Nitrate Reduction 101 with sugar!!!
- Thread starter fishykid9212
- Start date
Nano_reeflover
Reefer
So this method lowers both nitrates and phosphates? What would be considered a small amount to start out with? I have a 55 gal.
xtrstangx
Premium Member
Before you start dosing any carbon source, do a search for vodka . There are a few big threads that outline criteria and guidelines for dosing vodka.
1 tsp of sugar is equal to 10 ml of vodka (80 proof), so you'd probably start dosing at 1/10 tsp.. Keep in mind that if you start out with too much, you'll crash the tank. If you go too fast with it, you can crash the tank. If you go overboard with it, you can crash the tank. You don't want 0 N O3 and PO4, there has to be some in the water.
Research first!
RichConley
New member
I believe there have been PLENTY of scientific experiments proving that plenty of bacterial species can metabolize sucrose.
Nano_reeflover
Reefer
Does tsp mean tablespoon or teaspoon? I'm not much of a cook 
Nano_reeflover
Reefer
So 1/10 of a tsp would be a couple grains of sugar? lol That isn't much.
solbby
New member
Re: Nitrate Reduction 101 with sugar!!!
Most of your "facts" are incorrect. Does "anerobic" bacteria = anaerobic, aerobic or facultative anaerobic? :lol:<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7867058#post7867058 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishykid9212
Hi, I have posted this trick to eliminate nitrates many times. I don't know why people use it but here it goes. My tank use to have high nitrates, as in off the chart. Around 60-80ppm, in 2 weeks they were down to zero WITHOUT water changes. I haven't done water changes in months and my nitrates are still at zero. Now I'm not a light feeder, I have a 92G FOWLR tank with a few damsels, an ocellaris clown, clarki clown, pajama cardinal, yellow tang and a hippo tang. Nitrates can only be eliminated naturally by anerobic bacteria, which of course is not in anyones tank since anerobic bacteria. There are very few of these bacteria in aquariums. In order to get this bacteria you need to feed it somthing, what happens to be sugar, plain old white granulated
sugar. Ok, now, this is how I did it...
First of all, you need to have a protein skimmer, it won't work without one, if you don't have one I would highly suggest getting one. As a start I would add 1/8 of a teaspoon of sugar for every 25 gallons of water, every other day. If you have any corals I would do every two days. You can add more but it's better to be safe than sorry. Doing this promotes the growth of anerobic bacteria as I mentioned before. Growing this type of bacteria will use up some oxygen in your tank, thats why it's better to start off with a low ammount of sugar. Your skimmer will supply oxygen as well as skim out all those anerobic bacteria that have just consumed nitrate. Therefore lowering your nitratesThis truly does work and you will be very suprised how much money it saves you in salt for water changes. I'm not saying you never have to do them again, I'm saying you don't have to ever do water changes to lower nitrates. I have directed many people in the right direction, and not one of those people have told me that they lost live stock and/or corals in the process.
I am saying this because every day, I see some one on here that asks how to lower nitrates besides water changes and I am getting pretty tired of explaining this whole thing to them. I would really appreciate it if people can post there experience on this thread and help keep this thread alive. If there are any questions I am here
fishykid9212
New member
Well I didn't mean to start an argument. I did do a lot of research before I started and I originally used vodka, it does the same thing. Sugar is a lot easier to dose. As I said I have tested this I ised a heaping teaspoon every day for a few days, I watched the fish VERY closely, I actually couldn't see them because the water was cloudy but absolutely nothing of mine died. Most of the people that have tried it, swear by it. The people that have never used it are the ones who say it's not the right thing to do. It is important that you use it at your own risk but if you dose small you shouldn't have any problems. If you want to try it, by all means try it, just becareful and do every thing slow. I started this thread to only help people who were suffering from nitrate problems, which is why I started sdding sugar. I didn't mean to start a controversial; argument.
Peter Eichler
New member
Yeah, here I have Grey Goose, Svedka, Kremilskyova, Ketel one, and some Blood Orange Charbay. Any suggestions as to which would work best?
Not a grain of good ole sugar in the whole house...gholtmeyer
New member
What about using this method on reef tanks? I have a mixed reef tank with a bout 5 fish. With the fish that I have and some of the LPS I feed pretty heavily. I have had a problem with cyno and think that it is caused by the feeding. I know that the simple solution would be to cut back on the feeding, but that would be at the expence of the corals and fish. If I added 1/4 tsp of sugar to give the bacteria a bost that would seem like a better solution to me. Thoughts?
boxfishpooalot
Active member
"crash" means to remove all the oxygen from your aquarium. Wich happens as bacteria populations bloom from sugar/vodka dosing. If overdosed you will kill everything through oxygen deprivation.
slimytadpole
New member
Edit: Re-read the statment he was responding to. Clouded is right. Sorry, Clouded.
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Clouded
In Memoriam
Apparently you didn't read his post...instead of trying to fix problems for the long run, he wants to medicate to problem in hopes that it will never catch up to him...So again open your eyes and read...Yes people use quick fixes until they can figure out the problem, then they fix the problem and that quick fix is stopped...but he wants to continue to use it and not figure the problem out, that is stupid.
slimytadpole
New member
Edit: removed. addressed above.
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