Carbon dosing- switching from vinegar to vodka

[Holy_makerel]

I used to dose kalk with vinegar added to my tank but have stopped using kalk recently and am just dosing vinegar now. My pH has been hovering around 7.8 since i stopped the kalk and i think my vinegar dose may be impacting pH levels.

I only dose 3ml/day(1ml every 8 hours) into a 60 cube but I'd like to switch to vodka in case the vinegar is negatively impacting the pH.

I picked up some 80 proof vodka today and am wondering if i should just keep my dosing amount the same or start with just 1ml/day of vodka and slowly raise it to the levels i need?

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

All carbon dosing impacts pH roughly similarly for similar numbers of carbon atoms as it ends up as CO2, but vinegar does do more of the drop right when added, while vodka is more later when it is metabolized to CO2.

It is certainly fine to switch over as an experiment. Vodka is very roughly 8x more potent, so you might expect to need a dose like 0.4 m per day. I swap them over a couple of days, lowering vinegar and raising vodka.

 

[Holy_makerel]

All carbon dosing impacts pH roughly similarly for similar numbers of carbon atoms as it ends up as CO2, but vinegar does do more of the drop right when added, while vodka is more later when it is metabolized to CO2.

It is certainly fine to switch over as an experiment. Vodka is very roughly 8x more potent, so you might expect to need a dose like 0.4 m per day. I swap them over a couple of days, lowering vinegar and raising vodka.

Thank you very much Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[marriedtothereef]

Sorry to high jack post. @Randy - If im starting to dose Vodka for the very first time? I have a 150G over stocked with about 23 mid sized fish. LPS dominant. I can manually dose vodka while I fine tuning my peristaltic dosing pump. What amount can I start with? I dont want to drop my NO3 and PO4 drastically because my corals look happy but I feel like im not getting any good growth. Here are my Par levels:

NO3 - 50 - 75 (Salifert)
PO4 - 0.98 - 1.01 (Hanna)
Alk - 8.1 (Hanna)
PH - 8.42 - 8.48

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, 5 mL a day is a fine starting dose. [emoji3]

 

[Holy_makerel]

I switched from using 3ml vinegar to 1ml of vodka/day. My nitrate has dropped from 25ppm to 10ppm over the last few weeks and po4 got very low. I removed my GFO a few days ago and will continue to monitor levels.

Biggest difference between the vodka and vinegar is the visible bacterial growth with the vodka. It has started growing a pale whitish layer on some surfaces in the sump.

I hope some gets into the display for coral food

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I switched from using 3ml vinegar to 1ml of vodka/day. My nitrate has dropped from 25ppm to 10ppm over the last few weeks and po4 got very low. I removed my GFO a few days ago and will continue to monitor levels.

Biggest difference between the vodka and vinegar is the visible bacterial growth with the vodka. It has started growing a pale whitish layer on some surfaces in the sump.

I hope some gets into the display for coral food

Why did you switch?

It's not surprising you saw an effect because the vodka dose is more than twice as much organic as the vinegar (assuming you used normal 5% acidity vinegar and 80 proof vodka).

 

[Holy_makerel]

Why did you switch?

It's not surprising you saw an effect because the vodka dose is more than twice as much organic as the vinegar (assuming you used normal 5% acidity vinegar and 80 proof vodka).

I was adding it with kalk and stopped the kalk. My pH was down further than I'd like, 7.8ish so i decided to switch to see if it would give my pH a bump back up.

You told me that the vodka was roughly 8x more potent than the vinegar and i believe you recommended 0.75ml to start. I just went with 1ml since my doser doesn't dose less. I was gonna dilute the vodka by 50% if i saw any issues but i haven't seen a negative effect yet

 

[marriedtothereef]

Why did you switch?

It's not surprising you saw an effect because the vodka dose is more than twice as much organic as the vinegar (assuming you used normal 5% acidity vinegar and 80 proof vodka).

What about 6% Vinegar? How would I calculate that?

 

[marriedtothereef]

I switched from using 3ml vinegar to 1ml of vodka/day. My nitrate has dropped from 25ppm to 10ppm over the last few weeks and po4 got very low. I removed my GFO a few days ago and will continue to monitor levels.

Biggest difference between the vodka and vinegar is the visible bacterial growth with the vodka. It has started growing a pale whitish layer on some surfaces in the sump.

I hope some gets into the display for coral food

Do you have a pic of your tank? how do the corals look?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What about 6% Vinegar? How would I calculate that?

Using 6% vinegar, you dose 17% less than with 5%. So 0.83 mL if you would otherwise dose 1 mL.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was adding it with kalk and stopped the kalk. My pH was down further than I'd like, 7.8ish so i decided to switch to see if it would give my pH a bump back up.

You told me that the vodka was roughly 8x more potent than the vinegar and i believe you recommended 0.75ml to start. I just went with 1ml since my doser doesn't dose less. I was gonna dilute the vodka by 50% if i saw any issues but i haven't seen a negative effect yet

OK, sounds good. Exact organic dosing is not typically critical.

 

[Holy_makerel]

My LPS mostly look good but I've been struggling with SPS for like 6 months. Been wracking my brain all this time trying to figure out what my issue has been. They go through cycles if growth and STN which eventually leads to death. I'll post a pic after i get home tonight.

 

[Holy_makerel]

Do you have a pic of your tank? how do the corals look?

Crappy glare filled phone pic haha

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I doubt that tiny amount of vinegar does much to your ph. Anyways as long as ph is stable and above 7.6 everything should be fine. Although that's low I have seen nice tanks with that number at night.