Vsv

[Krazykarl]

Was wondering if anyonr doses vodka/sugar/vinrgar!? I wAs doing alot of reading and i totally understand what it does and how it works. I have brown dusting on my glass from this new rock so if i can avoid gha i want to. However im worried about doing it and crashing the whole system. Anyone do this woth just vinegar? That would be cooll...

 

[phi delt reefer]

i believe vinegar - aka acetic acid - can influence the tanks ph so many just go with vodka instead. A 26er will last the better part of a year

purpose of vsv is to diversify the carbon sources introduced into the water, creating an environment where multiple strains of de-nitifying bacteria can thrive and help keep nitrates at 0.

Does it work is the real question. There isnt much proof online and from a scientific perspective isnt carbon just carbon - regardless of the source?

 

[pulpfiction1]

shaneh uses VSV,and quite sucessfully as ive heard

 

[Cal_stir]

it's a carbon source, basically the same as bio-pellets, aerobic bacteria multply uptaking no3 and ph4 in the building of their cell walls, the bacteria then dies and must be skimmed out, a good skimmer is a must.

 

[pulpfiction1]

myself i had great success with just the vodka,ive read others found no difference,if you try it, research a bit and go slow,dont know if your interested but this is the directions i used for vodka dosing,at one point i pushed it a bit till i had a bloom the backed off 10% and stayed there till i switched over to pellets

For a 100 gallon tank that would work out to 3 ml./6 or:

    .5 ml.
    10 drops.
      or
    .1 tsp.
    .0168333 oz.

 
For those of you who choose to use 80 proof (40% alcohol) Vodka, the equivalent dosage for a 100 gallon tank would be about:
   
    1.2 ml.
    24 drops
      or
    .238 tsp.
    .04 oz.

 

[phi delt reefer]

pulp - u running pellets and MB7?

i know lots run vodka and mb7 but i never hear anyone running pellets and mb7. as cal said pellets are only a carbon source so where are people getting the bacteria from?

 

[Blob-79]

actually alot of people run pellets and dose mb7. personally I run pellets and dose zeobak.

When I run out I was planning on trying mb7 maybe.

 

[TORX]

I have been vodka dosing for a few weeks now. Nitrates went from being too high to count on a standard test to 10 in a few weeks. Only have about 55gals total water between tank and sump. Currently using 3ml and skimming like crazy. Started dosing small and went up by .5ml/day over the first week until I hit 3ml. Just tested tonight and it is 12.5mg/l. Will be dosing high for a few more days, then reduce the dose in half most likely. It works great, did a lot of reading, but it has saved me. Just bought a mickey of Banff Ice that was on sale for $10, should last me most of a year.

 

[Cal_stir]

pulp - u running pellets and MB7?

i know lots run vodka and mb7 but i never hear anyone running pellets and mb7. as cal said pellets are only a carbon source so where are people getting the bacteria from?

our systems have alot of aerobic bacteria and the carbon fuels their reproduction, although they do not eat nitrates like anaerobic bacteria do, they uptake it along with po4 in reprodution and when they die and get skimmed out the nitrate and po4 are removed from the system, the vsv method prevents monoculture bacteria, although i don't believe bacteria dosing is required with vsv, i do believe you should dose a multiple strain bacteria like zoebak or mb7 if you only dose a single carbon source like vodka or bio-pellets to prevent a monoculture bacteria

 

[Krazykarl]

My problem is im unsure exactly how much to dose. The brown film on my glass tells me my nitrates are high and/or po4. I havent measured yet but thats usually the case for me. I have roughly 150 gallons total water volume less 30% rock... So to be safe ill say 100 gallons total to treat... Ive read ppl making a vsv solution of like 250 ml and using a pump to dose, but can i make this solution and use a syringe to dose daily slowly? Like squirt 0.5ml into the sump daily and increase as per the instructions? This is where i get confused cuz i know overdoing it will reduce o2 and could wipe out the tank. How do you do it? I dont have ato

 

[Krazykarl]

Ill most likely dose just vodka and vinegar. No sugar. Or even just vodka to keep it simple. Prob the latter. If i can simply suck up a daily dose via syringe and squirt into the sump ill start dosing, i just dont wanna ruin my tank. What about dosing vinegar only???

 

[pulpfiction1]

pulp - u running pellets and MB7?

i know lots run vodka and mb7 but i never hear anyone running pellets and mb7. as cal said pellets are only a carbon source so where are people getting the bacteria from?

i didn't MB7 and i have just tossed in a tablespoon of white table sugar from time to time,never tried the vinegar,my nitrates and phosphate's were more than acceptable to me,i never did achieve zero but was under 10ppm,i took it slow and the changes were gradual

 

[Cal_stir]

i agree, take it slow and be patient, don't expect good things to happen quickly, i believe most failures in this hobby can be attributed to impatience

 

[Krazykarl]

Ok so i just measured my no3 and po4...

No3 - 20 ppm
Po4 - 0.5 ppm

I have all softies in my tank...mushrooms, leathers, kenya, xenia, etc... Everything is growinf fast!!! But i have algae film on my glass thata driving me nuts. I went and bought a mickey of vodka today but im very worried about starting it. I do not wanna dose daily but rather weekly... 2 times a week low dose. Should i start dosing? Or should i let it rock with water changes and hope ir dies off!? My ultumate goal is to reduces algae build up but maintain growth. Lps likes some nitrates. I can deal with 10 ppm or close...

Someone chime in...

 

[pulpfiction1]

daily

 

[Krazykarl]

Ya i started readig again. Gonma follow the reef central regime. 0.4 ml for my tank water and increase as per instructions. Fingers crossed!!!!

 

[pulpfiction1]

got a link to that reef central regime?

 

[Krazykarl]

Well ill be damned if i can find it again. I found it perusing the web... Here is a different site that read the exact same way sorry

http://www.aquariumslife.com/saltwater-101/dosing_vodka/

 

[pulpfiction1]

here is where i started on my 99 gallon cube with 50 gallon sump at half full,then increased each week for about 6 weeks,got chicken and waited a couple of monthe before i upped it again when my n03 didnt fall far enough for the heavy load i had.eventually hit about 3ml as a stable dose and stayed there,i didnt try for zero as it was already better part of 6 months and figured something would go wrong after i got that one big bloom and cut back to 3 ml a day

dosage for a 100 gallon tank would be about:
   
    1.2 ml.
    24 drops
      or
    .238 tsp.
    .04 oz.