppm NO3.

 

[scotty333]

So how much of the 15ml is vodka?

 

[Foneman02]

So having tried vinegar for a month and nopox for a month with no effects on no3 or po4 I’m trying vodka
Looking at the chart for my 150g is 0.6ml for 3 days , seems very little ? Is this right?

Scotty when you switch over to vodka, make sure its 80 proof. In a 150 I would dose 6 mil a day . 0.6 is way to low depending on your tank load. Number of fish and how much water displacement depending how much rock you have. I assume you have at least 100 gallons of water. After dosing 6 mil a day check no3 level. If nitrate level hasn't dropped increase to 8ml. If it went down stay at 6ml . once you find a level you want to stay at, dose once a day to keep level the same. I have a 120 and I dose 15 mil a day and maintain a 5-7 no3 level.

 

[scotty333]

Thanks for the reply , here’s today’s nutrient content

Po4 .10 ( 24 hours after adding gfo)
No3 10 (10ml dosing)

 

[scotty333]

Scotty when you switch over to vodka, make sure its 80 proof. In a 150 I would dose 6 mil a day . 0.6 is way to low depending on your tank load. Number of fish and how much water displacement depending how much rock you have. I assume you have at least 100 gallons of water. After dosing 6 mil a day check no3 level. If nitrate level hasn't dropped increase to 8ml. If it went down stay at 6ml . once you find a level you want to stay at, dose once a day to keep level the same. I have a 120 and I dose 15 mil a day and maintain a 5-7 no3 level.

Water volume is 150g , fish load is light-medium
Feeding 1 cube of frozen MySis per day

 

[Foneman02]

Thanks for the reply , here’s today’s nutrient content

Po4 .10 ( 24 hours after adding gfo)
No3 10 (10ml dosing)

Looking better. I’m using GFO too but I’m constantly battling the P04 bottoming out. Right now your readings are perfect. 10-1 ratio nitrate to phosphate. Stay at 10ml on the vodka. Just keep an eye on phosphate.

 

[scotty333]

I’m estimating tomorrow around this time will be 0.01-0.03 so I’ll switch it off
I’ll then put it on a timer to run say 1 hour a day until I find the exact time needed to maintain low levels
As with the nitrates, I’ll see in the morning where they’re at
Will dose a low maintenance amount again in accordance with rising/lowering nitrates
Eventually I’ll know the amount of vodka to add weekly and put in my atu resovoir which takes 1 week to empty

 

[volitan85]

So having tried vinegar for a month and nopox for a month with no effects on no3 or po4 I’m trying vodka
Looking at the chart for my 150g is 0.6ml for 3 days , seems very little ? Is this right?

your vodta must be at %40 alcohol. minimum level is 40. so be careful.

 

[scotty333]

your vodta must be at %40 alcohol. minimum level is 40. so be careful.

37.5
Won’t dose now until I check in the morning

 

[Freenow54]

So having tried vinegar for a month and nopox for a month with no effects on no3 or po4 I’m trying vodka
Looking at the chart for my 150g is 0.6ml for 3 days , seems very little ? Is this right?

Tried it did not work for me

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When you folks note it (vodka, vinegar, NOPOX, etc.) did not work, what happened?

There's really no way that I can imagine truly not getting nitrate to drop as low as you want if you dose enough and are not limited by something else being too low. The limiting factor is often unsightly bacterial growth, but could also be excessively low phosphate or certain trace elements.

if you have no such growth and phosphate is not too low, then IMO, it means you could dose more if you wanted to.

 

[scotty333]

Well for me vinegar and nopox didn’t work for me

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well for me vinegar and nopox didn’t work for me

Which is what I was asking you to explain.

What happened that limited your dosing?

 

[scotty333]

With both vinegar and nopox I was getting slime coming of of my rocks

I was dosing 44ml of vinegar for a month and 15ml of nopox for again a month , no drops

Now, I find it very coincidental that today my po4 and no3 have dropped in similar ratios

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

With both vinegar and nopox I was getting slime coming of of my rocks

I was dosing 44ml of vinegar for a month and 15ml of nopox for again a month , no drops

Now, I find it very coincidental that today my po4 and no3 have dropped in similar ratios

OK, I can buy the idea that dosing was limited by slime issues. When that happens, switching to a different organic can help, but not always.

 

[scotty333]

As in this case, 3rd time lucky

 

[scotty333]

2 minutes ago
Todays tests

Salinity 1.029
Temp 26
Nitrate 25 ( disturbed the sand bed to level my sand, will dose 10ml vodka)
Kh 8.9
Mag 1320
Calcium 490
Phosphate 0.05 ( taking offline at lunch )

 

[scotty333]

That should be 1.026 not 9
Can’t edit for some reason

 

[scotty333]

I must say that since po4 dropped from 0.20-0.005 my men’s fully extended