Getting my fish drunk.....

[Chris]

Going to start dosing vodka (of the 5 o'clock variety) soon and was wondering how everyone goes about doing it.... I also dose mb-7 which says to shut off the skimmer for 4 hrs so should I dose it with the mb-7 and leave the skimmer off for 4 hrs still or should I do it after I turn the skimmer back on... does it matter??

Seams like I'd want the skimmer on and adding air back into the system as I have heard vodka can deplete oxygen in a system fairly easily (atleast if u OD)

[jolson10450]

when i dose MB7 i leave my skimmer on, i just dont want to forget to turn it on and cause disaster so it is safer to leave it on and set it at a lower flow rate through it so it doesnt overflow and gets thicker black nog.

but i started the same way, in my 29g i started with 1ml microbacter and every week i added .5ml and i stopped at 3ml. about 8 weeks after that i decided i wanted to do vodka so i kept the microbacter at 3ml and started off with .1ml vodka for 3 days, then .2 for 4 days so that totals a week, after that i increased the dose by .5ml until my phosphates and nitrates hit zero which was at roughly 4.7ml, at which point i cut the vodka down to 3ml now so i currently dose 3ml of vodka and 3ml of MB7 in my 29g tank daily. vodka goes in the fuge and MB7 in the display.

here is a chart you can follow for starting vodka, this is what i used. i also currently use mohawk vodka, it was cheaper than the 5 O' clock believe it or not lol! i think like $6 for a liter (larger than a 5th) just be sure to get unflavored vodka.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by jolson10450

when i dose MB7 i leave my skimmer on, i just dont want to forget to turn it on and cause disaster so it is safer to leave it on and set it at a lower flow rate through it so it doesnt overflow and gets thicker black nog.

but i started the same way, in my 29g i started with 1ml microbacter and every week i added .5ml and i stopped at 3ml. about 8 weeks after that i decided i wanted to do vodka so i kept the microbacter at 3ml and started off with .1ml vodka for 3 days, then .2 for 4 days so that totals a week, after that i increased the dose by .5ml until my phosphates and nitrates hit zero which was at roughly 4.5ml, at which point i cut the vodka down to 3ml now so i currently dose 3ml of vodka and 3ml of MB7 in my 29g tank daily. vodka goes in the fuge and MB7 in the display.

here is a chart you can follow for starting vodka, this is what i used. i also currently use mohawk vodka, it was cheaper than the 5 O' clock believe it or not lol! i think like $6 for a liter (larger than a 5th)

So you dose mb-7 daily still instead of doing the maintenance dose?

I am currently dosing 50ml (10 capfuls) of mb7 daily on my total system of about 250g....I really don't want to continue at that high level daily

I know you said you dose the vodka to the fuge and mb-7 to the display, I take it you dose them both together is that correct??

Thanks for the link (although it didnt show I got it when I hit the reply button), was trying to find that again so thanks for saving me the search lol

[jolson10450]

no problem and yes i dose them at the same time, i turn my pumps off to feed, in goes the food and microbacter and the vodka, then pumps automatically turn back on from the reefkeeper after 10 minutes.

as far as the maintenance dose to be honest i probably could cut it back completely, i have been at zero for about 6 months now at least so i may do that, but it is just habit now to do it daily. since it is only 3ml/day it lasts a while but in your system you will go through it like water. i was actually thinking since i am 6 months in of just cutting both in half and see how it goes, i did have a slight algae problem 2 months ago but new bulbs fixed that, i still have 3 frags with hair algae on them but i think it is from the plugs but i was hoping with the microbacter and vodka that it would eat the nutrients but the algae did but so far the algae is winning the battle so i will probably get a emerald crab for them.

honestly didnt think of reading the maintenance doseage on the bottle because i am so used to the daily dose so thanks for the suggestion.

also, before i was doing water changes weekly and now that the levels are at zero and i have been 2 part dosing i changed to 2 weeks, i may even go to three weeks for a test run but i am worried that the trace elements will be gone in my small system otherwise i would of already did 3 weeks or a month. now that i have over 20 pieces of sps in a 29g tank the calcium and stuff gets ate so quick but just saying this because if you do a water change every 2 weeks and you get the nitrates and phosphates at zero you can probably change to monthly since you have a 250g volume or even bi-monthly depeneding on the coral load.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by jolson10450

no problem and yes i dose them at the same time, i turn my pumps off to feed, in goes the food and microbacter and the vodka, then pumps automatically turn back on from the reefkeeper after 10 minutes.

as far as the maintenance dose to be honest i probably could cut it back completely, i have been at zero for about 6 months now at least so i may do that, but it is just habit now to do it daily. since it is only 3ml/day it lasts a while but in your system you will go through it like water. i was actually thinking since i am 6 months in of just cutting both in half and see how it goes, i did have a slight algae problem 2 months ago but new bulbs fixed that, i still have 3 frags with hair algae on them but i think it is from the plugs but i was hoping with the microbacter and vodka that it would eat the nutrients but the algae did but so far the algae is winning the battle so i will probably get a emerald crab for them.

honestly didnt think of reading the maintenance doseage on the bottle because i am so used to the daily dose so thanks for the suggestion.

also, before i was doing water changes weekly and now that the levels are at zero and i have been 2 part dosing i changed to 2 weeks, i may even go to three weeks for a test run but i am worried that the trace elements will be gone in my small system otherwise i would of already did 3 weeks or a month. now that i have over 20 pieces of sps in a 29g tank the calcium and stuff gets ate so quick but just saying this because if you do a water change every 2 weeks and you get the nitrates and phosphates at zero you can probably change to monthly since you have a 250g volume or even bi-monthly depeneding on the coral load.

