Dosing vodka all at one time in a day

[bct15]

I have been starting up vodka+vinegar dosing over the last month or so, and I am up to 4 mL a day (two 2 mL doses a day). I am heading out of town for five days and I have a friend watching my tank, is it okay for him to add the 4mL all at once when he comes by to feed my fish?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yes, its ok to dose it all at one time, with it being that low of a dosage, but I'd do it with the lights on.

 

[bct15]

Is it better to add with the lights on, I out both 2 mL doses in before lights turn on and after lights turn off.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Its best to do it with the lights on. If your running a sump, no worries, as your lighting in the sump is usually on when your DT lights are out. But, in such small amounts to begin with, its not a worry, it won't be an issue when you do it. Once you get up a bit higher in the dosage I'd try to get it in with the lighting on. To be honest, I've never seen any adverse effect on anything while I dosed 20mls with lights out, with no sump.
If you were using a drip system to get it into your tank, it would dose small amounts throughout the day, and at that point wouldn't matter if the lights were on or not.

 

[Dan_k]

May I ask why people dose vodka and vinager is there any reason for this? I heard alot of people doing this but never knew why

 

[Reefing Madness]

It grows bacteria to eat Nitrates and Phosphates out of the water column. Phosphates at a lesser degree.

 

[Dan_k]

Sorry to high jack here or maybe i should just do my own reserch couple questions
I run a carbon and gfo reactor in a mixed reef total water volume is 140gallons
I dont run a phos reactor
i have noticed alittle cyro out break on a tank that has been up and running for about 3 months but it was a tank that was already going for years i just bought it off a guy and moved it to my house and added all his rock and some cooked rock from reef rocks and a freash sand bed i have been getting cyro on the new rock and sand bed im assuming it because my sand and rock are releasing phosphates.
will this help with this because my gfo is not
If so how much should i be adding and is like 2 part 1 part vinager 1 part vodka

 

[Reefing Madness]

It would not help you at this point. I'd up the GFO, as Ferric Oxide is designed to remove Phosphates.
The Cyano may have occured because of your moving the tank about, and the hidden nutrients got runnin about the tank. How well did you clean it up once you got to your place?

And if you were to Dose Vinegar and Vodka, you would do it seperately, not together.

 

[bct15]

Sorry to high jack here or maybe i should just do my own reserch couple questions
I run a carbon and gfo reactor in a mixed reef total water volume is 140gallons
I dont run a phos reactor
i have noticed alittle cyro out break on a tank that has been up and running for about 3 months but it was a tank that was already going for years i just bought it off a guy and moved it to my house and added all his rock and some cooked rock from reef rocks and a freash sand bed i have been getting cyro on the new rock and sand bed im assuming it because my sand and rock are releasing phosphates.
will this help with this because my gfo is not
If so how much should i be adding and is like 2 part 1 part vinager 1 part vodka

It won't help with cyano, it might actually make it worse. To get rid of the cyano step up your gfo and change it more often. I change mine once a week, some people go months but I use 1/2 cup a week.

It is not 1:1 ratio, it's less vinegar than vodka.

Edit: and to answer your question I started the dosing because my nitrates have crept up to 15ppm and it seems like the easiest cheapest way to get rid of them.

 

[bct15]

It would not help you at this point. I'd up the GFO, as Ferric Oxide is designed to remove Phosphates.
The Cyano may have occured because of your moving the tank about, and the hidden nutrients got runnin about the tank. How well did you clean it up once you got to your place?

And if you were to Dose Vinegar and Vodka, you would do it seperately, not together.

I mixed the vinegar and vodka together using the vsv recipe online, just don't have any sugar in there. I added the vinegar actually because of a little cyano I noticed after a week of vodka. Should I trash that and do each one separately?

 

[Reefing Madness]

If its working, no reason to stop it. But to get rid of the Cyano, they would dose Vodka, then Vinegar, then Vodka etc. They wouldnt just use one.

 

[Dan_k]

It would not help you at this point. I'd up the GFO, as Ferric Oxide is designed to remove Phosphates.
The Cyano may have occured because of your moving the tank about, and the hidden nutrients got runnin about the tank. How well did you clean it up once you got to your place?

And if you were to Dose Vinegar and Vodka, you would do it seperately, not together.

thats what I figured abount the seperate like brs 2 part is there a certain amount of time i should wait between the two vodka/vinger?
and how much should I be adding?
I did do a little cleaning cleaned out the sump and tank with ro/di water i really didnt have to much time I bought all the live stock to.
is there anything i should watch when adding this any spike in anything ph-kh-ca-mg anything like that because i do add kalk evrynight to my top off

 

[Reefing Madness]

Melevsreef.com - Dosing Vodka to Lower Nitrate & Phosphate

 

[Dan_k]

Thank you for that