Nitrate Reduction 101 with sugar!!!

I have just read that sugar is more potent than vodka. Guess I will start off on the doses I said in my post.

What critters are effected first? Also amy preference in sugars?
 
work out a baseline adverage is 1/2 tspoon per 100gallon (uk gallons, so yours would be different) then once you see a reduction in perams half what your doing,the idea being to kick start it into work then just run it as a support feed to the tank, were as vodka you pushed up until your at the point of bloom and just halfed again and maintained that level, if your nervouse of doing this the easy way is dont do it or half what your maths tell you to start with and run there, it will take longer but do the same thing, The whole point of me putting my post upwas to show that it does go wrong, granted this was by nothing more than a accident and it just so happened it was a carbon based accident, but it was posted as no one ever puts up what happens when they naff up,i do ive only been doing it ten years so i am no docterate or hold no degrees in marinekeeping nor will i ever lay claims to doing so thats mother natures job,all we do is pinch a bit and strive to do the best we can, with what we have at hand, for these that say dont put this,that and the other in a tank its not ment to be there, well just one thing for you to remember,neither is all the crap we have and will sink, spill and dump in the seas, its just a case of volume thats dilutes it down
 
This works well and reduces phosphates as well as it does nitrates

This works well and reduces phosphates as well as it does nitrates

Is everyone here also monitoring phosphates? Some of you had huge nitrate readings, and I suppose you would have had high phosphate too!

I have used sugar on 2 tanks over the last 3 years. It works great. I always started very slowly and kept increasing the dose until the water got slightly cloudy. Once I got clouding I would stop dosing until it cleared up, then start again at a slightly lower dose.


My current setup contains about 400G of water in total. When I first set the tank up in Dec 07, I never used any test kits for about 3 months. When I finally got some, I had nitrate of around 50ppm and phosphate in the dangerous levels. I started with one teaspoon a day and went up to maybe 2-4 a day. This brought levels of both down to zero in a few weeks.


These days I only add 1 teaspoon a day when I want to reduce nitrate and phosphate. This is all I need, but I never have high readings anymore with my 150w MH Calupera fuge. Nitrate is usually under 1ppm. I don't dose it all the time either. I just throw in a teaspoon every now and then for the hell of it. Even one teaspoon will get a slight clouding of he water if I have not dosed in a while.

I started tripling my feedings for the last 2 weeks due to new fish and have been adding one teaspoon as prevention. After 3 weeks of adding 3 to 5 times more food my phosphate is still zero and nitrate increased to 0.1 (salifert). I'm sure with sugar dosing my tank will reach an equilibrium with zero readings again, and I will be able to taper it back to zero sugar additions again gradually.

This method really does work and the only way you will crash your tank is by being impatient and putting too much sugar in. One level teaspoon is enough to give slight clouding with 400G of water in my case! So go easy! Start with quarter teaspoons on 100G tanks. Your readings have probably been high for weeks or months so why try to get them to zero in one day and risk your tank? Start heaps lower than you think you need, add it only every 2 days at the beginning, increasing the amount slightly each time. If you do it gradually you will reach a point where you get slight clouding, but since you have been doing it gradually it wont be dangerous. Stop dosing, then reduce your dose. It will clear up and your water will be the clearest it has been in a long time and your readings will be lower.
 
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I dosed sugar about a year ago when I was batteling phosphates in my main tank (75g). Then I started doing it to a smaller tank (40b) that I set up in February that has had huge problems with hair algae and cyano.

The reason that I stopped dosing on my display tank was that when I dosed, I would get large anaerobic zones in my sandbed. My sand is only about 1" deep, and I was getting large areas of it turning black and smelling of hydrogen sulfide. :( I am not just talking about just under the rocks, but out in the open too. All of a sudden the sand in the open area of the tank would start to get patchy black areas. I was afraid that this would lead to hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

When I stopped dosing the issue cleared up. When I started dosing sugar again the problem came back.

