vodka dosing

there are a few places this can be read about but i felt it best to point out marc site (he is from the dfw area and makes custom refugiums and also sells ro units and is know on the dfwmas forums. the point of vodka dosing is to lower nitrates and phosphates and in marcs case it worked (keep in mind this is not an overnight miracle cure i do not believe one exsists). here is a link to marc page and as i find more good ones i will edit to add links. also this is more for the seasoned saltwater aquarist.


http://www.melevsreef.com/vodka_dosing.html

i DO NOT know if this will work with freshwater but perhaps one of our freshwater members might try it and see if it works for them .

I honestly knew that they were talking about McCORMICK Vodka. It seems legit and everything, but I have some fry in there that might get a little drunk.

philuponthepho wrote:

I honestly knew that they were talking about McCORMICK Vodka. It seems legit and everything, but I have some fry in there that might get a little drunk.

if you read the article i linked you will see that all you need is the cheapest rotgut of vodka out there

yup yup, i'd rather just do a water change but vodka might be alot easier.

philuponthepho wrote:

yup yup, i'd rather just do a water change but vodka might be alot easier.

takes longer but will apparently get rid of more nitrates adn keep them down.

There isn't anything on the article that suggests freshwater so I'm a bit skeptical. Honestly, all you really need is a gigantic tub of activated carbon and run your water through that.

philuponthepho wrote:

There isn't anything on the article that suggests freshwater so I'm a bit skeptical. Honestly, all you really need is a gigantic tub of activated carbon and run your water through that.

carbon wont do it you would need some kind of denitrate (or nitrate absorbing stuff). i have never even seen anything in a pet shop for removing nitrates from freshwater aquariums other than like amquel+, however saltwater has products from seachem, plans for diy denitrators, commercially available denitrators and this method. i have never seen anything anywhere for freshwater about removing high nitrates, i would like to see someone (with some cheap fish obviously ) try it out on there freshwater setup and see if it is also a viable solution for freshwater as well but i did put this in the slatwater section as that is what the article was using this method for. it would be interesting to see if it is viable for fresh though.

well i got a large cheap bottle of rot gut vodka today to try this out and report my own findings, however i have to get a test kit before i can begin because i currently do not have one (ran out and dont have any cash right now)