Vodka vs Vinegar vs No3Po4x

CaptPatrick · Oct 25, 2016

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, if not I will repost in the correct. Over the past few months I have adding quite a few sps to my tank, I would say it is pretty close to being sps dominant. Recently I have noticed that my nitrates are getting dangerously high and even after water changes it doesn't drop all that much, my phosphates stay right around .25 or lower. So I am looking into dosing with one of the above mentioned in the title. I have done some research and gotten mixed reviews on all 3. Any advice or personal experiences with which is the best route would really help. Thanks.

Reeferdood · Oct 25, 2016

IMHO,
I tried all 3 and had mixed results at best. NoPox is wickedly strong and if you aren't careful you will have other issues other than traits. I added more biomass and began to use Microbacter7 and I could not be more impressed.
I now just do a maint dose every other day when I clean out my skimmer cup, no issues since..

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 25, 2016

There are not big differences in the results with these three (in my opinion based on reading large numbers of results), and all can work well, not only to reduce nutrients but to potentially boost bacterial levels and feed filter feeders.

In my system, vodka contributed more to cyano than did vinegar, so i slightly preferred vinegar, but that may depend on what species of cyano are in your system and what they can take up and metabolize.

Reeferdood · Oct 25, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
There are not big differences in the results with these three (in my opinion based on reading large numbers of results), and all can work well, not only to reduce nutrients but to potentially boost bacterial levels and feed filter feeders.

In my system, vodka contributed more to cyano than did vinegar, so i slightly preferred vinegar, but that may depend on what species of cyano are in your system and what they can take up and metabolize.

For some weird reason NOPOX made dinos go crazy...

Roberto CRC · Oct 25, 2016

I personally have used Nopox and can say I have had positive results, however, Po4 are not controlled by the Nopox and then have a GFO reactor to help control Po4.

And my nopox is almost over and I plan to try the vodka or vinegar, but still do not know which of the 2 decide and how to make the transition from Nopox vinegar or vodka.

Roberto CRC · Oct 25, 2016

Reeferdood said:
For some weird reason NOPOX made dinos go crazy...

I have a problem of diatoms or dinoflagellates (I can not distinguish between the two) and I find it strange that you do not have good result with nopox + GFO.

My No3 = 1 to 2 ppm, and Po4 = 0.04 to 0.08 ppm.

So your answer I'm thinking, it will be for the nopox not disappear?

dragon99 · Oct 25, 2016

Roberto CRC said:
I personally have used Nopox and can say I have had positive results, however, Po4 are not controlled by the Nopox and then have a GFO reactor to help control Po4.

And my nopox is almost over and I plan to try the vodka or vinegar, but still do not know which of the 2 decide and how to make the transition from Nopox vinegar or vodka.

You can always start with a mixture that's similar to NoPOx. Nopox's ratio for 1L is 590ml Vinegar to 410ml Vodka

Chiefmaster30 · Oct 25, 2016

I have been dosing nopox for a month. After 2 weeks my nitrates dropped from 70ppm to 10 and they r now at a steady 5ppm for the past 2 weeks. I can't give all the credit to nopox though as I made several other changes at the same time. Though I do believe it had a lot to do with my results.

Chiefmaster30 · Oct 25, 2016

I also added a hob 1 gallon fuge with Chaeto. And I am also still dealing with a small amount of cyano.

Roberto CRC · Oct 25, 2016

dragon99 said:
You can always start with a mixture that's similar to NoPOx. Nopox's ratio for 1L is 590ml Vinegar to 410ml Vodka

Nice, but how much vodka? 20, 40 or 80%?

And that mixture would be to start, how long do I have to use it? and how much would I have to correct adit?

dragon99 · Oct 25, 2016

80proof (40%) vodka. You should be able to continue dosing per the Nopox bottle since the mixture is very similar.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 25, 2016

Roberto CRC said:
Nice, but how much vodka? 20, 40 or 80%?

And that mixture would be to start, how long do I have to use it? and how much would I have to correct adit?

