I'm taking the plunge...

[kass03]

After reading many posts in the past on the subject of dosing sugar or vodka to reduce nitrates. I'm gonna try it on my 150.
I added 1/2 teaspoon of sugar today and will try that a day for a bit and see how it goes. I'm chicken to add more lol.

Heres the latest post about it and if you can get by all the wisecracks and flaming and read reeferals post.
I figure if Al can do it on his tank (which Ive seen and is beautiful) I can try it on the 150.
I just want to get them down for now and not continue dosing if adding the chaeto and such works.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=898931

I'll let you know if it crashes lol.

kass

[jmkarcz]

I've read some of those in the Chem Forum, I just dont have the kahuna's to try it on my tanks... Daddavis said once that he did it, and the skimmer went nuts... So be prepared. perhaps having your skimmer attached to a pail to handle the load... otherwise dumping every few minutes dosent seem like much of an option.

Jason

[kass03]

Thats part of the reason I'm trying it.
I have a red sea berlin skimmer on there and it makes tons of bubbles but they never quite go far enough to get into the collection cup unless I add iodine or something to make it work better. It's always been that way no matter how much I fiddle with it.
Ive had several different pumps on there and the skimmer is just crap. I had a mag 7 and now have the pump kit made for the berlin but it still sucks.
So I want it to go nuts lol.

You saw that tank there is'nt much in it so thats why I'm trying it.
I'd be afraid on my 55. What scares me is the part when you stop more than when your adding it.
I'm only doing a half teaspoon a day which is'nt much. So far the tank looks clearer than before lol but it's only been 2 days.

kass

[scooters reef]

It doesn't go nuts because it's working better, it goes nuts because of the additional bacteria growing/dying and needing to be removed. Is just more there to skim.

I have been thinking of using it down the road too. At the moment though, I have no nitrate problems and expect to be fine until I start stocking more. I will then likely keep it mixed up and dosed. I've also been looking at the RDSB in a bucket Anthony Calfo likes and will also likely put that in place first, then dose sugar only if I still have any remaining problems. But, since I'm not there, they are all just thoughts still :)

[scooters reef]

Actually, I think my current lack of nitrates is why halimeda started growing like a weed in my sump, while the other macro's have either gone away or are struggling and no trace of any other algae at all.

Maybe I should over feed a little on purpose, LOL

[kass03]

I really don't know why anyone would mess with it if they have low or 0 nitrates (or think about it scooter lol) I would'nt.

Halimedas like calcium which I'm sure you know.

kass

[scooters reef]

I have to think about it! I don't intend to have this thing almost empty forever :) Have to stay awake at night thinking of these things!

Right now though, finally getting to four fish and only a few other things, my skimmer, the fuge, and ozone are overkill (ozone is off since my original algae problem after I set it up cleared and just waiting too).

[scooters reef]

Oh, yes, I knew that :) Kind of why I figured they were the exception on growth. Except I don't want the stuff. Just kind of showed up as the stuff I wanted dwindled. Ripped a bunch out already, but made a bit of a mess so put off doing again until I feel like being more careful. Figure they aren't hurting anything at least.

[kass03]

Nah I'd just let the halimeda there. I never had luck growing those.

Dang must be nice to have so few problems that you lay awake thinking of potential problems lol.

kass

[scooters reef]

I have LOTS of problems. Like actually finishing getting it all completed :)

[kass03]

If the tank does crash it prolly wont be from the sugar lol.

I had about an inch of detritis in the sump under the media cuz I only cleaned that like once before lol. Only way to get to it was taking everything out and its low so can't do a siphen.
Yes I know I'm bad. I take much better care of the 55.
I cleaned the detritus out of the sump Wednesday very tediously with a turkey baster.
Then from cleaning it some of the detritus went back into the tank so did another 20 gal. water change tonight siphoning the sand again.

I'm prolly going too fast with that tank but wanna try getting it cleaned up.

kass

[jandlms]

Kass,
Why don't you hold off a week or two on the sugar dosing. My reasoning is that with cleaning out the bio media (a nitrate factory) and not giving your current bacteria and the whole system a chance to stabilize then adding sugar right away you may get some false sense of security when the nitrates drop. I would expect your nitrates to drop when removng the bio media.
I don't know if this sugar idea works or not. There have been some great posts on the subject (most very positive). I am only saying you won't know the cause for the nitrate drop unless you let your system water chemistry stabilize for a week or two before trying the sugar. What does it hurt to wait a little while.
Good luck anyway!
Jon
jandlms

[sticky]

When it is time to clean my sump.....it always gets some stuff in it....I use a shop vac. It works great and cleans it out perfect!!

[kass03]

My nitrates were like off the charts in that tank lol so I'm trying to get them down some with the sugar and cleaning.
In the past Ive done large water changes and they still just don't go down so thats why I'm trying the sugar.
I still left half the sump alone. I was afraid to remove all the bio media at once and it's usually not a good idea to. I was going to wait a month or 2 before I removed the rest. I'm still not even sure if I have enough rock in there to support everything but hope I do.
My big fear is that it will cycle again. Once when petworld went out of business I added some rock that was supposedly cured and all my fish got sick with like every disease there was. I saved a few but lost alot of them that I had for a cpl yrs. Back then I did'nt think to test for ammonia cuz the tank was established for so long. The only conclusion I can think of now is that it did a mini cycle.

My thinking is that by removing the bio media that I did I need more bacteria to grow so the sugar will help? I dunno lol.
I also still don't have any chaeto in the sump. I put the caulerpa with a little chaeto that I got in my tank and the sea lettuce but I don't think it's enough to really do alot yet.
I should get more chaeto tomorrow at the meeting for the sump.

It was recommended to add 1/8 tsp of sugar for each 25 gals and I'm only adding a half tsp per day so it's less than they said.

I know I'm prolly screwing everything up lol but you saw that tank and it really needed some improvement before everything dies.
Still I don't wanna lose the fish that have been in there. The clown came with the tank 11 yrs ago and it was big then so getting old. The jewel damsel and flame came from flying fish before live aquaria took over many yrs ago and the hippo was in there about 2 yrs after my other one jumped out.

Once I remove all the bio media from the sump it wont be so hard to clean. Being it was made for the bio media theres all kinds of acrylic plates and stuff in there so it's hard to get to the bottom.

kass

[kass03]

After a week I upped the amount to 3/4 teaspoon per day.

My skimmer is finally working lol but not going crazy.
My tank still looks like crap as far as algae goes. It's actually getting worse but I know thats from me stirring up alot of detritis as 1 side of the tank is alot better than the other.
I tested for nitrates last week and they were still off the chart but read it takes awhile for them to start to lower.

I have to say though each day the corals I have in there are looking better and perking up.
The water seems clearer and after a few days of adding sugar my daughter even said "mom what did you do to that tank? the water looks cleaner than ever before". Weird I thought so to but did'nt say anything lol.

I'm going to keep on dosing and see what happens. So far it seems better and not worse.

Now I'm not recommending this to anyone as I have no idea what will happen in the future lol. I don't have alot to lose in that tank like I would in my 55.
I hope it will be ok if I go slow. I see some people dumping tablespoons in their tank and hoping for an overnight miracle. Not a good way to go.

kass