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sean.journot · 09/28/2017, 08:11 PM

I am in the process of cycling my first saltwater tank (first tank ever actually). It's a 29 gallon tank with a 65G corallife skimmer, reef octopus hang on back reactor, a simple power head and heater. I have 20 pounds of dry rock, 20 pounds of very fine aragonite sand, and a single live rock from petco. I am doing a fishless cycle. I have the reactor loaded with 2 cups of tightly packed carbon(switching to bio pellets once fish have been in the tank for a couple of weeks).

day 1: When I first set up the tank I attempted to use clear ammonia to start the tank but added way to much; after a 100% water change I dropped a prawn in the tank.
day 4: Prawn was removed at day 4 with ammonia at 8ppm
day 8: First positive test for nitrites
day 10: First positive test for nitrates
day 15: ammonia dropped to zero, began dosing clear ammonia up to 4ppm daily
day 23: stopped daily dosing of ammonia. nitrates and nitrites have been greater than 80ppm and 5pmm since day 17.
day 26: dosed ammonia up to 2ppm to feed bacteria. nitrates greater than 80ppm, nitrites greater than 5pmm
day 27: dosed 6 drops of 80 proof vodka. tested water 2 hours later. .25pmm NH4, .25ppm NO3, 5.0ppm NO4.

I have not done any water changes since the prawn was added. I tested my water several times to verify my last readings. I did not test the water before I added the vodka. I don't see how it's possible for my nitrates to drop that rapidly. I am assuming that the sudden drop in nitrates and nitrites are associated with the vodka dose. I figure that somehow all of the nutrients were consumed in a matter of hours or the vodka interfered with my tests and gave me bad data. I only added 6 drops of vodka; I am reluctant to correlate these two events. From what I understand vodka dosing should take weeks.

Since I was planning on doing a giant water change once nitrites hit zero I figured I would experiment with vodka dosing; its just a box of rocks right now so I figured there would be no harm. Did I completely screw up my tanks chemistry? Has this happened to anyone else? I am shocked at these results and I have a very hard time believing 6 drops of vodka could have this effect.

09/28/2017, 08:11 PM	#1
sean.journot Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Posts: 9	Extreme nitrate drop from vodka dosing I am in the process of cycling my first saltwater tank (first tank ever actually). It's a 29 gallon tank with a 65G corallife skimmer, reef octopus hang on back reactor, a simple power head and heater. I have 20 pounds of dry rock, 20 pounds of very fine aragonite sand, and a single live rock from petco. I am doing a fishless cycle. I have the reactor loaded with 2 cups of tightly packed carbon(switching to bio pellets once fish have been in the tank for a couple of weeks). day 1: When I first set up the tank I attempted to use clear ammonia to start the tank but added way to much; after a 100% water change I dropped a prawn in the tank. day 4: Prawn was removed at day 4 with ammonia at 8ppm day 8: First positive test for nitrites day 10: First positive test for nitrates day 15: ammonia dropped to zero, began dosing clear ammonia up to 4ppm daily day 23: stopped daily dosing of ammonia. nitrates and nitrites have been greater than 80ppm and 5pmm since day 17. day 26: dosed ammonia up to 2ppm to feed bacteria. nitrates greater than 80ppm, nitrites greater than 5pmm day 27: dosed 6 drops of 80 proof vodka. tested water 2 hours later. .25pmm NH4, .25ppm NO3, 5.0ppm NO4. I have not done any water changes since the prawn was added. I tested my water several times to verify my last readings. I did not test the water before I added the vodka. I don't see how it's possible for my nitrates to drop that rapidly. I am assuming that the sudden drop in nitrates and nitrites are associated with the vodka dose. I figure that somehow all of the nutrients were consumed in a matter of hours or the vodka interfered with my tests and gave me bad data. I only added 6 drops of vodka; I am reluctant to correlate these two events. From what I understand vodka dosing should take weeks. Since I was planning on doing a giant water change once nitrites hit zero I figured I would experiment with vodka dosing; its just a box of rocks right now so I figured there would be no harm. Did I completely screw up my tanks chemistry? Has this happened to anyone else? I am shocked at these results and I have a very hard time believing 6 drops of vodka could have this effect.