Dosing Vodka

[bfedick]

I've been dosing vodka into two tanks since late May. My reason was to aid in the elimination of hair algae. In my sps tank the only difference has been much more pronounced polyp extension in the corals. No real effect on the small patches of GHA in the tank.

 

In the other tank which was a green mass I have seen a difference. Unfortunatley I've changed so many things in the tank since I started with the vodka I can't attribute the GHA reduction to any one thing. Some of the changes include: tripled the flow, added a remora skimmer, changed from the stock PC lighting to 150w 14k mh, run filter pads with phosphate remover and change them daily.

 

The one thing that has changed in both tanks is the skimmate. It is far darker and thicker with the vodka, volumes have also increased.

 

I've seen no detrimental effects so far.

 

Both tanks are on a steady dose of two 1ml doses per day, one around lights on and one about 1/2 way through the light cycle. One system is about 45 gal, the other is a 24 gal nanocube dx.

 

My water tests haven't been frequent or consistent enough to give any conclusive results on water parameter changes. I have no quantifiable results to post sorry. All I can say is that I've seen no adverse effects on the tank.

 

Try it at your own risk!!!

[MrAnderson]

I've been dosing vodka into two tanks since late May. My reason was to aid in the elimination of hair algae.

 

there really isn't any reason to expect dosing alcohol to eliminate hair algae, unless through some secondary effect. while some phosphates will certainly be taken up by the additional bacteria, the bloom doesn't really have the biomass to outcompete algae. i guess you got the results i would expect.

[ganjero]

It works the same way as adding sugar or vinegar..But dont think is a great idea for nanos because the reason to add organic carbon is so you skimmer remove nutrients more effectively. If you dont have a great skimmer this method is almost worthless, and most people dont run good skimmers or skimmers at all in nanos.

[bfedick]

I didn't really expect too much when I started. The biggest benefit I've seen is with PE on the SPS, it's my belief that the SPS is feeding off bacteria in the water column. I'm going to keep up with the dosing, and see what happens over the next 6 months or so.

[121a]

like i said i'm doing the same thing Mr.Fosi is and my skimmer goes nuts. I just emptied it from overnight and the skimmate was oozing out of the cup and down the side, yes there is a cap on it. However mine is only cloudy and not dark. All my sps corals looked better before i started this, i have almost no polyp extension from any of them, hopefully it will look better soon. I'm going to continue this dosage for another 5 gallons of top off water which lasts about a week.

[Mr. Fosi]

Skimmers are a good idea if a person plans to dose carbon.

 

121a: If your corals aren't looking so good, now might be a good time to give them a break. Afterall, they are a main reason you are keeping a tank.

[121a]

yeah, i'm going to stop and start with regular RO/DI again and if the dino comes back i'll definitely do this again.

[Burks]

121a, do you think that by possibly cutting back to 1/2 the dosage that the coloration problem could be avoided in the future? Of course this is once you get everything colored back up.

 

This is an interesting idea. I've read a lot of good about this and only a few bads. Not sure if I want to try it yet. lol

[FriscoTX]

just now getting back to this post, i figured this would get a reaction. Sounds like its been tried a few times by some nano-reefers. My interest was peaked like bfedick's for hair algae. If it doesn't help to that effect, i'll pass

[Mr. Fosi]

GHA often can't be solved by one miracle cure; it takes a multi-prong approach. Bottom up control is the method that is proven but some people have had success with adding a new piece of livestock to do top-down control.

 

Personally, I favor the bottom-up approach of limiting nutrients through enhanced nutrient export and competition. Adding biological control isn't a guaranteed fix and can cause additional problems.

[justbob]

2! for me one for you. lol

 

Hair Algae problems? start drinking and dosing.

[fierceseaman]

I've sometimes found that if you have stubborn patches of GHA, the easiest way just might be to remove the piece of live rock that it is on. I know that I have had pieces of LR that must be completely saturated with phosphates and when put into a more phosphate poor system, the GHA grown on it like wild. I can definitely point to several instances where this has been the case, ie the tank as a whole has been GHA free but 2 pieces of rock are covered. Nothing can stop it from growing, removing the rocks solved the problem. I'm certain because the rocks were leaching phosphates.

[gulfsurfer101]

What type of Vod do you think your corals will prefer. Greygoose, how bout Dobra or Tuakka, that stuff is like 8 bucks for a half gallon. I could see it now, gulfsurfer101's drunktank, Yeah! I was planning on doing a DIY cacl drip since I'm always away from my tanks for days at a time. Do you think it's viable to add it to the kalk mix or how would you go about dosing it if your constanltly away from your tank.

