Sugar Dosing

[jtinoco]

Alright, I thought I would start a new thread since I kinda hijacked John's.

I had been reading a lot on Vodka and Sugar dosing. At first, it was just for the purpose of further learning about saltwater husbandry. I began to get this nuisance green hair algae in my tank. I tried manually removing it at first along with water changes. I tested my tank and I had zero ammonia, nitrite, and phosphate; however, my Nitrates were over 10ppm but not over 20ppm. I know there is phosphate because the green hair algae is thriving in the tank. Its just locked up and the test doesn't detect it. I feed every 2-3 days and not very heavy. I tested my water source and it ended up showing zero on ALL parameters. I don't have a heavily stocked tank either. I decided to add more hermits to see if they would help. They're not really fast enough. The blenny and tang munch on it but not aren't fast enough. I then started to consider the vodka/sugar option. I also was getting a green haze on the glass that would come back a few hours after being scrubbed off. I'm thinking these were diatoms.

Anyway, Sunday the 21st in the evening is when I decided to start dosing. I dosed about 1/8 teaspoon (NOT tablespoon). Well, as you all already know, I overdosed and had a bacteria bloom. The water clouded up for a few days. During this time, the skimmer had been skimming like crazy: super dark and stinky skim! I began to dose Wednesday morning since the water had already cleared up. I dosed today in the morning as well. Wednesday the green haze came up but didn't come back till about 6 hours later. This morning the green haze has not come up on the glass. I also the noticed that the water was a lot clearer than usual and the sand very clean. The skimmage is not as dark as the first two days of dosing but it is still a lot of skimmage. I decided to test out my parameters.

Well, here is the huge surprise. It seems somewhat fast for these results. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Phosphate are all at zero still. Nitrates have dropped below 5 ppm. Its not quite at zero but it is not over 5ppm. I am using the API Master Reef Test Kit so you compare the tube to the color card.

I will continue to dose to see if it the hair algae starts to recede. So far none of the livestock has been affected, neither coral nor fish.

I think I will add a disclaimer to my thread: do not use my tank as an example. The results I have gotten are not typical and do not guarantee that other tanks will obtain the same results.

 

[jtinoco]

I have increased the dose to 1/4 tsp. So far everything is still going good. The hair algae has started to die off in a few places. On other places the algae is turning white and somewhat brownish (signs of die off).

The only problem I have now encountered is what I believe is Ick. My blue tang seems to have ick. She is still eating good. I have been soaking frozen brine in fresh mushed up garlic. If it doesn't get any better I will have to QT her.

 

[psuedopimp]

bummer about the ick. hope the fish makes it.

hopefully you can figure out where the problem lies. you are getting nutrients from somewhere. maybe try a different brand of food??

 

[pnavarro170]

why is it i never get hairy green algae but sooner or later i get more of a red slime algae on sand ?? ill try and read up on this fully but i really try to add nothing to the tank besides whats needed bare trace elements.

 

[strayvoltage]

there are no two systems the same and every one of us is going to have a different experience with different things. I know nothing about dosing with sugar so can't really say much on it. If it is working then I say go for it, if you have done your homework on it.

 

[jtinoco]

John, I complete agree. All systems are unique and the same thing won't always work on very system. I read a lot into both sugar and vodka dosing and yet I still overdosed. I was able to keep everything running good after the overdose thanks to all the reading I've done. I knew how to handle the overdose. But what convinced me of doing the sugar dosing was yor success.

As for the cyano in Pedro's tank, I'm not sure why no algae but cyano is present. I'm no expert, but I thought cyano develops on tank that is not done with it's cycle, heavy bio load on young tank, low oxygen due to low flow.

IME I noticed that I got cyano in the pico tank after adding a whole bunch of coral at one timewhen the tank was only a couple months old. I helped set up a nano cube for a friend. He took a long time to add livestock and when he did it was very slow, almost 6 weeks between fish. The tank is a bit over a year old and he has barely started adding coral. He never got any cyano at all. I'm pretty sure it was his delay in adding things to the tank. JMO.

 

[pnavarro170]

yup, i just wonder if we have mentality on all tanks set up by the same person, same practices, same husbandry then the outcomes or tank produces certain things might go hand in hand. just weird to think about, i will be adding another pump to my tank, a tunze or another vortech to get the flow up. gonna focus on this tank even though i really want to switch over to a shallow rimless.

 

[jtinoco]

Day 10 of dosing. I tested my parameters yesterday and everything is now down to zero! Sweet! Water is clear and algae is receding very nicely. A lot of it has been detaching itself from the rock and I've been syphoning it out. Other parts are just looking brownish white still. Skimmer is still working overtime.

I will continue to do daily maintenance dose and see how that works.


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[deehz]

Wow, great news Jtinco! Glad to here that everything went ok.

How is the ich doing? You know with ich, it usually lasts for up to 8 weeks. I hope the fish pulls through. If not, he most effective method is a hospital tank with either Cupramine treatment (kills everything) or hyposalinity. Either way, once started the fish has to be in the hospital tank for 6-8 weeks.

