Nitrate Reduction 101 with sugar!!!

[kryppy]

Wow, my giant 18" carpet anemone obviously didn't like the bloom! He rolled up into a tiny little circle and crawled under a rock yesterday.
I have seen it do this before, so I'm not 100% sure it was related, but it seems very likely.
My nitrate is down to 80 this morning and the water is insanely clear. The carpet has come back out and looks normal again.
Most of the algae film in my sump is gone, and some of the green stuff from my glass I can't reach with the magnet has turned clear and is disappearing.

I'm not sure what to make of all this. I am trying to understand where exactly did this waste go. Did my filter feeders consume the nitrate as bacteria, is it just bound up in dead bacteria waiting to come back or is it in my filtersock. Perhaps the bacteria converted it to nitrogen gas.
I must admit I really like the clarity of the water, even if it was scary getting there.
I'm going to think about how to proceed from here.

 

[jacmyoung]

Dead bacteria do not attach to anything so get washed into the water column, and since the water is clear, they probably were collected in your filtersock.

My water is very clear now, though it was clear before the sugar addition, the difference is I haven't had to clean my glass for the last four days, compared to the cleaning once every two days before, and algae on the overflow box (the only place my magnet could not reach) are disappearing as well.

If I were you I would continue with SLOW sugar addition to see how far nirate can go down with this.

 

[flameangel88]

I added 3/4 tsp of sugar last night and nothing for an 1.5 hr and added another 1/4 tsp. So far I don't notice any change yet and no bloom as that was my primary concern because I don't need another flood during the night from the skimmer.

I've about 130lbs of sand and 120lbs of live rocks in the 75g tank...should I add another 1 tsp tonight or should I go less?

Thanks.

 

[klasiksb]

Flame, I think your dosing too much. The results will not be immediately seen (even after 1.5 hours).

Personally, I would dose 1/2 tsp. a day and go from there. I say that amount becase on roughly our system with roughly 150gal., my first dose of 1 tsp. made a pretty good bloom severaly hours after addition. I then dropped to 1/2 tsp. and there have been only slight or no blooms at all, but my filter bags are still clogging up from snot and the skimmer pulls a very sticky foam and lots of it.

 

[flameangel88]

klasiksb, thanks for the advice and info of your experience. -FA

 

[klasiksb]

Flame, I should have said try 1/2 tsp. first, if you have a big bloom, make your dose 1/4 tsp. I would rather underdose than overdose. No need to bring your nitrates down too quickly.

Just keep an eye on things and be careful.

 

[flameangel88]

klasiksb,
I'll certainly keep an eye out and dosing slowly. Do you remember approx. how long it took b4 you noticed a drop in nitrate or change in water clarity?
Thanks again!

 

[klasiksb]

Well, with having done at least one (if not 2) water changes with water high in NO2 and NO3 (not sure why that happened), i've not seen any results with lowering of NO3 yet.

After my first dose of 1 tsp., the water went cloudy after about 3-4 hours and then cleared up around 24 hours later, nice and crystal clear. All fish, and corals (Softies and LPS) were fine and showed no signs of stress. The SPS corals have been dieing off before I started dosing proably due to extremely high NO3.

I'm planning a couple of water changes this week to hopefully get the NO2 and NO3 back in some type of order after the last water changes with crummy water, and then hopefully start seeing some changes with NO3 with the sugar dosing.

I am by no means an expert on dosing sugar, just kinda set my dose with what other people with similar sized tanks dosed in theres and adjusted accordingly. I figure underdosing my take a little longer, but overdosing can be disasterous.

 

[jdmhonda954]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7868330#post7868330 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by affan
Cool, all I will need in that case is several boxes of Folgers and a few gallons of cream and voila! 225 gallons of low nitrate coffee on the go!

i was thinking after adding it you can just take crystal light or kool aid and mix it with your water change water.

 

[flameangel88]

After dosing last night the water clarity on the 24g nano is amazing especially under MH and I can tell the 75g clarity certainly improved. I could have been heavy handed on the 24g but I'm just amazed at what sugar can do compared to those commercially available products which cost a lot. I'm not sure where all the pollutants have gone yet because I had the skimmer set very low (I didn't want to come home with a flood) and I don't use any filter media other than live rocks in the canister filter.

