Sugar dosing

[L0b0sa08]

Hey everyone!
I've been battling high nitrates for a while. It's been sitting around 40ppm for a while and I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube about sugar dosing. Has anyone else had a lot of luck with this and would you recommend this? Is it literally just plain sugar you use for drinks/baked goods? Seems crazy that a simple thing like this can work. Thank you all for your time! Oh also, I had a post yesterday about my protein skimmer not skimming in the last week. Should I hold off on the sugar dosing until the skimmer is back in full force? Thanks again everyone!

 

[Breadman03]

What you are asking about is known as organic carbon dosing, of which there are several popular forms which include sugar, vinegar, vodka, and biopellets. Each has pros and cons, but they all work on the theory that bacteria requires some nitrate, phosphate, and some organic carbon in order to grow.

The process should be begun gradually, allowing bacterial populations to grow and also allowing yourself time to adjust in case of issues. One key piece of equipment in the process is a skimmer, because what is happening is that the bacteria are using the nutrients to grow. The nutrients will be released when the bacteria dies, but we use the skimmer to pull the bacteria (and thus the nutrients) out of the water column.

 

[gone fishin]

I agree with the above post, I would wait until you get your skimmer issues sorted out first. Once the skimmer is sorted then the problems may resolve themselves. good luck just my cents.

 

[mcgyvr]

I would recommend other carbon sources over sugar.. Vinegar/Vodka are easier/better..

There is a DIY recipe of Red Sea NoPoX around here if you look and that works really well..
(Its 1 part RO/DI water, 3 parts vodka(40% abv..no flavors), 4 parts vinegar (5%) )
Follow dosing instructions from Red Sea

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

+1 on waiting. If your skimmer working well doesn't do the trick ,then start carbon dosing. If your skimmer isn't working well, than carbon dosing will only do bad things to your tank. Carbon dosing requires a good skimmer to work, and without one your tank could easily be oxygen deprived. I know from experience after my skimmer stopped for a couple hours. Almost lost all of my fish before I caught it.

 

[Walla2GSP]

I just did this recently, it works really well, but as already mentioned it loads up your skimmer so make sure that is running on par first. Start very slowly, I would even recommend dosing a small amount every other day to begin with. I was using what I thought was a small amount of VSV for my system and basically caused a Nitrate crash, so test test test till you get a proper amount figured out for your system.

 

[Sk8r]

MUST have a good skimmer to dose carbon.

I will say I found NoPoX a better answer than vinegar dosing.