Hi Everyone! Just sharing my experience with vodka dosing in my tank. The reason why i started this dosing was due to high nitrates (always with approximate values of 50 ppm with salifert test .. so it can be much more).
Followed the below dosing method through the tables widely available in several sites and started slowly(350 liters tank):
Week 1 (1-3) 8/26/2015 0.4ml
Week 1 (4-7) 8/29/2015 0.8ml
Week 2 2/9/2015 1.3ml
Week 3 09.09.2015 1,8ml
Week 4 09/16/2015 2,3ml
and so on until this day. The values at the begginig of the experiment: No3 50 / Po4 0.02 / KH 8.5 / 450 Ca / Mg 1400
I was aware that the fact that the Po4 values as low could eventually be a limiting factor for an effective reduction of nitrates - during this time i haven't used ATI's anti-phosphate resins to see if phosphates rose slightly or at least maintain.
During these months I never used bacteria to complement this test.
I reached the end of November without noticing absolutely nothing differently in terms of nitrate reduction (always remained in the 50 ppm). The unique differences I noticed were perhaps greater clarity in the water column (but had never experienced difficulties in this regard due to the regular use of activated carbon). The skimmer (Deltec 1455) was skimming as usual - always pulled a lot of gunk. The cup began to fill up a little faster and the water was darker and smellier. This was the only (very little) "change" noticed by the end of Novemeber which led me to believe that i was on the right track and that sooner or later the nitrate levels would fall. But i was wrong.
So far all the inhabitants of the aquarium were in good health. I did not notice any differences for the worse in corals.
By the 16th week, four months after starting this experiment, i was dosing 8 ml of vodka every day (divided into two doses of 4 ml - 1 just before lights on and the remaining 4 ml about 6 hours later, always with the dosing pump and checked often to make sure vodka was being dosed correctly). I never got the milky water aquarium or anything that indicated possible vodka overdosing due to a bacteria bloom. At this point I began thinking that by this time i should had seen results already. I know that all tanks are different, that this hobby nothing good happens quickly and that this process of reduction in nitrates can take its time. But the fact is that a bottle of vodka was almost gone, I had already spent 16 weeks and everything was the same - no drop in nitrates. I began to consider giving up this method, starting to reduce vodka doses in order to fully stop and think of an alternative.
It was on the 2nd week of December that I began seeing adverse changes in some of my corals (2 montiporas, 1 green and 1 red whose tips have started to appear bleached/burnt and a Fungia coral beginning to have white patches). My Kh had risen slightly and was at 8.9 which led me to think that this was the main reason - I had read that this could happen when vodka dosing and that kh should be kept as close to NSW as possible (so lower). At this time, I only slightly reduced Kh dosing to lower the value slowly. I did not change the amount of vodka introduced.
I waited a few more days to see how the situation evolved and reached the present day. The bleaching continued (fortunately only in these corals) but that was enough for me. It was way too much time dosing vodka without any results. So I reduced the dose to half and will slowly reduce until a complete stop.
I regret that this did not work for me. I would really like to understand what i could have done differently. I could perhaps have introduced bacteria .. maybe it would have helped.
Do you think I should insist on this method due to having spent so much time and the nitrates level would finally start to come down? I accept suggestions! I'm really sorry for the Fungia coral - I had it in the tank almost a year (my tank is almost 2 years) and despite not having died yet, there are some spots where I can see the skeleton.
I apologize for this long text and some help is appreciated.
Thank You All,
PG
Followed the below dosing method through the tables widely available in several sites and started slowly(350 liters tank):
Week 1 (1-3) 8/26/2015 0.4ml
Week 1 (4-7) 8/29/2015 0.8ml
Week 2 2/9/2015 1.3ml
Week 3 09.09.2015 1,8ml
Week 4 09/16/2015 2,3ml
and so on until this day. The values at the begginig of the experiment: No3 50 / Po4 0.02 / KH 8.5 / 450 Ca / Mg 1400
I was aware that the fact that the Po4 values as low could eventually be a limiting factor for an effective reduction of nitrates - during this time i haven't used ATI's anti-phosphate resins to see if phosphates rose slightly or at least maintain.
During these months I never used bacteria to complement this test.
I reached the end of November without noticing absolutely nothing differently in terms of nitrate reduction (always remained in the 50 ppm). The unique differences I noticed were perhaps greater clarity in the water column (but had never experienced difficulties in this regard due to the regular use of activated carbon). The skimmer (Deltec 1455) was skimming as usual - always pulled a lot of gunk. The cup began to fill up a little faster and the water was darker and smellier. This was the only (very little) "change" noticed by the end of Novemeber which led me to believe that i was on the right track and that sooner or later the nitrate levels would fall. But i was wrong.
So far all the inhabitants of the aquarium were in good health. I did not notice any differences for the worse in corals.
By the 16th week, four months after starting this experiment, i was dosing 8 ml of vodka every day (divided into two doses of 4 ml - 1 just before lights on and the remaining 4 ml about 6 hours later, always with the dosing pump and checked often to make sure vodka was being dosed correctly). I never got the milky water aquarium or anything that indicated possible vodka overdosing due to a bacteria bloom. At this point I began thinking that by this time i should had seen results already. I know that all tanks are different, that this hobby nothing good happens quickly and that this process of reduction in nitrates can take its time. But the fact is that a bottle of vodka was almost gone, I had already spent 16 weeks and everything was the same - no drop in nitrates. I began to consider giving up this method, starting to reduce vodka doses in order to fully stop and think of an alternative.
It was on the 2nd week of December that I began seeing adverse changes in some of my corals (2 montiporas, 1 green and 1 red whose tips have started to appear bleached/burnt and a Fungia coral beginning to have white patches). My Kh had risen slightly and was at 8.9 which led me to think that this was the main reason - I had read that this could happen when vodka dosing and that kh should be kept as close to NSW as possible (so lower). At this time, I only slightly reduced Kh dosing to lower the value slowly. I did not change the amount of vodka introduced.
I waited a few more days to see how the situation evolved and reached the present day. The bleaching continued (fortunately only in these corals) but that was enough for me. It was way too much time dosing vodka without any results. So I reduced the dose to half and will slowly reduce until a complete stop.
I regret that this did not work for me. I would really like to understand what i could have done differently. I could perhaps have introduced bacteria .. maybe it would have helped.
Do you think I should insist on this method due to having spent so much time and the nitrates level would finally start to come down? I accept suggestions! I'm really sorry for the Fungia coral - I had it in the tank almost a year (my tank is almost 2 years) and despite not having died yet, there are some spots where I can see the skeleton.
I apologize for this long text and some help is appreciated.
Thank You All,
PG
