Vodka Dosing Table

[bertoni]

This table is given as a correction to the original table in "Vodka Dosing... Distilled" on Reefkeeping.com. The original seems to have some mathematical errors. The entries give the suggested dose in ml for the given volume of water.

If you'd like to dose vinegar (5%), just multiply these numbers by 8.

80 Proof Vodka	25g	50g	100g	200g
First 3 Days	0.1	0.2	0.4	0.8
Next 4 Days	0.2	0.4	0.8	1.6
Week 2	0.7	1.4	2.8	5.6
Week 3	1.2	2.4	4.8	9.6
Week 4	1.7	3.4	6.8	13.6
Week 5	2.2	4.4	8.8	17.6
Week 6	2.7	5.4	10.8	21.6
Week 7	3.2	6.4	12.8	25.6
Week 8	3.7	7.4	14.8	29.6
Week 9	4.2	8.4	16.8	33.6
Week 10	4.7	9.4	18.8	37.6
Week 11	5.2	10.4	20.8	41.6
Week 12	5.7	11.4	22.8	45.6
Week 13	6.2	12.4	24.8	49.6
Week 14	6.7	13.4	26.8	53.6
Week 15	7.2	14.4	28.8	57.6
Week 16	7.7	15.4	30.8	61.6

Simple addition is fine for intermediate water volume. For example, a tank with 150g of actual water volume should get the dose for a 100g tank plus a 50g tank.

Per Jon' request I'm adding a few comments on the chart and suggestions for max maintenance dosing from a post of mine in a thread thread on vinegar dosing:

The chart was introduced about 9 years ago when carbon dosing began to be more popular. Folks were experiencing bacterial blooms,O2 deprivation and other negatives from rapid and seemingly excessive start up dosing in search of rapid nitrate reduction. The chart provides a very slow safe guide for amping up, but did not provide a cap or guide for maintenance dosing which would vary from tank to tank. The approach then was basically to keep amping up slowly until a rapid decline in nitrate and/or a bacterial bloom occurred and then to back off by half for maintenance. Randy and others wondered how high you could actually go ; hence he experimented , noting 2 ml of 5% acetic acid vinegar per gallon( equivalent to .25 ml of 80 proof vodka ) led to serious problems in his tank and recovery when he backed off to the .5ml range.

I wanted to know what others were experiencing ,so I started a thread on another forum . From contributions to that thread , reading a hundred or more anecdotal accounts over the years , Randy's work and about 10 years of dosing I've settled on recommending .3 to .6 ml of 5% acetic acid vinegar or equivalent amount of including 40% ethanol vodka(80 proof) per gallon as a reasonable normative max cap range with tweaks up or down based on observations of a particular tank . tmz

[rsucre]

Thanks Jonathan.