You said you shut your pumps off.... does this include the return pump?

I understand though on the habit.... makes it easy to not forget to dose both as needed thats for sure! But yeah, the maintenance dosage is like half what your doing (or less) it will cut down on the expense a little too, although its not that bad on a smaller system every penny counts towards something cooler then bacteria lol

I am going to be adding a calcium reactor soon hopefully so I will probably cut back to monthly anyways.... have been doing bi-weekly fine though w/o dosing but the increase in my sps collection and growth will make it hard not to do something Im guessing... didnt think of the mb-7 and vodka in the sense of WC's being less needed though really so good idea, thanks

Any other tips or things I should watch for/ be concerned with before doing the vodka??

[jolson10450]

yes i turn off the return pump and my vortech when i feed, only other thing i can say to watch out for is keep an eye on your lps and see how they react, some people have a hard time with them and vodka dosing. also if you have sps currently in the tank keep and eye on the tips, burnt tips can happen if the your alk spikes to high. if you start to see white strings of bacteria then you are dosing do much.

here is the article link by the way for reference:

Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

[Chris]

Originally Posted by jolson10450

yes i turn off the return pump and my vortech when i feed, only other thing i can say to watch out for is keep an eye on your lps and see how they react, some people have a hard time with them and vodka dosing. also if you have sps currently in the tank keep and eye on the tips, burnt tips can happen if the your alk spikes to high. if you start to see white strings of bacteria then you are dosing do much.

here is the article link by the way for reference:

Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

Ok cool, so essentially you are giving the vodka some time in the sump w/ the skimmer before releasing it into the tank which was something I kinda wondered about. I knew about the tips, but the LPS is a new one (although makes sense since most like dirtier water). I have a few hammers a torch and a bta so if they have to go its not going to be a major deal, more room for sticks LOL

Thanks again for all the help justin!

[jolson10450]

Originally Posted by chort55

Ok cool, so essentially you are giving the vodka some time in the sump w/ the skimmer before releasing it into the tank which was something I kinda wondered about. I knew about the tips, but the LPS is a new one (although makes sense since most like dirtier water). I have a few hammers a torch and a bta so if they have to go its not going to be a major deal, more room for sticks LOL

Thanks again for all the help justin!

no problem, personally though i have a hammer but it grows slower than dirt, and i have acans but that is pretty much all i can grow in my tank. i have tried a brain and it looked sick, tried duncans and they just stayed shriveled, i had a favia brain for a bit but once i started dosing it never looked the same, same with blastos. but for some reason the acans look fantastic and the hammer looks good but it grows slow... just to kind of give you an idea but again my tank is 29g and yours is 250g that can make a world of difference so just keep an eye on them.

personally i don't understand why more people don't vodka/mb7 dose? it takes about 5 seconds to do per day and if you can get nitrates and phosphates at zero, and sps to look fantastic then why not, especially since a 5th of vodka can last 6+ months for $5 how can you go wrong? the MB7 is a little bit more pricey but still even if people just did vodka it still works for helping to feed the natural bacteria in the tank.

oh and 1 other thing people say to watch out for is some people can't grow any macro algae when dosing MB7 and vodka, i have the opposite, the stuff grows quicker than a weed in my fuge, just figured i would throw that out there if you dose and wonder why your macros die if you have any.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by jolson10450

no problem, personally though i have a hammer but it grows slower than dirt, and i have acans but that is pretty much all i can grow in my tank. i have tried a brain and it looked sick, tried duncans and they just stayed shriveled, i had a favia brain for a bit but once i started dosing it never looked the same, same with blastos. but for some reason the acans look fantastic and the hammer looks good but it grows slow... just to kind of give you an idea but again my tank is 29g and yours is 250g that can make a world of difference so just keep an eye on them.

personally i don't understand why more people don't vodka/mb7 dose? it takes about 5 seconds to do per day and if you can get nitrates and phosphates at zero, and sps to look fantastic then why not, especially since a 5th of vodka can last 6+ months for $5 how can you go wrong? the MB7 is a little bit more pricey but still even if people just did vodka it still works for helping to feed the natural bacteria in the tank.

oh and 1 other thing people say to watch out for is some people can't grow any macro algae when dosing MB7 and vodka, i have the opposite, the stuff grows quicker than a weed in my fuge, just figured i would throw that out there if you dose and wonder why your macros die if you have any.

Yeah, I can live with slow growth from my hammer/torch just dont want it to go away anytime soon.... The other stuff even if not fully killed off doesnt seem to do well in my tank anyways, quite possibly due to my angels but I like them better anyways so its a good trade off for me, atleast I guess having that for a reason is better then no idea why they dont do well

The only reason I can really see not messing with either would be the reason I have put it off as long as I have.... no issues to really worry about trying it. I still dont really have any major issues that make me REALLY want/ need to try it other then heard good success stories on using both and figured couldnt hurt to have a little clearer lookin water lol

I have heard of the macro's dying off, which wouldn't bother me I have never been able to get mine to grow much anyways..... even with tap water, overfeeding and infrequent water changes