[dsoz]

I dose sugar, which has the same effect, and is cheaper and easier to get (I don't drink alcohol, so don't have vodka around to use).

 

The skimmer goes nuts for a day or so, and once I over-dosed and got a bacterial bloom (the bad part was it was at the same time I forgot to turn my pumps back on after feeding my corals and the bacterial bloom killed two fish, a cleaner shrimp, and an urchin.)

 

But responsible dosing does wonders to lower nitrates and phosphates in a system. I am winning the war on hair algae using this method to lower phosphates.

 

This also works when "cooking rock" to recycle it. An overdose of sugar goes a long way to remove some of the bad stuff that can be soaked in the rock and slowly leach out.

 

Good stuff going on here.

 

dsoz

[gulfsurfer101]

I've noticed unwanted algea on some rocks or wouldn't even be giving a second look to adding stuff like aclhohol in my tank. I am interested in giving it a shot since i have had about twenty of those little shooter bottles in my freezer from a christmas party and will never touch them myself since I'm a beer drinking type of guy and tend to stray away from the other crap. Might as well get some use out if them though is what I fiugure.

[glennr1978]

My tank likes Budwieser. Only girls dose vodka.

[dsoz]

If it is only a couple of rocks, take them out one at a time and put it in a bucket of SW with a powerhead. Add a scoop of sugar (or vodka), and wait a week. Use the old water from a tank water change, and replace the water. Add more sugar/vodka. Rinse and repeat several times over the course of a month or two. At the end there should be no nutrients left in that rock. As long as you rinse all the bacteria off the rock, and dump it all down the drain, it will take the excess nutrients with it.

 

repeat with a second rock that has algae problems.

 

That is what I plan on doing when I move my tank later this month. I have one rock that is really bad covered with algae, and a bucket that is waiting to be used. I can't wait.

 

dsoz

[Irushin]

I do shots during new live stock acclimation.

[Uhuru]

instructions included:

 

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

[KMitch]

Has anyone who started this had any results? I recently started after reading the reefkeeping article, figured what they hey, maybe I'll get some great coloration and growth...

[hazmat]

This really interests me as I am fighting this "brown string" algae for awhile now. that was an awesome article ! It pretty much gives a step by step but I have a few questions:

 

If you are using this method to combat an algae issue then your Nitrate tests are reading negative anyway. The problem algae is eating up the nitrates. So how are you supposed to know when you find your "maintenance" dose?

And if you are using this method to rid your tank of nuiscence algae do you dose until your issue has resolved and then stop dosing?

Is your tank maintenance exactly the same? weekly water changes, running regular carbon (it addressed phos. additives but not things like Chemi-pure) etc...

Only thing I saw was you can feed your fish every day! Woo hoo...fat fish!

[KMitch]

I am not using this method to reduce algae, my phosphates (major source of algae problems) are already at zero, but by getting my nitrates to zero I hope to be able to achieve better growth and coloring of my SPS in my tank. I'm keeping a very detailed log of the whole thing and can give better feedback in a few weeks, too soon to say right now.

 

I plan on the standard water change schedule (1x every 2 weeks) still run carbon and purigen with skimming.

[hazmat]

But this is what people are doing to rid their tanks of Dinoflagellates and algae (not GHA). Am I correct? Just wanting to make sure I'm on the right page with everyone!

[johnmaloney]

why are people still doing this? it doesn't remove algae, it removes nitrates. ok so sure it builds up denitrifying bacteria, but it also builds up all other bacteria. not all bacteria is good for tank inhabitants. nitrates are an easy problem to fix, why go through all the trouble, and waste good liquor? keep vodka out of the aquarium and in orange juice for best results.

 

Not aimed at any reply in particular, just on my soapbox:

 

here is a tip, if you are using algae to reduce nitrates but they don't go down and you don't have phosphates - it is because your low phosphates are actually limiting the algae's ability to take in nitrates, and vice versa. Macro Algae needs about a 20:1 ratio of nitrates and phosphate to filter effectively. So if your nitrates hover despite a refugium just add a little phosphates, and boom they both go down to zero. (Just never let the phosphates go over .5 ppm or you risk an algae breakout. By the way, if you feed fish flake, you have phosphates in your aquarium, they are just being soaked up. So if you have 20ppm nitrates, get to .5ppm phosphates. When nitrates go down to 10, go to .5ppm phosphates again. Then you will be in balance at zero.

 

(Edited my math was wrong there)

[drog]

So..anyone have problems with their fish getting drunk with this method?