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04/22/2012, 09:13 AM | #1 |
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mixing vodka and vinegar
hello,
i dose everyday vodka to my system (system +- 370 Gallon) now i want to start dosing also vinegar. can i mix the vodka and vinegar ? or should i dose them seperately? if i can mix them , how is this done? thx |
04/22/2012, 09:32 AM | #2 |
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Yes, you can mix them, but I wouldn't store either one highly diluted in water.
Direct mixing together is fine.
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04/22/2012, 09:40 AM | #3 |
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Hi Randy,
for example if i take 10ml of vodka , how much vinegar should i use to make the mix? i dose 60ml vodka everyday |
04/22/2012, 09:49 AM | #4 |
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It depends on what you want to accomplish. There is no preferred ratio. I choose to use only vinegar. Some use mixtures.
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04/22/2012, 09:53 AM | #5 |
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it's for reducing nitrates
is vinegar better than vodka? how much vinegar should i dose into my system and do i start with it? |
04/22/2012, 09:56 AM | #6 |
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I prefer vinegar, but many people use vodka or mixtures.
Check through some of the threads on vinegar dosing to see amounts. There are a variety of different strategies on how to determine doses. I prefer to go by the look of the tank, rather than measured values of nitrate or phosphate.
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Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef |
04/22/2012, 09:58 AM | #7 |
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Why do you prefer vinegar , is there a particular reason?
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04/22/2012, 10:12 AM | #8 |
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In my tank it seemed to cause less issues with cyano than did vodka. Some others have had similar experiences.
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04/22/2012, 10:23 AM | #9 |
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Randy thx for the info.
i go on search topics about dose vinegar grtz |
04/22/2012, 10:39 AM | #10 |
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Good luck.
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Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef |
04/22/2012, 10:42 AM | #11 |
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Randy , another question .
if i want to start today with dosing vinegar , how should i do it? i dose now everyday 60ml vodka and i think it isn't enough yet because the nitrate level in my tank is at this moment 24 (tested with the high sensitive test of D&D). so i started e few months ago with dosing vodka (1ml/25gallon) and increased it till the amount i'm adding now (60ml). but the nitrate levels do not lower anymore. i want to go to a level of 5 nitrates. so now i'm thinking : i dose each other day vodka and the other day vinegar , maybe this method is not good. or i can dose vodka and vinegar at the same time ? or i switch to fully vinegar dosing. but theu told me that the amount of vinegar is 8 times more then vodka , wich mean that i have to dose 480ml vinegar a day. i think it is very much. if i switch to vinegar , have i start all over again with the amount of dosing? how would you do this in my case? |
04/22/2012, 11:01 AM | #12 |
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What size tank?
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Randy Holmes-Farley Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef |
04/22/2012, 11:07 AM | #13 |
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my tank is 74.8 inch x 27.5 inch x 27.5 inch , the sump is 70.9 inch x 23.6 inch x 19.7 inch.
there is 330 Lbs of live rock and about 88 Lbs of araganite (oolite) sand in it. lights : 2 x 150 w HQI + 4 x 54w t5 + 4 x 24w t5 + 2 led modules (2 x 120w) also moonlight is installed . the skimmer is an deltec ap702. i have run 2 fluidised bed filter wich holds rowaphos (gfo) and activated carbon. There's gonna be an rsdb installed soon the returnpump is 1585g/h |
04/22/2012, 01:09 PM | #14 |
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total system is +/- 370 gallon
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04/22/2012, 01:15 PM | #15 |
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60 mL of vodka is a pretty substantial dose. If I were to start dosing vinegar in addition to the vodka, I'd start at 20 mL of vinegar per day and ramp to 60 ml per day over 2 weeks, then adjust based on how the tank looks.
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04/22/2012, 01:30 PM | #16 |
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Randy,
is this 20ml on the total system or is this 20ml/25 gallon? would i keep dosing the vodka and ad the vinegar ? or have i to cut the vodka dose with 20ml a day? |
04/22/2012, 03:32 PM | #17 |
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Total vinegar per day, assuming you keep the same vodka dose. More if you stop it.
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04/22/2012, 03:54 PM | #18 |
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earlier today i have dose my 60 ml vodka and i have dose 10ml of vinegar.
tomorrow i wil dose 60ml of vodka and i will try 20ml of vinegar. is that a good idea? So , Randy what you mean is i keep on dosing my 60ml of vodka and i start to dose 20ml of vinegar and raise the amount of vinegar over two weeks till i come to a dosing amount of 60ml vodka and 60ml vinegar? do I have to dose the vinegar slowly or doesn't it matter how fast you dose the vinegar? |
04/22/2012, 04:08 PM | #19 |
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That sounds like a fine plan. In this size tank, that amount of vinegar can be dosed all at once.
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04/22/2012, 04:17 PM | #20 |
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Randy,
Thx man for this great information i gonna try this and will post the results grtz vincent |
04/22/2012, 10:32 PM | #21 |
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Vincent,
I agree that 60ml of vodka is substantial. FWIW, I have a heavily fed system that is 600gallons and use only 26 ml of 80 proof vodka( 40% ethanol) and 64ml of 5% vinegar( ie 5% acetic acid ) per day and have been at that dose for abut 3.5 years . In total organic carbon,adding the vodka and vinegar it's equivalent to 34 ml of vodka and that keeps the NO 3 at around 0.2ppm per the salifert test kit. Some times, when nitrates are high at the start of dosing, folks have had difficulty getting a noticeable drop for months .
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Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals. |
04/23/2012, 12:25 AM | #22 |
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Hello TMZ,
i just can't seem to reduce the nitrate level below 20ppm with the 60ml vodka, that's why i gonna dose vinegar also , to try to lower the nitrates below 20ppm i dose the vodka also for months now and the results are not that what i was hoping grtz |
04/23/2012, 05:01 AM | #23 |
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Maybe your nitrate kit is not accurate?
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04/23/2012, 05:03 AM | #24 | |
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Quote:
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80g Rimless Acropora System reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2197142&page=31 Ed |
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04/23/2012, 05:45 AM | #25 |
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Yes, you can mix vodka and vinegar straight from the bottle.
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