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Carbon dosing feeds bacteria that take up nitrate and phosphate and are then skimmed out. Going too fast causes bacterial blooms, low oxygen, and stressed corals, so the dose has to ramp slowly. This planner builds the ramp for your net water volume and stops at a ceiling.
The protocol
Vodka (80-proof, 40% ethanol) follows the Kokott schedule: 0.1 mL per 25 gallons daily for days 1–3, 0.2 mL per 25 gallons for days 4–7, then +0.5 mL per day each week until nitrate and phosphate start falling; hold there, and halve the dose once they're undetectable. White vinegar (5% acetic acid) carries about one eighth of the carbon per mL, so it's 8× the volume. We cap the ramp at 0.6 mL of vinegar (0.075 mL of vodka) per gallon per day, the upper end of what long-time carbon dosers report as safe. Red Sea NO₃:PO₄-X ramps up in 0.5 mL per 100 L steps each week to its label dose for your nitrate level (1–3 mL per 100 L), never above the label's 3 mL per 100 L per day.
Try it
Sample: 100 gal net water, 80-proof vodka.
| Period | Daily dose |
|---|---|
| Days 1-3 | 0.40 mL |
| Days 4-7 | 0.80 mL |
| Week 2 | 1.30 mL |
| Week 3 | 1.80 mL |
| Week 4 | 2.30 mL |
| Week 5 | 2.80 mL |
| Week 6 | 3.30 mL |
Ceiling: 7.50 mL/day. The same plan in 5% vinegar is 8× the volume.
Sources
- "Vodka Dosing" by Genetics and Stony_Corals, Reefkeeping Magazine (2008), protocol from Jörg Kokott
- Red Sea NO₃:PO₄-X instructions (label dose 1–3 mL per 100 L per day by nitrate level; maximum 3 mL per 100 L per day)
- Reef Central vodka dosing table thread (vinegar = 8× vodka volume; 0.3–0.6 mL vinegar per gallon maintenance ceiling, citing Randy Holmes-Farley's tests)
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