v/s/v mix need refrigeration?

[The Saltman]

Hello,

I currently dose a vodka, sugar, and vinegar mix to my tank. It is in a plastic container that usually takes about 2 months to finish off. Should I be refrigerating this mix?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If it is diluted in water, yes. If it is full strength vodka or vinegar, no.

[OwenInAZ]

OK, so help out a budding reef chemist. What's the purpose of each of those ingredients? I've heard about ethanol to alter redox, but the others?

[madadi]

i did not refrigerate mine and it was fine for a few months. did not get cloudy or any spots that looked like bacteria. i did have a lid on it but opened it every day.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What's the purpose of each of those ingredients? I've heard about ethanol to alter redox, but the others?

The purpose is to drive bacteria, and the thought (right or wrong) is that adding multiple carbon sources will drive more species of bacteria and that somehow that is beneficial relative to adding a single carbon source (like vodka alone). I've not seen any evidence that multiple dosing is beneficial, however.

[damura]

I fully support Randy here. I myself didn't see any change since i moved from Vodka to VSV, and my friend who is a Doctor in biochemistry told me it is nonsense to think that VSV prevents monoculture.

[OwenInAZ]

Yeah, if anything it seems like you'd select for organisms that are good at using ethanol, sucrose and acetate. But I don't know what the normal carbon source on a reef is...

[Genetics]

I think in the near future this will become a every present question. Vodka, is very useful in depleting nitrates and to some extent phosphates. This chemical will get your reef inline for growth and good water parameters. The idea of vsv came about in a discussion over the summer where people noted all the potential sources out there that could deplete nitrates and phosphates and we put them together. However, the amounts put in there are solely arbitrary to my knowledge and the past issue of Advanced Aquarist noted that the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels for dosing the vsv mix were relatively high.

I believe this is where the real discussion should focus on. The DOC levels within seawater start to have negative effects on corals around 2ppm. With the vsv you start at ~1ppm already.