This does not seem to be happening with my smaller (40b) tank, but when I started dosing my larger (75g) tank it happened again.

Does anyone else seem to have this problem?
 
I have been doing a test on a live rock only tank for the last month and a half. I started with a 1/4tsp every other day and now i have been doing about 1/2 tsp every other day(sometimes every third day) in a 55 gallon tank and it has not dropped my nitrates any.

Any ideas or suggestions??
 
Yes add something to help consume it, like the Bio additives made by Dolphin Marine (Bio Booster), Brightwell Aquatics (MicroBacter7) or even Seachem (Stabiltiy).

And you can always look into Denitrator equipment instead.
 
I thought that the live rock would have all the bacteria? Also, i thought that the bacteria that consumes nitrates isn't really able to be bought? detail me further, thanks
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14974631#post14974631 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dsoz
I dosed sugar about a year ago when I was batteling phosphates in my main tank (75g). Then I started doing it to a smaller tank (40b) that I set up in February that has had huge problems with hair algae and cyano.

The reason that I stopped dosing on my display tank was that when I dosed, I would get large anaerobic zones in my sandbed. My sand is only about 1" deep, and I was getting large areas of it turning black and smelling of hydrogen sulfide. :( I am not just talking about just under the rocks, but out in the open too. All of a sudden the sand in the open area of the tank would start to get patchy black areas. I was afraid that this would lead to hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

When I stopped dosing the issue cleared up. When I started dosing sugar again the problem came back.

This does not seem to be happening with my smaller (40b) tank, but when I started dosing my larger (75g) tank it happened again.

Does anyone else seem to have this problem?

I dose 4 tablespoons per day in my 210g. I used to dose 10 table spoons every weekend. I never had any problems such as you had. My first thought is what kind of skimmer are you using?
The skimmer is SO SO important. I used to have an ASM G4X and now I have a bubble king supermarine 200. My skimmate is so nasty from the daily sugar dosings the smell lingers for hours.
 
I just started testing my nitrates and they are through the roof. I read a good bit of this thread and it seems to make the most sense to bring them down fairly quick. It is an older thread and I wanted to see if there is any important new information since the last post on it over a year ago. Thanks!
 
skimmed this thread quicky, had 2 throw my 2 cents in.
Since i cycled and started my reef tank in november i have used Molasses in my monthly water changes, simply by dipping the end of a toothpick in and disolving in 4 cups hot water them mixing with 7gallons of fresh salt mix, never new that sugar can be used for the reduction of nitrates till i read this post today, maybe why i have never been able to detect? however molasses is a complex sugar and can not be assimalted as quickly i would assume. dunno any comments.
 
Anyone care to update their sugar dosing status? It's been a long time, but found this thread and since I can't seem to bring my nitrates down via WC, Ecobak in SMR1 reactor and many other things, I am considering using Sugar. I have a 125g and a 265g and am thinking of going the 1/4 tsp per 100g route.
 
i thought bout sugar read it ends up acid so im tryn vinagar started @0.1ml a day for 3 days n up it .1ml every 3 days so im @ day 24/.8ml...no3 undetectable,po4 0.1 hanna meter i was @ 30ppm no3-0.6 po4 prior to dosing vinager on a 40 gal.breeder n im emptying my skimmer cup every 3 days instead of every 2 wks. on my bh90...hope this helps
 
Very interesting thread. I would imagine if the sugar is fueling bacterial reproduction than you can't just cut out the food source or you would have a very large die off that would pollute your water. Any of the guys that commented on this thread years ago have any personal results to report?
I don't have nitrate issues but this is a very fascinating topic.
Thanks,
 
I had a massive nitrate problem, nitrate was around 60-80...
I dose both sugar and vodka and the result is so far so good.
I did not notice any change in my tank (only the bacteria bloom, cloudy water) and my skimmer went crazy, had to empty the cup every day.
In about two months I started to see the nitrate drop, today it is at zero, and no algae.
Been dosing for about 7 months and I am happy about it :)
 
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