Vodka Dosing in FOWLR?

[baldwinaquaman]

I have read many, many posts on vodka dosing pertaining to reef tanks, but have'nt stumbled upon dosing for FOWLR posts, does anyone have any experience in this area? I'm guessing it would still be safe? What dosage would you all reccommend for a 150 TWV tank? DO you leave the skimmer running as your dosing? I know I need to do more research, but was wondering this few questions as I read....

[bertoni]

It might be safe to be more aggressive with a FOWLR, but I'd stick to a conservative dosing rate for a reef tank. In general, I don't think it's worth dosing a FOWLR, since the fish don't care about nitrate, but if you go this routine, definitely leave the skimmer running. The goal of dosing is to grow bacteria, which are then skimmed to remove nutrients. Also, the bacteria can reduce the oxygen level, so if the tank is heavily stocked, I'd be very worried about that.

[tmz]

I dose organic carbon( vodka/ vinegar) but only in my main system where I keep sps and other corals more sensitive to nutrient issues. Exporting the extra bacteria and the organic carbon, phosphous and nitrogen they hold via agressive skimming is a must .

I also run a fish and soft coral tank and don't dose or worry too much about nitrate in there .Light skimming and graulated activatedcarbon along with live rock work well in this system.

Dosing encourages bacterial growth. This may not be a good thing in a fish only system since nothing much will eat the extra bacteria and the bacteria may be pathogenic, benign , pro biotic or all three.

[baldwinaquaman]

okay, please elaborate more on that, also, I forgot to mention that my nitrates problems are a little bit due to overstocking, which I was wondering to overcome with vodka dosing, I also am planning in the future to keep corals. I have the tank already setup for a reef tank equipment wise, I am only waiting until the water parameters are good. I've been waiting a long time actually it is a 3 year old tank, wuith excessive nitrate and phosphate despite my best efforts, carbon, water changes, and phosban, refugium, etc. Are you saying this bacteria could cause disease to my fish?

[tmz]

There are not very many reports of harm to fish when dosing other than when overdosing causes bacterial blooms which depletes oxygen. I lost one fish in my reef system when I started dosing . It was an older wrasse that had some white splotches . The splotchiness increased and it died within the first week of dosing. Coincidence perhaps. But dosing carbon increases bacteria .

As far as I know most bacteria will thrive with additional organic carbon . It may also cause a bit of cyanobacteria. If it gets into anoxic areas it can lead to hydrogen sulfide fromation.

You really need to research the threads on it and Reefkeeping magazine to get a thorough understanding of he ups and downs and downs before messing with it.

[baldwinaquaman]

Ditto, I was planning on doing so, however I do have many expensive fish, so i wanted to double check on that.....do you know what the splotchiness was, or were'nt worried about having your fish healthy before you dosed?

[bertoni]

If you have a lot of expensive fish, I'd be extra cautious about dosing vodka. A very large skimmer (for the tank size) might be a good addition, if the system doesn't have one.

[tmz]

The fish ahd been in the tank for several years with about a dozen tank mates. No fish additions for well over a year; no observed fish illness or deaths in over two years at that time. . I was concerned about the splotches but there were only two or three very small spots . Just figured a small wound or infection. Couldn't catch the fish in any case without tearing up the reef. Did not expect it to die or for the little bit of splotchiness to spread that quickly. Don't know what it was.

[Billybeau1]

I tried vodka dosing on my FO. My fish did not like it.

Like Bertoni stated, I'd be very cautious. :)

[baldwinaquaman]

Nyone else have any experience? Did you dose smaller than reccommended or larger or what? how did the fish react?

[Billybeau1]

That's the problem. There seems to be many "recommended" doses.

That is what I do not like about it. My fish became skiddish and I stopped dosing. I started out small.

[baldwinaquaman]

anyone else have any experiences?

[Genetics]

I used it on a reeftank but did not notice any ill-effects on my fish population. I've seen a few threads where people state their fish become aggressive or skittish. Since none of these are desirable it may be useful for you to look into sugar dosing also.