Advice? Vodka Dosing

dosing a nano.... not recommended.... there is a chart in the link i posted before.... depending on the size.... I have dosed a 20 be fore but only after experience doing other tanks

 

Alright thanks ill take a look thanks for posting the pics they look good

 

There’s a ton of great resources for carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar, pellets or sugar) online and many threads on RC that chronicle progress. One of the most used resources (dosing instructions) was quoted earlier.

I dose both vodka and vinegar and initially started in November 2014 to combat elevated nitrates (common reason). Many people don’t recommend dosing until you have stable tank parameters whereas I started as a Band-Aid later finding the elevated nitrates were due to die off caused by an AirWick room freshener placed too close to the tank.

Initially I started with vodka only and soon (<3 months) ran into and outbreak of green and red algae which can be caused by dosing vodka. Shortly after adding vinegar to the mix (+/- 30 days) the outbreak subsided and I haven’t had a reoccurrence of the issue.

With the reduction of nitrates carbon dosing does visibly enhance water quality (within days), lead to accelerated coral growth and enhanced coloration. I’ve been dosing on the high side since this summer and am thinking of reducing volume. Currently, on a 120, I dose 30 ML of vinegar and 15 ML of vodka daily and don’t see a reason to stop.

Negative impacts from carbon dosing can occur when you increase or decrease dosage too quickly and in my opinion decreasing too quickly (or stopping) can be more detrimental to the tank.

As others have mentioned both vodka and vinegar should be inexpensive (i.e. house brand) and non-flavored.

Give it a try as you’ll certainly see some benefits from it – just don’t rush it and follow the established dosing charts.

-Eric