Want to Vodka dose, BUT...

Ive got a few pretty easy questions that im hoping someone can answer for me, here we go!

1) how to keep my alk low enough? i stopped dosing b/c its so high but my water change water is at 11, i need it to be at 8, whats the trick?

2) does it matter what kind of vodka i use? im not going to do the cheapest stuff i can find, but i dont want to use my sky or grey goose..

3) An over sized skimmer is recommended, (pretty sure im good here) but what do you guys think?

4) The calculation to it is .1 per 25 gallons to start with, my tank holds 60 gallons of water, sump is 15, but what about displacement my rocks throw out? how do i calculate all this accurately?

Thats really all the questions i had..once i figure out how to get my alk lower i will be starting the dosing, right now my tank is down to 10 but id like to see it at a steady 8 before i start dosing, (assuming a few days from now)

 

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Solving Calcium And Alkalinity Problems — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Your skimmer is big enough, which brings me to question, how your Nitrates are getting so high with such a big Skimmer. ??
Yea , you calculate or guestimate displacement.
Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

 

Hi Shackman

1) you could select a salt mix with a lower Alk level - Red Sea has an DKH of about 8 - 8.5 , Tropic Marin is another that is recorded as having a lower Alkalinity level
or you could allow your Alk to fall naturally over a period of days / weeks, to around 8 and then even if you do 10% water changes with a higher Alk level salt mix, it will not make a significant difference to the alk level in the total system volume
the reason for the lower alk level is apparently - reduced nutrients will slow the rate at which coral flesh grows, higher Alk levels would increase the rate the coral skeleton grows - hence the potential for coral skeleton to grow through the tip resulting in what is often called Alk burn ( it is on the other hand possible that if you feed your corals to compensate for the reduced nutrients , you can avoid alk burn even running at 9 or 10 DKH )

2) it does not matter at all - as long as you stay away from Vodka's with other flavour additives as it's the not knowing what is in the additive that could be a problem , many use plain label brands, and I know a number of Vodka dosers that use the cheapest available at any given time without issues

3) an over sized or what they mean is a very efficient skimmer for your water volume is required, in order to skim out the bacteria blooms along with the nitrate and phosphates they have assimilated if your skimmer is rated at about 1.5 x the volume of your tank, then your fine IME

4) You have a system of 75 gallons, minus allowing displacement for the rock , I would start my Vodka dosing on the basis of having a 50 gallon aquarium I know in reality you have more like 60 gallons of actual water, but IMHO, it would be better to start on the side of caution with your dosing as it will not make any difference after the 1st week anyway

you add 0.1 mil of Vodka per 25 gallons on days 1, 2 and 3 - so thats 0.2 mils for you
You add 0.2 mils of Vodka per 25 gallons on days 4,5,6 and 7 - so that's 0.4 mils for you
then following week you add 0.5 mils (irrespective of tank volume) which means you would then be adding 0.9 mils to your tank
and then each week, you add 0.5 mils (so you go from 0.9 to 1.4, then to 1.9, then to 2.4 etc etc)

once your Trates and PO4 are undetectable, you reduce the dose you have reached by 50% and then dose that amount each daily for maintenance
if trates start going up, repeat earlier process, increasing by the 0.5 mils each week until you zero them again, then once again go back to the 50% dose for maintenance

PO4 may be an issue, with many people self included, needing to still run GFO

be prepared to cut down the dosing at any stage of the proceedings in reaction to any negative signs
such as

Cyno
Peach fuzz - white fuzzy growth on the rocks etc
Bacterial blooms - cloudy water
Bacterial strings - long white strands of bacterial species growing from surfaces in the tank


good luck, and keep us posted on your progress

Steve

 

They're really not all that high, 5ppm, but ive read it can help with coloration of my stonies, and will reduce my po4 like my bio-pellets did but i got rid of them.. bc they were burning the tips so id rather go this route, and monitor it better, ive been making my own food, and it has been putting in some more then usual foods do, but my fish and corals go crazy for it, so id like to continue to make it, and have noticed im growing some macro algae in my tank. i realize this probably isnt the best route to take, but this hobby is all about learning and trying new things, thats what makes it so difficult.

 

Perfect! EXACTLY what i was looking for!! Thanks Steve! I am assuming you are dosing as well? or have in the past? ive been reading about this for a few weeks now but just havent been sure if i should do it, but after reading in depth today on it (first day off in a few weeks) i know this is the route i want to take, the food im using is very low in po4, and trates but it still puts some in the tank, as do my fish and everything, and ive learned that you need to feed the system, not just the fish to have a nice reef, with that said, i feed more then usual, and my nutrients are a little higher now b/c of that, and the biopellets just arent cutting it anymore. have you had great success with your dosing? ive got a few locals that swear by it, thats how i found out about it.

 

Welcome Shackman

started using Biofuel about 12 months ago, moved over to Vodka, which I dosed for about 6 months, and now I have moved to a Vodka Vinegar combination

my experience has been positive, with very few issues
I did have a breif spell with Peach Fuzz, which I reacted to by reducing by half the Vodka being dosed for about 3 weeks until it dissapeared and then started increasing again

I am currently dosing 2 mils of Vodka and 8 mils of Vinegar each day into 75 gallons of water

Steve

 

Awesome, im going to start with vodka and eventually will switch to the combo you have as well, have you noticed a better coloration in your corals at all? also what do you run your alk at? i picked up a bucket of redsea pro today at my LFS, was using reef crystals, im sure if i can get my alk down a water change will maintain it, ive been doing 5g every week to try and minimize my dosing as much as possible but its a horse a piece, you spend money on salt if you do it more often, or on 2part mixtures lol do you continue to dose?

 

Hi Shackman

my DKH runs somewhere between 8.3 and 8.6 . Salifert test kit, results vary due to my TM - 01 doser that adds every couple of hours, and I do not do the tests at exact same time every weekend

its difficult for me to say if coral color has improved since Vodka dosing as I also changed to MH lamps a few months ago, which seems to have made most significant difference for me in that aspect

I will say, water clarity improved, tank glass cleaning reduced, sand bed started to look cleaner, algae did start reducing ( I used Algae fix marine ultimately to get rid of some of my more stuborn algaes, but Vodka dosing certainly did help to polish the tank up)