Sugar Dosing

H@rry · Jul 28, 2009

With all the talk about vodka dosing, I understand you can also dose sugar as a source of carbon. Has anybody tried sugar?

Paul_N · Jul 28, 2009

I tried sugar and had issues with the clear slime. I also tried the v/s/v mixture (vodka/sugar/vinegar) and had the clear slime. I took out vinegar and still had the issue and then took sugar out and it all went away. I bumped up the dose of vodka by itself and never looked back. That is just my experience. I have read post on the other site from people that just dose sugar and have no issues.

GPhiAce · Jul 28, 2009

Harry, I have no experience, but I started dosing Vodka recently. Waiting to get to the maintaince dose phase and see some results. Good luck Harry.

gilmour01 · Jul 28, 2009

i've read about alot of people having the clear slime problem with sugar and vinegar, so i decided to use straight vodka...it's working very well for me and the tank has never looked better.

beaslbob · Jul 28, 2009

use vodka

Then invite me over to inspect the tank.

:p

stunreefer · Jul 29, 2009

The slime can be formed from any source of carbon dosing including vodka. It forms based on the rate that the bacteria utilize the carbon source, and you have to adjust accordingly. It will also form in any probiotic system without sufficient areas for bacteria to colonize (namely bare bottom systems).

gilmour01 · Jul 29, 2009

i read that different bacteria respond to different carbon sources; hence, the bacteria that is the slime grows more readily with sugar and vinegar dosing than with vodka. do you not agree with that?

stunreefer · Jul 29, 2009

gilmour01 said:
i read that different bacteria respond to different carbon sources

I agree with this part, but not necessarily the latter.

A big thing to mention is that you generally will experience weird things (like the clear slime, cyano, etc.) if you're solely dosing a carbon source. IMO/IME it's of the utmost importance that you're dosing a bacteria along with the carbon source otherwise the bacterial driven system remains unbalanced.

Paul_N · Jul 29, 2009

stunreefer said:
I agree with this part, but not necessarily the latter.

A big thing to mention is that you generally will experience weird things (like the clear slime, cyano, etc.) if you're solely dosing a carbon source. IMO/IME it's of the utmost importance that you're dosing a bacteria along with the carbon source otherwise the bacterial driven system remains unbalanced.

I guess I should have mentioned that I also dose Biodigest once a month also. I use 1 vial in my 100 gallon system. Although I have been experimenting with not dosing it. i have not added it in two months and my parameters are right on and everything looks great. My ultimate goal is just vodka and fish food. I went through a phase with cyano (2 months) and then hair algae few months and now my tank has hit its sweet spot.

H@rry · Jul 30, 2009

Couple of questions:

What happens if I leave town for a week or so. I have someone who will come in everyday and top off but I don't want anybody trying to dose anything in the tanks.

Any info on the amount of sugar to dose? 1 teaspoon per 100 gallons, etc.

Thanx
H@rry

stunreefer · Jul 30, 2009

H@rry said:
What happens if I leave town for a week or so. I have someone who will come in everyday and top off but I don't want anybody trying to dose anything in the tanks.

I travel A LOT for work... 50% of the time I'm gone these days, which is why I love Prodibio. In theory it would seem it's more effective, or balanced if you're dosing a carbon source daily rather than weekly as you do with Prodibio, but I've done both ways and haven't seen enough difference to justify it. So I dose my bacteria bi-weekly, and carbon source once a week. VERY simple, VERY effective, and not bad on the wallet considering it's not every day.

If you're gone for a couple weeks and cannot do the carbon dose, no worries, just re-implement when you return.

xiongaquatics · Jul 30, 2009

H@rry said:
Couple of questions:

What happens if I leave town for a week or so. I have someone who will come in everyday and top off but I don't want anybody trying to dose anything in the tanks.

Any info on the amount of sugar to dose? 1 teaspoon per 100 gallons, etc.

Thanx
H@rry

there is a post on WWR about sugar dosing. here is the link:Sugar Dosing Basis - World Wide Reefers