Check out this Nitrate Fix!

[bshumake]

Sugar, ETOH, and vinegar... OH My!

 

[neuroslicer]

This is a hotly debated topic, and I think most would agree that dosing your tank with any carbon source is a last resort method of reducing nitrates, and not to be used as a method of regular practice. The theory is that adding an addtional source of carbon (found in each of the above ingredients) provides more direct food for bacteria, and increasing the density of bacterial populations increases the fauna of denitrifying organisms. The problem is in maintaining a balanced population of bacteria. You can overfeed, which would cause a spike in bacterial growth. Population spikes are often followed by population crashes (ask anyone in Australia!), as the food resources to maintain the larger population become quickly exhausted. When your bacteria population crashes, your tank water chemistry will quickly become problematic, as nitrates and perhaps even nitrites and ammonia begin to accumulate.

My advice is to keep on top of your water chemistry via other methods that we routinely discuss on this forum, and stay away from risky quick fixes.

 

[sperry]

Since I only have nanos and tend to over feed, I try to keep my water tested regularly. After the cycle I have never had a problem with nitrates or hair algae. So maybe I am missing the point but why would you need to intentionally cause a bacteria bloom to deal with this? I mean wouldnt it be better to find the cause of the problem or use chaeto or xenia as a more natural export?

Thanks Jay, got distracted with work. Should have refreshed the thread before finishing and posting my comment.

 

[bshumake]

I was waiting for you to chime in here Jay. I found this while looking for a thread about the "Italian Method" of feeding that utalizes the sugar addition. Increased bacterial load was a concern and didn't know if anyone had made more of an investigation into it. All I could really find is that people had used it and had great results, but it didn't say how long they used it or if they ever stopped. Granted, adding a C source will be nice for all bacteria species in the tank, and as a result you will have a population explosion to consume the C and their other primary metabolites, you still have the result of a massive die off if not properly maintained. This would be something fun to test if I had the time or space. It seems to me to be a short term fix with a long term fallout. Basically giving your tank a Morphine shot to fix the pain and then having to endure long term methadone treatments to stave off the detox.

 

[willember]

"Basically giving your tank a Morphine shot to fix the pain and then having to endure long term methadone treatments to stave off the detox."


(yeah, that's what I was thinking...)

 

[joeycadre]

i do a 10% water change every 2 weeks. no nitrate problems.

wheeeeeeee

it takes all of 15 minutes to do.