Germans are dosing Vodka?

[jman785]

Have you guys been up to date, and reading on the Germans dosing Vodka to their tanks?

[Sugar Magnolia]

ummm. surely you jest.

[dono]

first electricity and now vodka? how awesome is this hobby! haha

[jman785]

I'm serious, it has something to do with making a bacteria bloom, to lower PO4 and NO3...

I'll find more information and post it here later.

[MikeS]

Yeah, I've read about it....

I've seen several posts on RC over the last year or so....it seems risky to me, some of them have had problems with their corals after using vodka...

besides...what could be worse than a drunk coral? :lol:

Mike

[jman785]

:lol:

Well, I've also heard about dosing sugar....before anyone does this, I've also read, that it can cause algae blooms, so be careful...but supposedly it causes an bacterial bloom too...thus making corals turn brown, as their zooxanthellae were multiplying like crazy....in order to make them get their colors back, they simply starve the tank of nutrients, that are making the zooxanthellae produce so fast...

I'm wondering if you dose sugar, to get faster producing zooxanthellae, if you can grow SPS faster, than to get the colors you love back, starve the Phosphates, etc...

[FishinInTheDark]

Okay, salt, vinegar and kalk, baking soda, sugar, vodka, add a little electricity and I think frankenstein will jump out of the tank! (No plaigarism intended Mike!) Freshwater aquarists often go to great lengths to make their tanks look unnatural: colored gravel, ornaments, neon lights, etc. But, we salties will do wierder stuff to our tanks just to make them look natural!

[MikeS]

don't forget lemon juice for the aptasia.... :lol:

hmmm....salt, baking soda, lemon juice, vinager, pickling lime, and vodka....we may have stumbled on the next big bar drink fad... :lol:

Mike

[FishinInTheDark]

Sounds more like Jekyl and Hyde tonic to me! :) :badgrin:

[Condiman]

What a waste of good vodka :? 8)

[MikeS]

I like Stolychnia 100 proof myself.... :lol:

Although some of what I have read on the subject shows some promise...but I'll let those guys booze up their corals for a few years and perfect the technique before I give it a shot....get it? a "shot"..... :lol:

Mike

[jman785]

lol

I'm planning on reading it a little, and testing it on a few small setups, dedicated to stuff like this ;)

[winnona15]

popov for me thanx lol

think of dosing with vodka and your fish running into things rocks aquarium sides other fish lol
how do people think of these things dosing with vodka?!?!

[jman785]

The dosing with vodka...is because of the sugars in the vodka? Or something like that. There is a reason...not just hey lets throw some vodka in my reef tank day :)

[winnona15]

lol

[jman785]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288714

There is the thread!

[cich1]

my cleaner shrimp is crazy enough without the juice

[Sugar Magnolia]

spend all that money stocking a tank and risk losing it all to a few shots of vodka as an experiment? I think not. craziness I tell ya!

[jman785]

Sugar Magnolia,

I'm talking about liverock and an SPS frag or two...nothing much.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I understand, I just couldn't imagine trying something like that in my tank. Scary.

My son jokingly asked me the other day what would happen if he tossed the cat in my 30...has anyone dosed a cat before and if so what were the effects? :)

[gman0526]

Any of you guys seen "My big Fat greek wedding"? How about some Windex according to thew old man in the movie it's good for everything. :razz:

PS. Seriously Jared is worth a "shot" in a very small scale just to cheapen costs., like a 10 gal. with some Acrop.

I would not do this to my tank....especially if I had a sandbed. I read 2 pages of the RC thread but closed it down.

Here's why...adding a Carbon source to fuel a bacterial bloom is risky IMO. Especially if you have a sandbed. You cannot pick and choose which bacteria use that Carbon source....they will ALLL use it. Sure the AOBs and NOBs will use it but so will the Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) and Sulphate Oxidizing Bacteria (SOB). Who wants to promote a Sulphide zone in their sandbed??? Most people have one and don't even know it. They think that because they cannot see a grey line indicating a sulphide zone, they don't have one. However, once enough Iron gets introduced via waterchanges, feedings, etc., the grey line will magically appear.

