Lets talk about Vodka/sugar dosing

[nismo driver]

ive been dosing for two weeks HOWEVER i also started running a phosban reactor a few days before i started dosing regimin then i added about 10 pounds of base rock that kicked off a bit of a mini cycle the second week..

its kind of difficult to say whats doing what, there was a point where my skimmer started producing more foam then ive ever seen it kick out to the point it popped the top off teh collection cup and had about four inchs of head that was the consistnacy or mirange.

soooo it this the elevated levels of bacteria reacting with the dye off from the base rock?

not sure..

other observation is that pretty much all my sps has gotten lighter and more vivid color.


i tdefinately think its something to do with the grey goose..


question, does it make a differnece if the vodka is potatoe or wheat based ?

[eckrynock]

Originally posted by woz9683
Has anybody noticed their fish being "hungrier" since starting to dose vodka?

I have noticed this. My 4 Bartlett's come racing out of the rockwork if I even take a step towards the tank. I have 2 percs and a Banggai on top of the anthias and it looks more like a school of black tips with a chum bucket at feeding time. They usually get fed Rod's food and mysis twice a day but it's never enough.

[stony_corals]

Originally posted by SDguy
I just had a revelation tonight. My skimmate has been ridiculously disgusting lately, stinking up the entire room! I thought it was from the ozone I started recently. But then it hit me, just like when I grow up bacteria at work. That smell!!!! My skimmate smells so bad from bacterial growth and collection! Anyone else experience this?

Oh yeah! It's got to be the worst smelling skimmate I've smelt, I'm skimming wet, so even though it's tea colored, it's just as smelly if not more so than black coffee skimmate...

[stony_corals]

Originally posted by nismo driver
ive been dosing for two weeks HOWEVER i also started running a phosban reactor a few days before i started dosing regimin then i added about 10 pounds of base rock that kicked off a bit of a mini cycle the second week..

its kind of difficult to say whats doing what, there was a point where my skimmer started producing more foam then ive ever seen it kick out to the point it popped the top off teh collection cup and had about four inchs of head that was the consistnacy or mirange.

soooo it this the elevated levels of bacteria reacting with the dye off from the base rock?

not sure..

other observation is that pretty much all my sps has gotten lighter and more vivid color.


i tdefinately think its something to do with the grey goose..


question, does it make a differnece if the vodka is potatoe or wheat based ?

You're killing me, grey Goose in the reef tank?!?

I am not sure, I think that the key requirement is 80 proof....

[stony_corals]

Originally posted by eckrynock
I have noticed this. My 4 Bartlett's come racing out of the rockwork if I even take a step towards the tank. I have 2 percs and a Banggai on top of the anthias and it looks more like a school of black tips with a chum bucket at feeding time. They usually get fed Rod's food and mysis twice a day but it's never enough.

Tough to say if there is a direct correlation here... I'm feeding frequently and heavily anyways.....

[nismo driver]

Originally posted by stony_corals
You're killing me, grey Goose in the reef tank?!?

I am not sure, I think that the key requirement is 80 proof....

well its about 50 gallons system volume, at this point im dosing about .9ml a day so its not really that much..

i want drunk happy social productive bacteria not mean billigerant living on the street bacteria.


i have also been dosing with kent coral accel and kent coral vite, it would be very difficult to say which one element of my setup contributes most to what seems to be an effective system since my corals have a color that i like and showing good signs of growth.


now heres another issue that im facing though, i picked up a couple frags and they had redbugs, stupid me i didnt qt them and now im facing the need to do an interceptor treatment.. howwill this react to the vodka dosing method?

[stony_corals]

unknown about the vodka and interceptor.... treat them all either with a dip or quarantine (I'm sure you've heard that a million times).

[woz9683]

There won't be any reaction between the vodka and the interceptor so you're okay there.

Also, the brand or proof of vodka doesn't make a difference, the ethanol is the part used by the bacteria. The only thing you have to watch with different proofs is if you go with something that has a significantly higher concentration of ethanol you will need to alter the amount you add. Personally, I've been using everclear and cut the doses to about half what you would do with vodka. The only other thing to consider would be the purity of the other ingredients in the particular vodka you are using. I watched a taste test once where the testers were given a top shelf vodka along with a lower grade vodka. With the lower grade vodka they filtered it several times and gave smples at different levels of filtering. So, the tester had a low grade vodka, then low grade +1 filter, +2 filter, +3 filter, etc, and then the top shelf vodka as well. Several of the professional testers were able to put the various levels of extra filtering into exact order based on quality. So, there is definitely something to the purity of a better vodka IMO, I doubt it's much, but there's something there.

Also, with the hungry fish thing, I'm not sure there's a direct correlation either, and really just thought it was coincidence, but thought I'd see if anyone else had noticed it. I suppose one weak connection could be: better water quality with lower nutrients = less algae growth = less foragable (sp?) food for the tang = hungrier tang = worried clown fish watching hungry tang steal all his food before it can even hit the water = more food aggressive clown = danger to my fingers when working in tank

Probably a stretch but going from a single feeding every other day to two feedings every day made me take notice. Oh, and not exaggerating about the tang hitting the food before it gets to the water either (he makes a little popping sound with his mouth when he tries to grab food out of the water). If I take a still frozen cube of mysis and hold it in the water, he will gnaw at it until that thing thaws.

