Vodka dosed

[coolwaters]

i was very skeptical on the vodka dosing in a tank but heard a lot of good review from it so i tried it.

 

i used skyy vodka (use a cheaper one cuz i got it for $20 and it was a 1.75litter theres other ones that are half that and does the same thing)

 

i started off with just 2 drops of that stuff in my 20gallon. i fear the worst so i started lightly.

after that i increased it by 1 drop each day until i hit around 10 drops now.

 

the first thing iv noticed is that my skimmer is giving me a weeks worth of skimmate is about 3 days...

i dialed it down so i could get the skimmate a little thicker and greener.

 

i would recommend this method but be wise about it and start off really really slow.

[JBM]

you do realize that your supposed to up the dose gradually (like once a week) & test your parameters daily right?

 

i started vokda dosing 6 weeks ago & im still not adding 1mL yet. (current dose it as .6mL)

[Neto]

Poor fish, they are probably drunk!

[SPARTAN VI]

I started dosing in my tank less than .1ml, which is barely even a drop. Nitrates have been getting alarmingly high as I spend more time away from home. (edit - API test kit is 2 years old and giving me false readings)

 

As a benchmark, I started dosing when NO3 was measured around 40ppm with an API reef kit. I've performed a 30% WC and two doses of vodka (1 drop each) over the past few days. Unfortunately, since I did a PWC, I introduced a second variable so I wont be able to provide empirical results.

 

If livestock weren't at stake, I would have liked to have been scientific and only applied vodka dosing, but I gotta get NO3 down before I take extended leaves again. Of course, it's not like anyone needs me to know vodka dosing works anyway. I would just liked to have seen it myself.

[beeker]

check out my thread, dosed my tank for over a month with results posted

 

initatally i stopped because i felt my skimmer was too small and it wasn't taking enough waste out, though the Vodka helped in removing some algea i still had algea though that isn't a bad thing, i evenually had a small cyano outbreak and that is when i went to dosing once or twice a week only at 2 drops though and mainly after my weekly WC,

 

i stopped though because i felt there was a saturation point to the Vodka's effeciency, it did help corals in my tank that hadn't had any growth in month start to take off at about 1mm to 3mm of growth a day, and that in itself was impressive because for months they hadn't grown at all, though at a point the Vodka seemed to have no affect at all after about a months worth of use, i never tested for nitrates or phosphates, i only use my own two eyes to gauge results since to me that is the most important factor of wether something works or not, i had less algea at the end than i started with, colors on corals stayed about the same though growth was considerably better with the Vodka

 

I dosed A+ and K+ elements at one point with the Vodka as well as Elo's amino's

 

The best results were with a

 

Alk-Dkh of 8-9

Calc at 450+

Mag at 1300+

 

i eventually got a MSX160 skimmer but since the upgrade i haven't gone back to Vodka dosing cause i felt it wasn't nesscessary for continued growth or stability though in the future i may try another months worth of Dosing just to see if i can get a better growth rate than i had before

 

my tank has been off Vodka for about 8 months or more now and corals still grow at a good rate, so i do think if you aren't getting the results you want just by having your Alk,Calc and Mag at the right level's Vodka does help to improve things as long as you start slow and read up on the proper way to do it

 

i used 80 proof skyy vodka for my tank

[allie22]

check out my thread, dosed my tank for over a month with results posted

 

initatally i stopped because i felt my skimmer was too small and it wasn't taking enough waste out, though the Vodka helped in removing some algea i still had algea though that isn't a bad thing, i evenually had a small cyano outbreak and that is when i went to dosing once or twice a week only at 2 drops though and mainly after my weekly WC,

 

i stopped though because i felt there was a saturation point to the Vodka's effeciency, it did help corals in my tank that hadn't had any growth in month start to take off at about 1mm to 3mm of growth a day, and that in itself was impressive because for months they hadn't grown at all, though at a point the Vodka seemed to have no affect at all after about a months worth of use, i never tested for nitrates or phosphates, i only use my own two eyes to gauge results since to me that is the most important factor of wether something works or not, i had less algea at the end than i started with, colors on corals stayed about the same though growth was considerably better with the Vodka

 

I dosed A+ and K+ elements at one point with the Vodka as well as Elo's amino's

 

Re: Vodka-if you start, can you stop for a week while you are away? Would doing this shock the tank?

 

The best results were with a

 

Alk-Dkh of 8-9

Calc at 450+

Mag at 1300+

 

i eventually got a MSX160 skimmer but since the upgrade i haven't gone back to Vodka dosing cause i felt it wasn't nesscessary for continued growth or stability though in the future i may try another months worth of Dosing just to see if i can get a better growth rate than i had before

 

my tank has been off Vodka for about 8 months or more now and corals still grow at a good rate, so i do think if you aren't getting the results you want just by having your Alk,Calc and Mag at the right level's Vodka does help to improve things as long as you start slow and read up on the proper way to do it

 

i used 80 proof skyy vodka for my tank

[imagex]

think your dosing wrong.. way too much for a weeks worth... the 3 days u dose .1ml the the rest of the week .2ml.. then every week you ramp up .5ml so week 2 would be .7ml.. also get a oral syringe from cvs and measure it out instead of doing drops... measurement is crucial in vodka dosing..

[beeker]

my tank experience is over 2+ years, i gauged visually the effect's Visually and chemically keeping a constant eye on my Calc,Alk and mag, making sure the levels they were at were benifiting things without them being too low or too high in saturation, Visaully guaging things is far more effective for me to tell if something is working properly or not, just ramping up the dose does not help in creating stability and promoting sucess, if you checked out my log of how and what i dosed you seem that i was methodical about it and always wrote down what i did and what was expierienced

 

i had sucess with Vodka dosing but that doesen't mean that Vodka dosing is the answer to everything though, everyone's system is different and every dosing regime should be adjusted to that particular system, when calc alk and mag are consistant and stable and you still aren't getting the results you want, i'd look into Vodka dosing, but know that it is not something that is going to work long term, after 2 months of dosing i stopped completely because i felt Vodka had done all it could do for my system, granted it's affects were impressive it doesen't mean that it can be maintained for a long time though

 

i dosed 1 drop a day up until i felt everything was stable chemically and visually and then i went up to 2 drops a day, i have plenty of syrienge's to use, i just used a dropper instead, since to me it was more precise than my thumb pushin on a Ml syrienge

 

Everyone is different i read the article of how to dose and put it into a regime for my own tank, as i said before everyone's system is different but i did log my results in detail if anyone wants to take a look, just remember Go slow and Visually gauge things as well as monitoring your Calc Alk and Mag and maintaing stability is key to sucess with anything