eXtreme Aquatics

Home of the eXtreme Aquarists

Dosing Vodka to reduce NO3 and PO4 in Saltwater Aquarium | Aquariums Life

by

Our friends over at aquariumslife.com posted an article about using Vodka to reduce NO3 and PO4 from a saltwater aquarium!  I’ve never heard of this before but the science seems sound.

My 29 gallon saltwater aquarium is still too young to have any significant NO3 and PO4 buildup, but I’m definitely going to try something like this if it ever becomes a problem. Though I need to find a good protein skimmer. I’m still running the stock equipment that came with my Oceanic BioCube 29 gallon Aquarium.

Here is an excerpt and a link back to the article:

To make a long story short, the goal of dosing Vodka is to provide an organic carbon source to grow bacteria in order to consume phosphates and nitrates. Bacteria are then exported via the protein skimmer and so are the nutrient that it consumed. The idea here is to reduce Nitrate and Phosphate to create a better environment for the fish and invertebrates and reduce the chances of an algae outbreak.

Dosing Vodka to reduce NO3 and PO4 in Saltwater Aquarium | Aquariums Life.

Related Images:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hello!

    Thanks for sharing this with your readers. I must say that this method is new for me to.
    I have been dosing vodka for almost a month now and I realy like it! I think this is worth a try!

    I still don’t know how good it is on the long run but I’ll soon find out. Next update in a year lol.

    Best regards,
    Patrice Lapointe

  2. This was the first protein Skimmer i ever got when I started in the hobby. I didn’t know any better and when people would ask, and I’d tell them I had the lee’s counter current they would scoff at me.

    I have had 4 skimmers since this one. All in the $100 range and all 80% LESS effective than this one. I’ve had the prizm, the excalibur, the coralife… I am now wanting to try the backpack, but if I ever get a sump, this baby is going in it! If it weren’t an internal skimmer I’d already have another. I just don’t want to look at my skimmer in my display tank.