My vodka dosing experience

[Reefing Madness]

I don't vacuum my sand bed, never have. If you have sufficient flow, it keeps the debre afloat so the skimmer or whatever can get it. I blow the rocks off once a month or so.
I've been vodka dosing for years. Your going to get the film on the glass, its just what happens.

 

[Cory]

Curious. In a shallow sand bed is there really an effective hypoxic area of any benificit? It seems there's more harm than good not vaccuming the sand. Judging by the rotten food and super funk etc that gets stirred up in a poorly maintained shallow bed. my DSB never gets that funky.

Probably not much with coarse grained sand. I think its generally accepted to have a finer sand for denitrification purposes, or a really deep sand bed (6") with coarse grained sand. Also i dont use a skimmer, because my pump broke lol.

After setting up my ATS ive never had problems with po4 or no3. Always zero via hanna and zero for no3. And i have a sand bed with fine sand about 1". Ats are more efficient at nutrient removal than other forms of exsport like caulerpa. I prefer not to dose carbon that reduces oxygen. Id rather grow carbon as algae that prodice oxygen. Its a win win. Rather than win lose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

- Your NO3 level won't go down if you have undetectable PO4 (or really low level) on your aquarium water - no matter hom much vodka you throw at it.

I'm not sure I agree with all of the conclusions, but that one is correct, IMO, assuming the test you have can read low enough.

 

[gamation]

I'm not sure I agree with all of the conclusions, but that one is correct, IMO, assuming the test you have can read low enough.

Hi! Well it's all just based on my own experience.. would you mind telling me what other conclusions you find incorrect? Yesterday was the last time I dosed (1ml).. what side effects should I expect from stopping the vodka dosage?

Thanks!
PG

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not saying they are incorrect in all cases, just not a generally true experience.

"I believe vodka dosing does work. But it's really not meant to lower high values of NO3/PO4. I think it really works when trying to achieve an Ultra Low Nutrient System in an already balanced system. Not really to rely on to lower high values of Nitrates."

Many people have brought down quite high levels of nitrate with organic carbon dosing.

"When first beggining vodka dosing make sure your water levels are as close to Natural Sea Water as possible. KH level is very important here. If it gets over 8.5 you may start getting burned tips - mostly on SPS corals. Keep it between 7 and 8 and you should be fine."

I agree that is true if you do drive to ULNS levels. But if you stabilize at levels higher than ULNS, then burnt tips won't likely happen.

" The problem with this is that you keep following the vodka dosing charts and upping the vodka levels always looking for the NO3 drop that never happens until one day you may find that you have overdosed your tank with really bad consequences to your corals."

I have raised organic carbon dosing to super high levels and say what dose what too much (cloudy water, browned corals and anemones from elevated zoox), but the results would not be described as "really bad". Most people do not observe problems when nutrients are still elevated. Your probably may have been driving phosphate too low (maybe).

"- A big efficient skimmer is really important."

Maybe. Some folks have experimented with no skimming and organic carbon dosing. I've not seen enough results to say yet.

 

[gamation]

Thank you so much for your answer. Everything you've explained makes perfect sense to me.. I still have a lot to learn on this hobby!

When I first noticed problems on the SPS corals I had increased vodka dosing to 8ml on my 90 gallon.. With Kh being at 9 I thought those were the reasons why the corals were beginning to bleach. I had been dosing for 5 months or so with no issues. Ah! That and the white dust on the glass!

So.. my PO4 level has increased a bit... 0.05 - my NO3 are still at 50. My corals are not looking too good. At the moment i'm no longer dosing vodka. (KH 8.2 Ca 450 and Mg 1400)

What do you think i should do.. do I continue vodka dosing or.. something else?

Thanks for your help!
PG