Can you dose Vodka or use biopellets in tank that is going thru the nitrogen cycle?

[Paolissimo]

Today as I was watching my tank that is going thru the nitrogen cycle and I started wondering...Ammonia levels are dropping and nitrate is starting to rise what would happen if I start dosing vodka or use biopellets? I have another tank and I never used either methods, I only know how they work from reading the forums so I do not have first hand experience. The reason I asked is to understand if they would speed up the process a bit.
Thanks

 

[Mattl22]

Very good question! I would try it see how it goes there is no way I would start a tank from scratch with out implementing some kinda carbon dosing from the get go ! Makes life much eaiser

 

[CaptiveReef]

I dose an 80 proof vodka/white vinegar combination at a rate of 1 drop per 25 gallons 3 times a week. Most important thing to remember is you must have a powerful efficiently running protein skimmer if you dose vodka/vinegar. You can start dosing now it will handle the phosphate/nitrate right away.

 

[Paolissimo]

Started dosing vodka two days ago, after I came up with a dose that I think is good for my tank. I will post my levels later on this week

 

[Boomer]

I would have waited till the cycle was fully completed, as you may cause a shift in the population desnity of the nitrifiers.

 

[Paolissimo]

I would have waited till the cycle was fully completed, as you may cause a shift in the population desnity of the nitrifiers.

Boomer
i will see what happens.

 

[motortrendz]

i am dosing vodka myself 80 proof at a rate of 0.8ml for 100g, for my po4 problem, but i think you should have waitied till the cycle completed on its own, you may cause a baterial spike when its not needed.. the biggest thig in this hobby is dont fix what isnt broke.. by adding when u dont need im afraid you may cause a problem..

 

[NL146]

i am dosing vodka myself 80 proof at a rate of 0.8ml for 100g, for my po4 problem, but i think you should have waitied till the cycle completed on its own, you may cause a baterial spike when its not needed.. the biggest thig in this hobby is dont fix what isnt broke.. by adding when u dont need im afraid you may cause a problem..

Is this working for you?

 

[motortrendz]

i jyust started abt 2 weeks ago, started at 0.4ml per 100g for a week and then doubled it to 0.8ml for a week and i noticed i came down from .50 down to .38, so i think its working well, i didnt change anything else i do, i still feed heavy i change out my skimmer every day and my filter sock every 3-4 days..

 

[NL146]

Great! How about algae growth?

 

[motortrendz]

sofar none, but i heard somepeople getting slime algea, but i still do h2o2 so i dont think i will have any issues with that..

 

[Paolissimo]

sofar none, but i heard somepeople getting slime algea, but i still do h2o2 so i dont think i will have any issues with that..

Regarding the bacteria growth. This is what I think should happen (again tank is brand new, no livestock but has a few lb of live rock in the sump from an existing established tank). The vodka should feed the bacteria that consume nitrate and phosphate since it starting to raise. I added a cube of frozen misys to encourage nitrate spike so that vodka can take care of that, and encourage bacteria growth. I don't have livestock and the lights are off, so I have no algae growth, yet. The live rock that is in the main display tank is all pukami rock, dead rock. So what i am shooting for is that when I turn the light on, i should have zero algae because my water should be super clean. Again i want to point out that I have never done this, so I might be totally wrong, but no livestock should be killed since the tank has no fish, corals or snails. The only thing that can happen is that once i turn on the light, and maybe add a fish, I should get an algae bloom. Tank was set up at the end of November so roughly a month. This is more of an experiment then a real set up, just to see what happens with vodka dosing and see if I like it for my main tank.
Motortrenz when I dosed hydrogen peroxide to get rid of dyno my tank became full of micro bobbles and my skimmer stopped working, plus it didn't really help with dyno (dipping the corals in h202 did it). I was wondering if you were experiencing the same issues i did.

 

[motortrendz]

if your tank is getting bubbles with h202 your dosing way too much.. 1ml per 10g.. and it doenst take away the algea right away it takes a week or 2 but you will notice a decline in diatoms and other algeas and you wont be cleaning the glass as much.. i never had my skimmer cut out from it.. i really think you put too much.. dipping is ok with some corals, sps will almost certanly die from it, zoas do expecially good from it, if theyre not opening up they may have a bacterial growth on them and dipping them in a solution of 50/50 saltwater and h202 for a few min usually fixes that and they open up next day.. alot of people will dip just the base of the frags in the mix to kill any growth but not hurt the frag..

i have been using vodka and h202 together now for a few weeks and have not seen any bad results..

 

[reefoman]

What's vodka 80 proof?

 

[motortrendz]

What's vodka 80 proof?

or 40 proof

 

[reefoman]

or 40 proof

Yes looks like is about 40%
I'm european and we using "%" that's why when I saw 80 proof first thing coming to my head you guys using spirit.

 

[motortrendz]

well there is different proof vodkas, i ue 80 proof which i believe is 40% alcohol by volume and there is also 40 proof which is 20% but you have to use double the dose...

 

[Paolissimo]

if your tank is getting bubbles with h202 your dosing way too much.. 1ml per 10g.. and it doenst take away the algea right away it takes a week or 2 but you will notice a decline in diatoms and other algeas and you wont be cleaning the glass as much.. i never had my skimmer cut out from it.. i really think you put too much.. dipping is ok with some corals, sps will almost certanly die from it, zoas do expecially good from it, if theyre not opening up they may have a bacterial growth on them and dipping them in a solution of 50/50 saltwater and h202 for a few min usually fixes that and they open up next day.. alot of people will dip just the base of the frags in the mix to kill any growth but not hurt the frag..

i have been using vodka and h202 together now for a few weeks and have not seen any bad results..

My issue with dyno is fixed, honestly i think it was a combination of heavy dosing of h2o2, light out, high ph etc etc..after the issue was resolved i stopped the dosing i felt there was not need to dose more.

 

[motortrendz]

i continue at half the dose, to maintain a higher level of disolved o2 in the water..

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Do either h2o2 or the vodka make your skimmer go crazy?