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Dosing
The maker doses this by schedule rather than by a fixed potency, so the calculator cannot use it. Follow the directions below.
How it’s used
Plain, unflavored, unsweetened 80-proof vodka. No flavored products, no denatured/industrial ethanol.
Cautions
• NEVER carbon dose if NO3 or PO4 is undetectable; test both first and hold/halve when either nears the floor.
• A capable protein skimmer is required (exports bacterial biomass, keeps O2 up).
• Theoretical O2 demand: 1 ml vodka per 100 L = 6.6 mg/L O2 if fully oxidized - comparable to the entire dissolved O2 of warm seawater (~6.4-6.7 mg/L at 25-27 C). Oxidation takes hours and gas exchange replenishes O2, but this is why overdoses crash O2; ramp slowly, split doses, dose in daylight.
• Never double a missed dose. Stop or halve at signs of stress, white bacterial film, cloudiness, cyano, or coral bleaching.
• If one nutrient bottoms out while the other stays high (ratio far from Redfield), carbon dosing stalls and can favor cyano/dinoflagellates - dose the limiting nutrient or cut carbon.
• Older tanks with heavy detritus/deep sand beds need slower ramps.