Mrutzek/Kokott Method - Ethanol dosing in marine reef systems to control NO3 PO4?!

[movingshadow]

Hello Dr. Shimek,

this month an Article in the German "Der Meerwasseraquarianer" caught my interest. Mrutzek and Kokott introduce a way to magically reduce NO3 and PO4 by dosing ethanol alcohol in the form of 40% vodka. Being somewhat reluctant to pour vodka on my reef, I wanted to ask your advice whether to try the new mrutzek/kokott method because it seems more and more people are successfully using this system in europe. The starting dose is 1ml Vodka per 100 liters of water volume with an increase of 0,1ml per day. During the experiment, vodka dosing was up to 40-60 ml per day for some participants though NO3 and PO4 all fell below measurable levels. I'm sure you can understand my hesitation and my desire to ask an expert! Thanks very much for your time!!! :)

Best regards from Lake Constance!


I also posted about this at nano-reef.com if anyone is interested:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24852

[rshimek]

Hi,

Well, ethanol is a toxic material and will kill most marine animals outright. However, rapidly diluted it would act as food for bacteria and that may be boost metabolism of bacteria in tanks that are otherwise limited by lack of food. The same response would be probably be given by additions of simple syrup or sugar to such tanks.

Pesonally, I think the alcohol should be added to the aquarist and sufficient food added to the tank. In such situations, using a toxic fertilizer shouldn't be necessary.

[Surf]

Are they scientists or hobbyists? is Der Meerwasseraquarianer peer reviewed?

Did they propose a mechanism? have their experiments been independently verified?

It's amazing how far science can take you when you respect all the rules. It's even more amazing how far other people will TRY to take you by paying lip service to science.

[nanocat]

I like Dr. Ron's advice. I find 1 oz. of vodka to be quite helpful around 5 p.m. :D

[zenya]

Originally posted by rshimek

Pesonally, I think the alcohol should be added to the aquarist and sufficient food added to the tank.

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/g0/beer.gif

Personally, deep sand bed done it for me as far as NO3 goes and I'm thinking that a good size refugium with macroalgae would probably take care of most if not all of the PO4 excess.

[movingshadow]

they are scientists and credible marine aquarists. michael mrutzek is considered somewhat of an authority on marine reef systems in germany. he operates the german "meerwasser forum" which was started by him and daniel knop, he's an author and long time researcher, he also owns a livestock/drygoods/special equipment/tank building company (www.meerwasseraquaristik.de check out the 32.000 Liter aquarium...) so all in all a source I'd trust...

"Der Meerwasseraquarianer" is a monthly reefing magazine, equally popular as daniel knop's magazine "Koralle"

They do propose a mechanism, I've translated some results from two seperate experiments (see nano-reef.com thread for info and graphics)

[bertoni]

There was a thread in the chemistry forum on this topic, if anyone's interested.

[rshimek]

Hi Jon,

Would you link to it, please.

[thanks]

[bertoni]

This thread (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288714&highlight=vodka) is about vodka dosing.

Dr Shimek, I find that I, I mean, my creatures, prefer orange juice with their vodka. Just a thought.