[stony_corals]

Are you sure Michael, since proof is a measure of how much ethanol the vodka contains, I do think that part matters. You'll need to dose more with 80 proof than you will with 100 proof...

[SDguy]

Originally posted by stony_corals
Oh yeah! It's got to be the worst smelling skimmate I've smelt, I'm skimming wet, so even though it's tea colored, it's just as smelly if not more so than black coffee skimmate...

Hmm, any suggestions on fixing the problem. I mean, it's to the point that my skimmer has to be turned off if I'm expecting company

[woz9683]

Are you sure Michael, since proof is a measure of how much ethanol the vodka contains, I do think that part matters. You'll need to dose more with 80 proof than you will with 100 proof...

Yeah, I said that.

The only thing you have to watch with different proofs is if you go with something that has a significantly higher concentration of ethanol you will need to alter the amount you add.

(although, I should have said, "in proportion to the concentration of ethanol")


This statement...

I think that the key requirement is 80 proof....

made it sound like you thought there was something particularly special about the 80 proof part of the equation. There's not, that's just a common concentration of ethanol in vodka. My mistake if that's not what you meant, but it could be confusing to someone just starting to look into the method. I can just see somebody saying, "Oh God, my vodka's only 70 proof and I already put some into the tank, what to do, what to do? I know, a 50% water change ought to fix it!"

[woz9683]

Hmm, any suggestions on fixing the problem. I mean, it's to the point that my skimmer has to be turned off if I'm expecting company

Carbon filter on the air release hole in your skimmer's collection cup?

[SDguy]

Originally posted by woz9683
Carbon filter on the air release hole in your skimmer's collection cup?

Yup.

[stony_corals]

Originally posted by SDguy
Hmm, any suggestions on fixing the problem. I mean, it's to the point that my skimmer has to be turned off if I'm expecting company

I just tell everyone I had a few habanero peppers last night..... Seriously, I just think bacteria are stinky, and bacteria + skimmate = super stinky.

[stony_corals]

Originally posted by woz9683
Yeah, I said that.

(although, I should have said, "in proportion to the concentration of ethanol")


This statement...

made it sound like you thought there was something particularly special about the 80 proof part of the equation. There's not, that's just a common concentration of ethanol in vodka. My mistake if that's not what you meant, but it could be confusing to someone just starting to look into the method. I can just see somebody saying, "Oh God, my vodka's only 70 proof and I already put some into the tank, what to do, what to do? I know, a 50% water change ought to fix it!"

That was taken a bit out of context as the question was about potato or wheat based... Touche. I haven't looked, but I assumed that 80 proof was the lowest, with others going higher, such as Everclear, which we can't get here...

[stony_corals]

BTW Peter, love the pic of those anthias.... used to be dispars, now includes Bartletts and squamipinnis too... awesome.

[SDguy]

Originally posted by stony_corals
BTW Peter, love the pic of those anthias.... used to be dispars, now includes Bartletts and squamipinnis too... awesome.

Thanks. They're a PITA.

[Deuce67]

Any of you folks using the vodka method running GFO?

[SDguy]

Yes. In fact, my salifert was testing zero also. However, the brown of some of my corals (tricolors/milles) tells me otherwise, as do the couple bryopsis patches.

[stony_corals]

I'm not... I used the DD Merck test kits. I haven't had any measurable phosphates (PO4)... I don't use GFO. The bacteria should also use the O in PO4 just like with NO3...

[stony_corals]

Peter, stop switching your avatars, you're killing me..... beautiful male squami....

[SDguy]

Originally posted by stony_corals
Peter, stop switching your avatars, you're killing me..... beautiful male squami....

Thanks! He's my pride and joy...oldest one in my tank. Well, the flames (not actually dispars) didn't make it so I don't like to keep pics of RIP animals in my avatar

I think I may still be playing catchup with my phosphates in my tank, so the GFO is still in use along with vodka.

I'm still waiting for any *significant* change in color of my corals. I'm up to 10mL per day.

[stony_corals]

You shouldn't have any issues with vodka and GFO. I don't know about Ultralithe or Prodibio, but I know with Zeo that's a no-no. On one system that I just reset up (long story), I ran GFO while dosing vodka, no problems.... I'd think though, Peter, with your MRC2, it'd be blowing phosphates off all day long big time. This IMHO is the advantage of using Becketts and Downdrafts (not going there)....

I don't have my log book handy... But on a system of similar size 125g, I ramped up to nearly 20ml, and currently on a maintenance dosage of ~9ml daily. But I'm assuming bioloads are different system-to-system.... It's good you're being patient with this, you'll see results

[SDguy]

At 20mL, were you dosing the entire volume at once, or say 10mL in the am, and another 10mL in the pm? I'd prefer to not get a "bloom" of any kind, if I can help it.

[woz9683]

I thought it was important to dose during the lighting period, so if you dosed in the pm you would want to make sure your lights were still going to be on for a couple more hours.