Hi Guys,
Tried Vodka dosing for the first time recently. I'd been feeding liberally in my very small 12" cube reef thinking that my nitrates where all being cycled. However, I got a very large shock when I tested them and found they were 50ppm. A discolouring SPS alerted me. I've never had a reef that ran at that. I've always been in the luxurious position to cycle all my nitrogen through rock and lots of flow so I naturally thought it was all being catered for. I suppose when you scale down to around 20 litres, the cycling of all nitrogen becomes difficult.
I had always been sceptical when I heard of vodka dosing because I’ve been keeping marines for over 30 years. I thought it would make certain areas of the reef close to anoxic and perhaps increase the chance of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) production. I think the science says it will in reefs that aren’t optimised with regard to pH stability and oxygen levels.
I have had very little oxidative redox potential (ORP) drops and a dulling of the brightness of the water. Dull water indicates low oxygen/ORP and which might be indicative of H2S production. I used to run a commercial fish system so judging ORP from the look of the water becomes a skill you tend not to forget. I use ozone only in very tiny amounts and for seconds only if required. One can overcook it especially with corals and cause big problems.
I’ve used it possibly three times in over a year.
I would have noticed a bloom in the water; this leads me to believe that vodka dosing increases the microbiota within reef structures and substrates rather than causing widespread blooms in the water column.
Anyhoo, let’s get onto the thread descriptor
Around the sixth week of vodka dosing I noticed my nitrates fall. I was really happy and it was very efficient. Of course, everything has been executed with strategic scientific precision. I noticed also that my phosphates that I had always kept a check on, where also negligible. Knowing that ultra low phosphate is terminal for SPS, I kept trying to raise the phosphates again and again with heavy feeding. To my surprise the vodka dosing was so efficient I couldn’t raise my phosphate or nitrate levels off the ground. After around a week and a half, I decided to dose in some heavily phosphorylated tap water.
I’ve got my pgospahtes now to 0.024 mg/l which is just about fine for corals and near to some ideal natural levels. Tap water in West Yorkshire has lots of phosphate because it is used by the water companies to chelate heavy metals. However, tap water also contains chloramine which is a very toxic and persistent form of chlorine.
N.B. Please be aware I only dose three drops in a 20-litre water volume. It is used extremely sparingly as the phosphates in my tap water are probably approaching 6mg/l. Don’t try this at home unless you’ve got such low phosphate that your corals are a risk.
I had to mention it because I now condone the use of vodka dosing and also dosing tap water when you can’t get your phosphates to rise. ONLY TINY AMOUNTS FOLKS. DROP-WISE THEN WAIT, THEN TEST ONLY!
All comments welcome
Chris
Tried Vodka dosing for the first time recently. I'd been feeding liberally in my very small 12" cube reef thinking that my nitrates where all being cycled. However, I got a very large shock when I tested them and found they were 50ppm. A discolouring SPS alerted me. I've never had a reef that ran at that. I've always been in the luxurious position to cycle all my nitrogen through rock and lots of flow so I naturally thought it was all being catered for. I suppose when you scale down to around 20 litres, the cycling of all nitrogen becomes difficult.
I had always been sceptical when I heard of vodka dosing because I’ve been keeping marines for over 30 years. I thought it would make certain areas of the reef close to anoxic and perhaps increase the chance of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) production. I think the science says it will in reefs that aren’t optimised with regard to pH stability and oxygen levels.
I have had very little oxidative redox potential (ORP) drops and a dulling of the brightness of the water. Dull water indicates low oxygen/ORP and which might be indicative of H2S production. I used to run a commercial fish system so judging ORP from the look of the water becomes a skill you tend not to forget. I use ozone only in very tiny amounts and for seconds only if required. One can overcook it especially with corals and cause big problems.
I’ve used it possibly three times in over a year.
I would have noticed a bloom in the water; this leads me to believe that vodka dosing increases the microbiota within reef structures and substrates rather than causing widespread blooms in the water column.
Anyhoo, let’s get onto the thread descriptor
Around the sixth week of vodka dosing I noticed my nitrates fall. I was really happy and it was very efficient. Of course, everything has been executed with strategic scientific precision. I noticed also that my phosphates that I had always kept a check on, where also negligible. Knowing that ultra low phosphate is terminal for SPS, I kept trying to raise the phosphates again and again with heavy feeding. To my surprise the vodka dosing was so efficient I couldn’t raise my phosphate or nitrate levels off the ground. After around a week and a half, I decided to dose in some heavily phosphorylated tap water.
I’ve got my pgospahtes now to 0.024 mg/l which is just about fine for corals and near to some ideal natural levels. Tap water in West Yorkshire has lots of phosphate because it is used by the water companies to chelate heavy metals. However, tap water also contains chloramine which is a very toxic and persistent form of chlorine.
N.B. Please be aware I only dose three drops in a 20-litre water volume. It is used extremely sparingly as the phosphates in my tap water are probably approaching 6mg/l. Don’t try this at home unless you’ve got such low phosphate that your corals are a risk.
I had to mention it because I now condone the use of vodka dosing and also dosing tap water when you can’t get your phosphates to rise. ONLY TINY AMOUNTS FOLKS. DROP-WISE THEN WAIT, THEN TEST ONLY!
All comments welcome
Chris
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