Dosing vodka with a pump?

[thejuggernaut]

Is there anyone dosing vodka with a dosing pump. Most of the ones I have seen are not accurate enough for dosing straight vodka. But would it be possible to dillute it with RODI water? Id like to start dosing vodka but Id like to not have to measure it out every day.

[es1887]

i have thought about this same thing myself and i do not see why not. as long as something does not malfunction. it is a big risk cause the potential to do real harm is very great. i add 6 mls of vodka daily and there have not been any over doses or accidents. i feel that it is because i do it myself. if i had it on a pump something would brake or go haywire. it does seen like a good idea for the ease of it though, but it kinda makes me a little uneasy.

[luvreefs23]

id think u youd have to vent the container the vodka is in so the pump didnt concave the container in....prob with that is i would think the alcohol/ethanol would evaporate to some degree perhaps diminishing the effect of the vodka.

[widmer]

I would guess that it's zero problem whatsoever to dose with a pump, diluting it down 10fold or more to create a more managable volume for the pump.

[jenglish]

Would the Vodka stay mixed or would it seperate like in a drink? Vinegar is less strong and might be easier.

[thejuggernaut]

I was thinking that one of these pumps would do the job nicely.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/...er-minute.html

If you were to dilute it 10 parts RODI to 1 part vodka it would make it to where for every minute it ran you would actually dose .1ml of vodka. 10 minutes for 1.0 ml and so on. It would allow you to adjust your dosing very easily. As far the the container it wouldnt be hard to put some type of one way check valve on it. Something like the kind they make to put on the airline tubing to stop water from back flowing into the air pump.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Hagen_Pla...AACV-0-vi.html

Just drill a little hole and silicone it it the side of your container.

[NYC/NJREEFS]

I have a hospital grade Kangaroo pump, used to feed liquid food. Do you think something like this could work to dose the diluted vodka w/rodi?

[Leonardo_]

I dose my vodka/sugar/vinegar solution for over a year now using a dosing pump. Sometimes I open the bottle to prevent it from going vacuum, after that I close it to prevent excess evaporation.
It always worked for me. Even feel safe enough to go on vacation using this setup

Using the valve in the post above makes it even less "maintenance".

Leonardo

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You can dilute viengaor or vodka or sugar water for dosing, but if you do, there is a risk that bacteria will grow in and degrade the solution before it is dosed. So don't make up a big batch that sits around too long. All of these will stay totally mixed.

[Leonardo_]

Originally Posted by Randy Holmes-Farley

You can dilute viengaor or vodka or sugar water for dosing, but if you do, there is a risk that bacteria will grow in and degrade the solution before it is dosed. So don't make up a big batch that sits around too long. All of these will stay totally mixed.

I always make a batch for a week. Sometimes I alter the amounts of Vodka/sugar according to the concentration of zooxanthellae in the coral tissue.

Mr Farley, isn't there a risk of combine Vinegar and Vodka in one bottle? Don't they react ("esterification" -is this the correct US term for this...-)?

Leonardo

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Vinegar (acetic acid) and vodka (ethanol) won't create esters (ethyl acetate) in water. In other situations they can, but not when in that amount of water.

[thejuggernaut]

Originally Posted by Randy Holmes-Farley

You can dilute viengaor or vodka or sugar water for dosing, but if you do, there is a risk that bacteria will grow in and degrade the solution before it is dosed. So don't make up a big batch that sits around too long. All of these will stay totally mixed.

Thanks, you answered my next question about whether or not I would have to continually mix it.

[Sea-nut]

while we are on this subject I like to ask a question ?
I started dosing vodka about a month ago, but the nitrate is much higher now that it was a month ago,I am feeding the same and nothing has died,I always had some problem with nitrate (5-10) but the last time I tested the water (yesterday) it was over 50,tank has been running for 5 years now. I started dosing to bring nitrate to zero.

[jmoney]

I do it this way...1 Handle of cheap vodka, One peristaltic pump 1.1ml per minute flow rate.. 1 RKl...never miss a dose, never have any problems. I make one hole in the plastic vodka lid for the tube to go in, and another very small one for air, works just fine

[lobsterotomy]

I dose vodka on a profilux doser - 1 ml at a time, a resolution not achieved by other controlled dosers. Pupms on a third party timer? use at your own risk.
Profilux has been going great since May.

[thejuggernaut]

Originally Posted by lobsterotomy

I dose vodka on a profilux doser - 1 ml at a time, a resolution not achieved by other controlled dosers. Pupms on a third party timer? use at your own risk.
Profilux has been going great since May.

Where did ya get your pump from? Those are upgradable if you want to add more pumps later aren't they?

[SWINGRRRR]

Masterflex off Ebay hooked into AcJr.

[thejuggernaut]

Originally Posted by SWINGRRRR

Masterflex off Ebay hooked into AcJr.

I've seen those. I think you can get different sized heads to give you anything from several l/hr to less than 1 ml/hr. How much was that one if you don't mind me asking.

[Timmy77]

I used Vodka in my auto off and had a terrible bacterial outbreak. So I would not recommend that route as you aren't getting the same dose each day.

[jmoney]

Originally Posted by Timmy77

I used Vodka in my auto off and had a terrible bacterial outbreak. So I would not recommend that route as you aren't getting the same dose each day.

+1 that is a terrible idea, vodka dosing is supposed to be done as accurately as possible

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not convinced that exact dosing the same amount each day is critical. I don't do it.

[Timmy77]

Originally Posted by jmoney

+1 that is a terrible idea, vodka dosing is supposed to be done as accurately as possible

Yeah I was going on a trip and thought it seemed like a great idea.

[SWINGRRRR]

Originally Posted by thejuggernaut

I've seen those. I think you can get different sized heads to give you anything from several l/hr to less than 1 ml/hr. How much was that one if you don't mind me asking.

Yeah, they are completely customizable. You can change pumps with different RPM's, with head that take different size tubing. This one does about 2ml/min and it only runs 1 minute a day. Im slowly phasing out my Vodka. Ill probably use it for Mg later on.
I bought a whole bunch at a time and just pieced together what all I wanted. I mixed and matched alot, but I'm into it for maybe $100 total, total investment was about $300 for 4 pumps with about 5-6 heads.
I have 2 others that I will use for ALK and CA, but they are not set-up yet. Will be soon though.

[Leonardo_]

Originally Posted by Randy Holmes-Farley

Vinegar (acetic acid) and vodka (ethanol) won't create esters (ethyl acetate) in water. In other situations they can, but not when in that amount of water.

Okay, thank you.

Leonardo

[thejuggernaut]

Originally Posted by SWINGRRRR

Yeah, they are completely customizable. You can change pumps with different RPM's, with head that take different size tubing. This one does about 2ml/min and it only runs 1 minute a day. Im slowly phasing out my Vodka. Ill probably use it for Mg later on.
I bought a whole bunch at a time and just pieced together what all I wanted. I mixed and matched alot, but I'm into it for maybe $100 total, total investment was about $300 for 4 pumps with about 5-6 heads.
I have 2 others that I will use for ALK and CA, but they are not set-up yet. Will be soon though.

I was just looking on their website and they have so many different models. If you want to spend alot of money you can get one that is digital and variable speed and it flows anywhere from 0.001 mL/m all the way to 3400 mL/m. They also make fixed speed motors. You can rig one up that only flows 0.06 mL/m. You could dose pure vodka with that. For example just set it to 17 minutes and it would give you 1.02 ml. Very fine tuneable.