Vodka for Your Marine Aquarium

Vodka for your aquarium. I know what your thinking...I have had a little too much to drink, or I have been laying out in the sun too long! No, I am serious when I tell you this. We, as conscientious aquarists, are always looking for the upper hand and ways of making our tank that much better as well as providing a healthy environment for our livestock. The addition of vodka, doesn't matter which brand, can help the look of your tank, moreover, many of your corals will benefit as well.

Nitrates and phosphates have always been in the back of our minds when dealing with marine aquariums. We are always trying to reduce these nutrients from causing algae blooms or decreased growth by many of our hermatypic corals that demand nutrient poor water. Sand bed and sulfur fluidized filters, carbon based denitrators, enzymatic compounds and resins have all been tried with various degrees of certainty and success. One form of possible solution to elevated nutrients is the employment of VODKA! Yes, Vodka as a source of carbon to help rid your tank of nutrients.

If you don't know this by now, bacteria is responsible for the break down of ammonia to nitrite and then to its least toxic form of nitrogen as nitrates then nitrogen gas into the ambient atmosphere. A plethora a bacteria from nitrosomanas to nitrobacter and various strains of each provide the ideal source of biological weaponry to retard the elevation of nutrients.

A source of carbon is the important part of the equation in establishing and maintaining the right growth and stimulation of suitable bacteria, both heterotrophic and autotrophic, to assimilate nitrogen and phosphorus in their living biomass, ultimately lowering the amount of these nutrients in the pelagic areas of aquariums.

Vodka contains a source of carbon known as ethanol. It is this bi-product of vodka that is responsible for the reduction of nutrients in marine aquariums. Not only does the vodka stimulate the growth of heterotrophic bacteria in the water, but it is responsible for polyp expansion as well. Tests have been performed by (Mrutzek and Kokott, 2004) which shows that soft corals, especially, display expanded polyps, either as a result of the available dissolved organic matter in the form of ethanol that the corals may feed on or the fact that bacterial biomass production may be consumed by the corals.

The addition of vodka to an aquarium can be directly to the water in the main tank or sump. However the vodka dosing should be done slowly and in small amounts to reduce the chances of nuisance algae growing. 5-10ml of vodka per 260 gallons of aquarium volume per day is a good starting point based on the readings of (Delbeek and Sprung-2005). This will help to ensure that the maintenance of low nutrient levels in your tank are administered.

While dosing vodka to your tank, be aware that your skimmer or other mechanical filtration means will go spastic as a result of the extensive bacterial biomass biofilms. The clogging of mechanical filtration is not uncommon and must be monitored religiously because of this. Tanks with a deep sand bed and those with little to no substrate will heed different results. Moreover, cloudiness of the water may be evident, especially in the introductory phase of vodka dosing. This is due to the bacterial bloom, though authors such as Eric Borneman suggests that the cloudiness may be the precipitation of calcium carbonate rather than bacterial bloom.

One thing to remember regarding nutrients is that phosphates are a source of energy to cells. The reduction of all nutrients, though unlikely, is not a good thing. Soft corals such as Xenia are very good assimilators of phosphate as are Tridacna Clams and other filter feeders, so nutrients in your water aren't all that bad, especially under closely monitored levels for both your stony and soft corals to thrive under the same environmental conditions.

Source: The Reef Aquarium(volume 3)

J. Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung

Copyright 2005 (pp. 274-276)