I need a Vodka and Vinegar recipe and dosing instructions.

[oseymour]

For a couple of reasons I decided in the last couple of days to move from biopellets to vodka & vinegar.

I've used straight vodka in the past but I'm looking for a recipe or guide to dosing a vodka & vinegar mix.

Does someone have a link or can refer me to a thread?

Thanks.

[bertoni]

Vinegar is about 1/8 the concentration of vodka in terms of organic carbon, so you can substitute the two based on that ratio. There's a formula that details a DIY version of the Red Sea NoPOx product, if you're interested. Otherwise, you can mix and experiment. This article gives a vodka dosing schedule:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

[oseymour]

Vinegar is about 1/8 the concentration of vodka in terms of organic carbon, so you can substitute the two based on that ratio. There's a formula that details a DIY version of the Red Sea NoPOx product, if you're interested. Otherwise, you can mix and experiment. This article gives a vodka dosing schedule:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

Bertoni,

Vinegar or Vodka - is there one you personally prefer over the other? I read some old posts by Randy Homes Farley that he prefers vinegar because he believes something in the vinegar brings out brighter colors in SPS.

Is this also something you've noticed?

[jason2459]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2408985

In there is also a spreadsheet showing the ratio assumed to be in redsea's nopox and TMZ's ratio. I've been using TMZ's ratio as I like the higher amount of vinegar in it .

Its about 690ml of vinegar to 310ml of vodka. He bollus doses it separately. I've been mixing it all together and placed on a timer to run a peristaltic pump. Daily its about 36ml of the mix for me.

[bertoni]

Some tanks seems to do better with vinegar. Others do better with vodka. I'd probably flip a coin, actually, or maybe consider which was less expensive. I've never needed to dose carbon, so I have no personal experience with this approach.

[oseymour]

Some tanks seems to do better with vinegar. Others do better with vodka. I'd probably flip a coin, actually, or maybe consider which was less expensive. I've never needed to dose carbon, so I have no personal experience with this approach.

Vinegar it is because my wife just got two large jugs at BJs on sale.

She knows I use it to clean pumps so she picked it up for me.

[reelfreak]

I switched from straight vodka to vodka/vinegar and have seen improved results for my system. I made 125ml rodi 375 ml vodka and 500 ml of vinegar.

Wound up dosing 10ml if that into my system split into two doses. 160g total volume.

Vodka alone work well for several years for me, but something changed and I seemed to get a weird stringy bacterial bloom. Reducing dosage didn't help, but going to DIY nopox seemed to really help me out

[eder10986]

Call me a rookie. But I'd love to know why we want to dose vodka or vinegar and how much do y'all dose? Almost have my chemistry on point but certainly want to entertain anything I can to make things better.


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[oseymour]

I switched from straight vodka to vodka/vinegar and have seen improved results for my system. I made 125ml rodi 375 ml vodka and 500 ml of vinegar.


I've read multiple places that you should not add water to vinegar/vodka as over time you might see some black bacteria in the storage container. Are you not seeing this?

[oseymour]

Call me a rookie. But I'd love to know why we want to dose vodka or vinegar and how much do y'all dose? Almost have my chemistry on point but certainly want to entertain anything I can to make things better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I dose vodka to help keep my nitrates/phosphates. I have a 75 gallon heavily stocked reef that gets fed a lot. I have no refugium so it's hard to control nutrients without them.

In the past I used vodka according to the instructions posted here (http://melevsreef.com/node/184).

[bertoni]

This article covers vodka dosing in some detail:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

[reelfreak]

The amount of rodi i am adding does not dilute it enough to allow the growth, but you are correct that excess dilution apparently can cause it.n

I found the ratio from others in the very long "DIY nopox" thread,who reported good success.

My results from carbon dosing (both types I've tried) have been very good.

[bertoni]

If you add enough water to a mixture of vinegar and vodka, bacteria will be able to grow in the solution, but I agree that the DIY NOPOx formula seems to be fine.

[oseymour]

Just a quick update on what's happening.

When I posted this article - July 1st. I starter a 2:1 - vinegar to vodka mix and started with 5ml dose.

I am now up to 10ml and my nitrates are down to 5. My SPS are growing and showing polyp extension. I mean this is the first time ever that my acro frags are showing polyps. They were growing and encrusting their plugs before but no polyps were showing.

My LPS and softies were not looking as good as they were in the past so I started the Red Sea Coral Colors and amino acid program.

i am going to automate the dosing with the Neptune DOS once I get to my maintenance dosing amount.

[bertoni]

That sounds like good progress. I"m glad to hear your SPS are doing well.

[oseymour]

While everything is going well, I notice that the vodka and vinegar dosing tube is milky white - is that normal?

[bertoni]

I wouldn't worry about that. The vinegar might be degrading the plastic a bit.

[amcvay1979]

My DIY NoPox mixture is 60% vinegar and 40% vodka. It seems, in my tank at least, that more vinegar will reduce my nitrate to zero but I need more vodka to get my phosphates to zero. So I have a gallon of vinegar on one dosing pump head and a 750ml vodka bottle on another pump head. I dose the vinegar around noon in one large dose and the vodka very early in the a.m. in one dose. If I notice my glass is white and needs scraped every day I cut back on the vinegar. If I notice phosphates are registering and climbing, I up the dose of Vodka.

My vinegar tube turns milky white too, nothing to worry about, but make sure if you're using a dosing pump to check the ends of the tubes in your sump so they don't clog and be sure to check your tubes in the bottles so they aren't floating and sucking air. Both have happened to me and if you don't notice it right away you can have an algae bloom due to nutrient spikes.

[jason2459]

I mix the two into one of these
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160801/3e84024877cb6e25e63d959230791a2f.jpg

and then pour into and dose from an empty vinegar container.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160801/79f2c54001d426e5f654c635d947137d.jpg