OK! Time for a Drink! Vodka?

i've heard of vodka being used to give corals food.i think it was like giving them surgar but never thought it was a good idea so did'nt study up.i do have a new favorite vodka for my bar though called rain.it is distilled 7 times,more than any i've even seen and no hang overs.i like it better than grey goose,stolies golden which is $25 a fifth,tangerey,absolute,you name it.if your going to use vodka for any reason check out this rain.

 

From the looks of your avatar, I think you have been dosing vodka for a while now, Ziggy.:yelrotflm

 

The Vodka provides a carbon fuel sorce for specific bacteria that consume Phos and Nitrates.

The Ethanol in vodka is what makes it work. Sugar also does this. Really I think JasonSquared needs to chime in. Hes moe knowledgeable about this than me

 

I use Grey Goose in my tank one cup for the tank and two cups for me...No wonder my fish swim like they are drunk!

 

OK here it goes... If you're not prepared to read, then just scroll on...

Vodka is a source of carbon, and that cabon is what is called "limiting" in regard to bacterial growth. In a reeftank, that is ALL bacteria -aerobic and anaerobic. As you may know, aerobic bacterium change ammonia to nitrite, while anaerobic, or bacteria not requiring oxygen to function, utilize nitrogen in the absence of O2 to metabolize carbon and hydrogen, and other organics to divide, grow and otherwise go about their day. This nitrogen is in the form of nitrate, and it gets changed into nitrogen gas. Since the Carbon is limiting, the bacteria can only grow as long as there is enough carbon. The simple part is: Add more carbon, get more of the bacteria that eat nitrate, as well as ALL other bacterium.

The cabon doesn't have to be in the form of Vodka, it can also be sugar C6H1206 or one of the more complex sugars... As you can see from the formula, you basically have 6 carbon molecules, and 6 water molecules... SO theres your carbon...

So what will you see when you put in vodka (usually a tsp per 25 gallons or so)? You may see a bloom of bacteria, and it may look like your water is cloudy. The dangerous part is deoxygenation due to overdose, so heavy skimming as well as an air stone or two may be necessary to combat an overdose. All that cloudiness is bacteria in the water. Your skimmer will go nuts, so be prepared - I wasn't and it overflowed in half a day. But all those bacteria will trigger a massive feeding response from your corals who will happily feast on all those bacteria. The next day your water will be clear and you will have 0 nitrates, or close to it.

This method is common in water treatment to rid nitrates from water treatment plants and the like see here: JavaScript enabled ?

There is plenty of history and experience carbon dosing and it isn't without it's side effect, but none are as bad as all that nitrate, unless you're doing something wrong. OK well I hope that helps! If you have questions, I have done a TON of research on this, and I have plenty of experience with it.

 

hey jason so would you say that it is or is not a worth while treatment if a tanks nitrates are reading low to 0 ? or is it still a feasable feeding method for corals.
PS nice explanation. on the vodka/sugar dosing.

 

How long does it take for the no3 to go down? Also, I currently have 20ppm of no3 and I want to lower it to zero if possible. I have a nylon bag of carbon( 10oz chemi-pure) in my sump, should I add more to lower my no3's?

 

Yeah if your NO3 readings are low, then I certainly wouldn't bother. In fact, I wouldn't do it before trying other things (fuge, feed less, sandbed issues, RDSB, more water changes, RO/DI -and testing TDS on it) or if my NO3 reading were say above 20ppm or so. Even then I'd start small, and move up to see what happens and titrate. When you're getting readings that low, it CAN be an erroneous reading. Nitrate can do some weird things sometimes, like bind to metals making inorganic nitrate that wouldn't impact your tank.

 

Jason THANKS!! And Karma to you! How often do you dose? Do you need to feed more? ie Phyto

 

I know that I use the Carbon dosing to allow me to use the Pappone food and other coral food. I believe that if you truely want to feed as much as the coral can handle you have to do something like this to manage the nitrates.

This is all the same principle as ZEO. Its just much cheaper.