If you were at your wits end and wanted to try this, why use Vodka? You would be much better off with moonshine or Everclear http://www.webtender.com/db/ingred/71 . (Note the warning for humans.....I think they should update their webpage to include corals too LOL). It is a lot more pure than Vodka and the Carbon is right on the front (CH3CH2OH).

Assuming you don't accidentally overdose, I have to question whether the effects on N and P are permanent or temporary. Bacteria are primarily food limited (but also somewhat housing space limited). There are bacteria that are motile and run around the water column but for the most part, they live in biofilms on a surface. After the bacterial bloom, how many of the bacteria are we really skimming out vs creating thicker biofilms? If my hypothesis regarding this answer is true, what do you think is going to happen once you stop adding a Carbon source? If I'm correct, the nutrient-limited bacteria will die and release N and P into the water column but it will be all in one day (most bacteria don't live more than 24 hours). Yikes...would you collect skimmate for a couple of months and then dump it into your tank all at once?

[mojoreef]

Good post Mantis, and I agree totally. With the addition of vodka (carbon) it makes the bacteria respirate faster and thus fix N and P quicker. Problem is that most bacteria only live about a day, so your bulding up corpses aweful fast. Sounds like a complete waste of time and good Vodka.


Mike

[jman785]

The trick, supposedly, is skimming efficiently from what I've been reading.

[Aquaman]

AND HERE ALL ALONG I'VE BEEN GIVING MY FISH CABO WABO!

[mojoreef]

LOL aquaman, none of that cheap stuff.

Jared It would be hard to assume that you could skimm all or even most of the bacteria out. As Mantis says they would probibly get bound in biofilm. Its one of those screwing with mother nature things....we never win.


Mike

[guzz64]

Yep, Vodka is the key. I have been doing topoffs with smirnoff. My fish hava all got little umbrellas and the corals are vibrant, they even sing.(OK, only when I drink the topoff.) :banana:

[funkybozu]

sounds like a salty dog to me....
looks more of a pain, you would have to keep an eye on every thing
might be a good kick off if your cycling?

[jman785]

I lost track of it...I found it to be ridiculous.

Yeah might be a good way to kick off cycling, once Ammonia and Nitrite, were in to play then you could try it.

[Funky_Fish14]

Lol!

Dont forget Garlic for Ich!

Chris

[jman785]

Funky_Fish14,

Why are you laughing? Something funny about adding alcohol to a fish tank, in increase bacteria to decrease N and P?

The garlic for Ich is a remedy that doesn't work IMO by the way... :thumbsup:

With the addition of vodka (carbon) it makes the bacteria respirate faster and thus fix N and P quicker. Problem is that most bacteria only live about a day, so your bulding up corpses aweful fast.

This is why you have a skimmer ;)

[Funky_Fish14]

I was laughing because of some of the things people have said.

Sorry I guess im new to this site. The reason I said the garlic thing is because someone on page 1 listed a bunch of things people put in their tanks. I just figured I'd add that one. Sorry.

Chris

[MikeS]

With the addition of vodka (carbon) it makes the bacteria respirate faster and thus fix N and P quicker. Problem is that most bacteria only live about a day, so your bulding up corpses aweful fast.

This is why you have a skimmer ;)

well....that may or may not be effective enough, it would depend on your system, how much you are dosing, your skimmer, ect, ect, ect.....lot of varibles going into that one...

I guess I just fail to see the benefit vs. risk ratio as being particularly favorable enough to justify doing it. Live mojo and mantis said, once you start messing with bacteria populations too much like that, you caould end up with the proverbial "pandoras box" on your hands...JMHO...

Mike

[jman785]

Yeah I totally feel you Mike. The variables are a lot to consider in this situation.

Funky_Fish14,

I was just playing with you :lol:

[jman785]

Check your PM's Funky_Fish14

[Funky_Fish14]

Jman: I dont have any Pm's? Guess it didnt work.:? :?:

[jman785]

Try again.

[bigfoot]

my grey goose is a little too expensive to get my corals hammered :)

[2639]

Talk about a 'hammer coral'! LOL

[hlama]

i dont know i kinda like the idea of watching some of my fish swim around all drunk. i wonder how they feel they next day??