Glucose as a third carbon source

[Piper27]

Anyone have good experience with using glucose as a carbon source? I dose vodka and vinegar and have read good things about smaller amounts of glucose being used to benifit sps corals as well as bacterial populations. Unlike sugar which has been reported to just hurt and discolor sps corals.

I want to add it to my mix but not sure what product to use. Is there somewhere local I can buy a clean glucose mix? What is the best product to use in terms of ease of mixing and purity, and I guess obviously results but I don't see a difference being made there.

If anyone uses it (alone or in a mix) please tell us what you use, how much, and the results you have noticed. Or if anyone has any knowledge associated with the topic please chip in.

[bertoni]

You can get glucose (and likely dextrose) in food-grade form from Amazon. I don't recall any posts about people who have tried it. I'd be careful, but it might be fine to use.

[Piper27]

Thanks man! This isn't as much for nutrient reduction as it would be for the corals and tank life. I will update once I get into it.

If anyone has experience with glucose please chime in.

[Acromaniac]

Let us know how it goes, I have been considering testing either glucose or water soluble starch as a carbon source too

[Piper27]

Yea I am going to order some tonight. Not many options, I guess the 100% glucose ,food grade, is all I need.
I did read a few posts where people tried doing this and had really bad experiences. Then again I have seen a few where people get good results and attribute it to the glucose which they say helps to feed the corals.

[Ellery]

Any feedback on your experience with glucose doing to feed corals/anemones etc? I just bought 2.2lbs of glucose syrup based on the MACNA talk from Bob Fenner last year. I already run Biopellets as a carbon doser to reduce Nitrates and PO4 but ended up doing Nitrates since It was too effective and I try to maintain MO3 between 2-5 ppm.

[tmz]

As I recall excess glucose can be fatal to some corals. I prefer simpler carbon sources like vodka(ethanol) and vinegar( acetic acid ) to avoid it and the more complex pathways associated with more complex carbohydrates

[Tripod1404]

As a side note, it is pretty easy to contaminate glucose solutions. You would either need to prepare it fresh from powdered dextrose for each use, or autoclave the solution and keep and work with it sterile. I am pretty sure it would get contaminated anyhow. Even under laboratory conditions with filtered air, gloves, coats and etc, I cant keep glucose solutions sterile more than ~6 moths. Under "household" conditions it will get contaminated pretty fast.

This is probably one of the main reasons why there are no commercial solutions for dosing complex sugars. Stuff like ethanol, methanol, acetic acid are intrinsically sterile (although some bacteria can grow in acetic acid).

Plus there is the issue of dosing. You cannot directly use the same dose used for ethanol, methanol or acetic acid. Those either contain 2 carbons (EtOH and Ac) and 1 carbon (MeOH), glucose contain 6 carbons. And metabolisms of essentially all organisms are built open using glucose. So it might rapidly cause bacterial bloom if dosing is wrong.

[bertoni]

Those points are very good. We do see problems reported with corals and sugar (sucrose) dosing. I don't remember whether we've seen reports on glucose dosing, but I'd be cautious.

[Dan_P]

Originally Posted by bertoni

Those points are very good. We do see problems reported with corals and sugar (sucrose) dosing. I don't remember whether we've seen reports on glucose dosing, but I'd be cautious.

In the old days, when carbon dosing first became popular, sucrose or brown sugar was used, but it never seemed to become very popular. There are scientific reports that show low molecular weight carbohydrates loke sucrose, can be damaging or lethal to corals. I have not researched this extensively so can’t speak to which corals, concentration or what the latest facts are.

I would do a little research on how coral react to sugars/carbohydrates/saccharides. You may find that bacteria are involved in causing the problem.

[orcafood]

I've used honey in my previous sps tank, it worked great. Though honey has quite a few extra components in it vs pure glucose. I've also used sucrose to good effect. I wouldn't dose sugars unless you have a pretty full sps tank.