That assumes the vodka is 80 proof (40% ethanol) and the viengar is 5% acetic acid (says 5% acidity on the label).

Roberto CRC · Oct 25, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That assumes the vodka is 80 proof (40% ethanol) and the viengar is 5% acetic acid (says 5% acidity on the label).

Thanks, now at lunch go to the supermarket to see what products meeting.

How long do I have to keep that mix or after a while I can only use vinegar or vodka alone?

Roberto CRC · Oct 25, 2016

dragon99 said:
80proof (40%) vodka. You should be able to continue dosing per the Nopox bottle since the mixture is very similar.

Thanks friend.

CaptPatrick · Oct 25, 2016

I have also been having an issue with diatoms, no matter how much I vacuum when doing water changes I cannot keep them away, I have two powerheads running, one on top and one along the sand and they still come back after a couple days. If I were to dose with vinegar where do I start? I have an 80 with a 30 sump but probably 30-40 lbs of rock so I'm not completely sure what my NWV is. I saw that someone said to combine the vodka and vinegar? As someone who is still fairly new to this would I be better off to just go with the Nopox? When dosing with the vinegar or vodka do I need to set up a dripping system or could I do half in the morning and half in the evening? I'm so confused

Roberto CRC · Oct 25, 2016

CaptPatrick said:
I have also been having an issue with diatoms, no matter how much I vacuum when doing water changes I cannot keep them away, I have two powerheads running, one on top and one along the sand and they still come back after a couple days. If I were to dose with vinegar where do I start? I have an 80 with a 30 sump but probably 30-40 lbs of rock so I'm not completely sure what my NWV is. I saw that someone said to combine the vodka and vinegar? As someone who is still fairly new to this would I be better off to just go with the Nopox? When dosing with the vinegar or vodka do I need to set up a dripping system or could I do half in the morning and half in the evening? I'm so confused

I'm not the most skilled at this, but I think the issue of using mixture of vinegar and vodka is get something similar to Nopox. However I think Randy uses only vinegar and many others use only vodka.

In your case you're still not aditando anything, I think you could go only by one or the other.

I personally hope to get to use only 1 of the 2.

CaptPatrick · Oct 25, 2016

Roberto CRC said:
I'm not the most skilled at this, but I think the issue of using mixture of vinegar and vodka is get something similar to Nopox. However I think Randy uses only vinegar and many others use only vodka.

In your case you're still not aditando anything, I think you could go only by one or the other.

I personally hope to get to use only 1 of the 2.

Roberto that is my hope also that I can only have to use one and be alright

Reeferdood · Oct 25, 2016

Roberto CRC said:
I'm not the most skilled at this, but I think the issue of using mixture of vinegar and vodka is get something similar to Nopox. However I think Randy uses only vinegar and many others use only vodka.

In your case you're still not aditando anything, I think you could go only by one or the other.

I personally hope to get to use only 1 of the 2.

Another thing to remember...
Just because someone uses vodka, vinegar or nopox does not mean you will get the same results as them. All systems are different and sometimes a little trial and error will find your specific answer..
Patience is always key, especially with the 3 commodities we are all talking about. If you dose too much of any of them, you will likely have bigger issues.

AdamNC · Oct 25, 2016

I can say NoPoX has helped me keep my no3 between 0-3ppm for the past few months. It did spike once due to me over feeding by mistake one time. Never tried vodka and vinegar took well over 3 months to drop from 60ppm down to 5ppm.

Fitzreefer · Oct 25, 2016

I believe NoPoX worked for me. I had little to no trace of No or Po on my tests, however, I had a hair algae outbreak like crazy. I tried GFO, but felt like it really didn't do anything because there was little No or Po in the water column. I believe it was leaching out of LR and substrate. I removed GFO and started RS NoPoX, minimal doses daily in the beginning. In about 1.5 weeks I start seeing GHA wither away, water started getting sparkling clear, corals started perking up. Now I just keep an eye on the tank and dose minimal doses roughly once a week so as to not completely strip the tank of No or Po. As my tank recovers and I add more bioload in the way of fish, coral and food I will likely bump up the doses to match.