I'll continue to add 1/2 tsp for another 2 days and see what happen before adding or cutting back.

 

[3rotorFD]

i dosed my 40G 1 tsp last night... this morning the water was white :noes: i think it was too much. so i did a 20G water change. Water still cloudy (about the same) =(. my fish looks OK. and i see more pods crawling around the glass then usual. ??? hope the water clears up soon.......

 

[reefD]

i want to hear about long term use before i try this, like years in same tank.anyone?

 

[3rotorFD]

K. that was pretty dumb! i ended up doing a 20G water change anyways LOL! I'm not dosing sugar again EVER! water gets too cloudy! i hope nothing dies :wtc:

 

[Cosmo^Kramer]

1 teaspoon in a 40 is way too much!!!!!! The water will clear up.I'm dosing a 1/4 teaspoonof sugar and 1ml of vinegar for my 65 gallon with a 20 gallon sump.I know the paniced feeling you get when you see your tank go white,but it clears up very nicely.I also started using Prodibio bioclean and reefbooster so I don't have to dose everyday.So far so good.BTW it took about 2 weeks for me to start seeing nitrates start to drop

 

[LRS078]

I'm also guessing that if you have a UV sterilizer you must shut it down since it would theoretically kill off the bacteria that the sugar/vodka fuels as it grows. This would leave the sugar/vodka to break down and further raise nitrates.

Has anyone tested this?

 

[3rotorFD]

day 3 tank is clear and my nitrates went down to 10ppm it works!. i don't know if i want to keep dosing sugar tho . i'm a lil' worried after the BIG CLOUD! if i do how much shuld i put in? my tank is a 40 G w/ about 50pounds of LR and a 20G sump w/caulerpa

 

[ridetheducati]

1/4 teaspoon every other day.

 

[thriceanangel]

I have a 75 gallon w/ 55 sump. I was just plain fed up w/ nitrate problem; I use RO/DI water, Macro Algae, I have a RDSB, removed crushed coral substrate, have only one fish (Clarkii Clown), and I think he is getting under fed. I remembered reading about this, but because the serch NEVER EVER WORKS!! I couldn't find anything. My nitrates were in the 120ppm range. So, being the impulsive fool that I am, added a Tablespoon of sugar because I thought that was the correct amount. Boom! Had an algae bloom that you couldn't see through. I posted another couple threads fearing I had made a mistake, and found out that the O2 may be being depleted. So I started a couple bubble stones, and hooked airlines up to my powerheads. That was last night. Today the bloom is barely noticeable, and my single fish is still alive. Am I out of the woods?

 

[kryppy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8553181#post8553181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thriceanangel
I have a 75 gallon w/ 55 sump. I was just plain fed up w/ nitrate problem; I use RO/DI water, Macro Algae, I have a RDSB, removed crushed coral substrate, have only one fish (Clarkii Clown), and I think he is getting under fed. I remembered reading about this, but because the serch NEVER EVER WORKS!! I couldn't find anything. My nitrates were in the 120ppm range. So, being the impulsive fool that I am, added a Tablespoon of sugar because I thought that was the correct amount. Boom! Had an algae bloom that you couldn't see through. I posted another couple threads fearing I had made a mistake, and found out that the O2 may be being depleted. So I started a couple bubble stones, and hooked airlines up to my powerheads. That was last night. Today the bloom is barely noticeable, and my single fish is still alive. Am I out of the woods?

Yes you are. The good part is yet to come. The clarity will astound you.

 

[flameangel88]

I think you should be fine since you've 55 sump. Made sure you have strong water circulation and a keep the skimmer on. I added 3/4 tsp in the 75g and was told to drop down to 1/2 tsp. There is some water clarity but not as noticeable as in the 24g where I may have been heavy handed in that one. If your skimmer go nuts then I would say the am't is in the neighborhood. To be safe then start with smaller amount and increase as needed. After 8 days I am starting to add every other day instead of everyday till the nitrate level drop.