Dosing sugar?

[secrest]

I've heard of a few people lately who have dosing sugar to help their sps. Does this actually do any good? If so how much would you need to put in to actual see improvement?

This just sounds too strange to me. I know that corals use sugars, but for some reason this just sounds weird that this would actually work

 

[sfsuphysics]

I would think the sugars would give a boost to bacterial populations well in excess of any coral usage, now that may be what helps the corals out indirectly (similar to vodka), but gah... I don't know if I'd want to be one on the forefront of testing an iffy theory.

 

[secrest]

Thats what I was thinking. I just figured I would see if anyone was actually doing it and if it was really helping anything

 

[Wiskey]

Dosing Sugar, is along the same vane as dosing Vodka, it is bacterial fuel. The idea behind this is that you breed tuns of bacteria which take up phospate an nitrate as they reproduce and you skim the bacteria out.

There are risks so do your reading before trying this out, but that is the basic idea.

Whiskey

 

[castorpollux]

i have heard that mark weiss's products are essentially a sugar dose.

 

[jmkins]

A couple of months back I made a thread in the reef chem forum about an article in the journal Science where researchers were determining that the bleaching of coral reefs may be linked to increased hydrocarbon materials, including sugars, in the ocean from runoff. The blame was increased populations in bad bacteria. Randy had mentioned there that he has had bad luck when adding sugar to his tank personally but never really looked into it. I'm not saying that it is definetly a bad thing or that it will have negative effects but certain bad bacteria may thrive with added sugar. I didn't really go into any detail with it since I didn't find the full article, but you may want to ask over in the chemistry forum and gauge other peoples successes.

 

[raddogz]

It's working for me. I dose sugar in my 155 tank to help with the excess phosphate which fuels the cyano.

Chemi-clean no longer works effectively in my tank.

 

[kirstenk]

I have dosed Vodka with positive results. I did a lot of reading and still do on probiotic methods. I would steer clear of sugar. If you are interested, read up on Vodka.

 

[kirstenk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7348604#post7348604 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raddogz
It's working for me. I dose sugar in my 155 tank to help with the excess phosphate which fuels the cyano.

Chemi-clean no longer works effectively in my tank.

I started dosing Vodka for the same reason. Cyano! With Vodka I see a better reaction from my SPS. I had read that sugar had a negative impact but must not for you. Did you see lighter corals also?

 

[raddogz]

In my case, this tank is my employer's tank which is only a fowlr tank so for me I have slightly greater width of flexibility.

With that said ....

I have heard the same sentiment that sugar can have negative impact on sps as well. Sps in general are very sensitive to changes so any big change is a huge change when it comes to sps.

Just my .02

 

[Cody Ray]

I use sugar, get a nice film on the glass every day. It will really kick your skimmer into high gear too. I think it could help with cooking rock as well.

 

[TOURKID]

az no 3 is an AWSOME product. and from what i understand works generally the same way as vodka. you start out at 1 drop and end at 8 mm a day. my nirtrates have been at zero for awhile now, and it drives the skimmer insane

 

[Amphiprion]

Vinegar, being another organic carbon source, works fairly well, too. It may not have the same capabilites as ethanol or sucrose, but it works on lower levels of NO3 and PO4.

 

[Cody Ray]

Of course that will also hurt your pH and alk in smaller systems.

 

[Amphiprion]

Actually, vodka will also lower pH in smaller systems. Vinegar usage is best done with kalkwasser IME.

 

[Amphiprion]

And that reminds me: vinegar does not reduce alkalinity.