 

[jtinoco]

I've been keeping an eye on the ick. I have just been feeding brine soaked in garlic. Seems like most of the spots have disappeared. The tang is the only one that has been affected. If it comes back worse I'll QT her and treat with meds.


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[mistaflicksta]

Hey J, Ive been following your dosing regiment and you state:

Anyway, Sunday the 21st in the evening is when I decided to start dosing. I dosed about 1/8 teaspoon (NOT tablespoon). Well, as you all already know, I overdosed and had a bacteria bloom. The water clouded up for a few days. During this time, the skimmer had been skimming like crazy: super dark and stinky skim! I began to dose Wednesday morning since the water had already cleared up. I dosed today in the morning as well.

What was the dosage size that you did the second time?

Im writing notes on this, I am debating on this or NP biopellets in a reactor. The pellets that I had put in the canister worked just a bit.

 

[pnavarro170]

this is vodka right? isnt one of the major benefits is getting the skimmer to work better because of this ?? sorry havent read up on it enough.

 

[mistaflicksta]

no dude, he went the sugar route.

 

[psuedopimp]

i think basically it is the same. adding a carbon source for bacteria to feed on and at the same time consuming N and P. i have also read where people are adding rice to a reactor. useing starch to fuel the bacteria bloom. i thought about starting a ramen tank, but im not in college anymore :lol:

 

[jtinoco]

I dosed Sunday the 21st and since it seemed I overdosed, I skipped the dose for Monday and Tuesday (I might have dosed more than 1/8tsp come to think of it). Wednesday I dropped to 1/10 in fear of another OD. Since it went good I went back to the scheduled doses of 1/8 tsp. I increased my dose to 1/4 for days 5-7. Day 8 - 10. I went up to 1/2 tsp. Day 11 (counted wrong) which was yesterday the nitrates went to zero so today I cut it back to 1/4. That should be my daily maintenance dose.

I followed a schedule for vodka just changed the values to sugar and measured in tsp not ml. I also tweaked the measurements to my liking so it wasn't followed strictly.

This is what I followed www.aquariumslife.com/headline/dosing_vodka/

Note the measurements are in ml. Another article I found says 1 tsp of sugar equals 10 ml of vodka (80 proof). Hence 1/10 tsp = 1 ml vodka. I used this formula to convert the measurements found on that article.

You'll notice the measurements are for 25 gallons. I tried starting with a low dose but still ended up overdosing.

Hope it makes sense.


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[deehz]

i think basically it is the same. adding a carbon source for bacteria to feed on and at the same time consuming N and P. i have also read where people are adding rice to a reactor. useing starch to fuel the bacteria bloom. i thought about starting a ramen tank, but im not in college anymore :lol:

Which one, the chili, shrimp, chicken ramen? :lol:

And yes, i agree with Justin. It is a carbon food source in which the bacteria can bloom in. Alcohol is basically one consuming bacteria or the byproduct of bacteria, it was created through a fermentation process. How does that fermentation process begin with, sugar.

So by putting in sugar in your tank, you are jump starting the bacteria. In essence, its like feeding your tank steroids. The more sugar, the more bacteria you have and the more it will consume nutrients such as NO3 and PO4 both organically and inorganically. Bacteria are wonderful, simple, super creatures.

 

[psuedopimp]

i love me some chicken ramen....yum yum

 

[deehz]

my favorite is the chili shrimp! But since my wife is Thai, when we go to Phx we stock up on real noodles and are the sh!t. They have this pork flavored one with a creamy white sauce that is out of this world. There is also a pad Thai flavored one and pho that are real good.

When we don't make food, we just open a couple of packages, boil them, boil some shrimp and chicken and eggs, throw in some thai chili's, some fish sauce, and you have an instant five minute dinner! F!ck Rachel "the joker" Ray and her "30 minute meals". Damn, I am getting hungry just thinking about it! :lol2:

 

[jtinoco]

I'm hungry now too. Lol

Deehz, I take it you don't like the cream of mushroom in green enchiladas recipe, why???


Now about the sugar dosing. I forgot to mention that I increased my feeding and have seen no impact. At about day 6 I began to feed everyday instead of every other. As of day 8 I began to feed twice a day. ( not too heavy tho). So far both the fish and corals are loving the extra food.


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[deehz]

My family is from Mexico City so food is a BIG part of our heritage and tradition. Since i was the only boy that helped my mom cook food, I learned very fast that there is right and wrong way of how to cook.

So when I got to las cruces from tucson, all I kept hereing was the "world famous green enchiladas". Tried them, asked the waiter how they made them, paid my meal and left. They were gross!!!! I found out that EVERYONE makes it the same way here--with cream of mushroom!!! My poor neighbor offered me some and I passed on them. I made her some of my enchiladas from a recipe that I learned from my mom and she was floored on how good they were. She asked if I made them with cream of mushroom and I said no. Just love.

By the way, great job on the sugar dosing. I have always battled NO3 in my system. I don't mind a little since corals do take in NO3. SPS dont mind a little bit of NO3 in your system. But following this thread very closely. I may end up going the sugar route once I build the fuge/sump for my system in the next couple of weeks.