Anybody ditch using vodka and regret it?

[MattinIdaho]

I started vodka dosing about 18 months ago due to high nitrates and not finding a way to lower them consistantly. Vodka dropped them to 0 with phosphates remaining around .04. Other than that I haven't really seen any positives and possibly some negatives. It actually seems to me as my tank was a better ecosystem before dosing. I have a mixed reef but zoo's and acans are my favs. Zoo's have continued to do well but the acans seem to be suffering over the last 6-8 months. Could be anything. I can't find the cause. I also have an established 4 year old tank with very few pods. No wrasses, mandarin or scooters. Nothing that would prey soley on pods and yet I see very very few over the last long while. Even in my chateo, calurpa filled fuge with nothing else in it but live rock chunks.
I can't think of anything I have changed. RSCP salt for 2+years, 35-5 ml of Ak per day, 200ml of Mg once per week and 7 drops of lugals once per week in a 180 system with a 75 gallon sump.
I also used to have beautiful corraline covered rocks and since I started it seems as if it got less and less to the point now that I have absolutey none.
I have no idea if any of this has anything to do at all with vodka dosing. I don't claim to know jack about the chemistry in this hobby Some of it seems to have a time frame that could be related and I have contemplated quiting the dosing and going back to a little more dirty tank.
Anybody quit dosing and wish they hadn't?

 

[mrred]

Following

 

[mike007]

The biggest difference in my option about other carbon sourced systems such as a vodka or vodka/sugar/vinegar (VSV) is that they do not incorporate a bacteria source. It has been theorized that running a system that is totally reliant on ones own tank to produce the necessary bacteria can result in one bacteria completing against another bacteria. This competition can result in a mono-culture of bacteria which does not remove nutrients at all. Zeovit forum

 

[Aquaph8]

I've read that to but coming from the Zeovit forum I'd consider it bias info. They tend to not want to discuss any other systems not pertaining to Zeovit

 

[Reefing Madness]

Have you tried dosing the vodka over a 24hour period instead of all at once?
I have some of the things in which you talk about, like very little coralline growing on anything in my tank, and I have more green coralline growing on the plastics rather than the purple.
But, when I ran a fuge, I had a ton of pods and limpets runnin all over the place. My palys tend not to open up fully anymore, but my other softies are good to go. And my numbers are all in line.
MAG- 1400
ALK- 9
Cal 420
PH- 8.2
SG- 1.026
Nitrates- 20
Temp 78
Phosphates- 0.05
I haven't got an answer to your question, but after hearing all the nightmares about scraping coralline off the glass, Im kind of glad I don't have as much as the others do.

 

[Reef_Lounge_USA]

I started vodka dosing about 18 months ago due to high nitrates and not finding a way to lower them consistantly. Vodka dropped them to 0 with phosphates remaining around .04. Other than that I haven't really seen any positives and possibly some negatives. It actually seems to me as my tank was a better ecosystem before dosing. I have a mixed reef but zoo's and acans are my favs. Zoo's have continued to do well but the acans seem to be suffering over the last 6-8 months. Could be anything. I can't find the cause. I also have an established 4 year old tank with very few pods. No wrasses, mandarin or scooters. Nothing that would prey soley on pods and yet I see very very few over the last long while. Even in my chateo, calurpa filled fuge with nothing else in it but live rock chunks.
I can't think of anything I have changed. RSCP salt for 2+years, 35-5 ml of Ak per day, 200ml of Mg once per week and 7 drops of lugals once per week in a 180 system with a 75 gallon sump.
I also used to have beautiful corraline covered rocks and since I started it seems as if it got less and less to the point now that I have absolutey none.
I have no idea if any of this has anything to do at all with vodka dosing. I don't claim to know jack about the chemistry in this hobby Some of it seems to have a time frame that could be related and I have contemplated quiting the dosing and going back to a little more dirty tank.
Anybody quit dosing and wish they hadn't?

What would you consider High nitrate? Before you started dosing, was there a problem such as bleaching or browning corals? Coral mortality? Reason I asked is if there wasn't any issues, why treat it?

From my experience acans and zoas that i've dealt with prefer dirtier levels of nitrates and phosphates. I feel like near zero levels on those are too low and the acans are being deprived of something that the volka dosing is consuming.

If you really consider quiting dosing, i highly suggest slow weening off of it. Whatever you do, don't cold turkey anything...

 

[jt17]

Your parameters are very clean. Have you considered reducing the dosage or feeding more? Vodka is quite potent, that's why I use vinegar.

 

[b_rad_G]

What would you consider High nitrate? Before you started dosing, was there a problem such as bleaching or browning corals? Coral mortality? Reason I asked is if there wasn't any issues, why treat it?

From my experience acans and zoas that i've dealt with prefer dirtier levels of nitrates and phosphates. I feel like near zero levels on those are too low and the acans are being deprived of something that the volka dosing is consuming.

If you really consider quiting dosing, i highly suggest slow weening off of it. Whatever you do, don't cold turkey anything...

This! The only coral that really benefits from low nutrient tanks are sps. Zoas and acans will almost always do better in tanks with some nitrate and phosphate.

If it were me I would reduce the dose slowly until I saw some nitrate. Even with sps I want to see some nitrate but not very much. I would think 1-5 ppm in a tank dominated by scans and ZOA would be better than 0.

 

[MattinIdaho]

What would you consider High nitrate? Before you started dosing, was there a problem such as bleaching or browning corals? Coral mortality? Reason I asked is if there wasn't any issues, why treat it?

In my tank my nitrates never got below 20 before vodka and would frequently bounce up to 40. I never saw any adverse effects other than my sps has never grown vertically for me. I wanted to try to reduce phosphates to see if that would help and to be honest I was chasing numbers. I am experienced and had enough success to no longer chase ideal parameter numbers and have come to the conclusion that my tank will run in it's own zone. Ca 420, Ak 7.5, Mg 1300. Nitrates are 0 and Phosphates bounce between .04-.06. Never can get the phosphates down even monitoring feeding and using gfo and a sro300 cone for a skimmer. I know my Nitrates will bounce right back up eventually using a weening process but I guess I'm prepared for a Hair Algae or Cyano outbreak. Both of which I have encountered while dosing vodka although both are under control now.