sugar dosing

[t blackwell]

I have a 220 and I do have a bio pellet reactor going in my sump. it had done ok generally its only been up 3 months...before I had it I used to do a little sugar dosing...do people do that with biopellets running..is that a no no..I assume so but I was curious..sugar dosing seemed to work very well and my nitrates have crept up to about 25.. also..my tank is about a year old..I have never vaccumed the substrate..someone told me I really should but I thought that can do harm too..I do have a very overactive diamond goby ..my sand bed is not a deep sand bed ..maybe 3 inches in places down to maybe 1 inch ...would love to hear thoughts..

 

[Big G]

Bump

 

[t blackwell]

Bump

? bump...explain...lol..now I do realize my question was a little stupid..im not doing it..im asking if people have done it..I know the bio pellets are taking the place for organic carbon..but people do all kinds of things....seems like I heard someone say that somewhere..I was just curious.

 

[Big G]

? bump...explain...lol..now I do realize my question was a little stupid..im not doing it..im asking if people have done it..I know the bio pellets are taking the place for organic carbon..but people do all kinds of things....seems like I heard someone say that somewhere..I was just curious.

When you "Bump" a post it moves back up to the top of the list to get more eyes on it so you can get a reply.

 

[Mjrenz]

I had elevated nitrates in my tank and I
talked to my lfs owner about dosing sugar, he told me that eventually the sugar will become concentrated enough that it will feed a massive algae outbreak and recommended I put a deep sand bed in my refugium. I took his advice and after a few months my nitrates were nearly undetectable and have stayed that way for several months now. It was simple and has worked for me so far. The only things I'm using are the deep sand bed, macro algae, filter floss, and a skimmer

 

[t blackwell]

When you "Bump" a post it moves back up to the top of the list to get more eyes on it so you can get a reply.

oh lol thanks

 

[MabuyaQ]

Biopellets are a different kind of carbon that first needs to be colonized as well, which sometimes takes more time than you think. So abruptly stopping with with a previously used carbon source is never a good idea when switching to biopellets. Just start dosing sugar again to keep nitrates where you want/need them and slowly reduce the sugar dosing.

Why are you actually switching to pellets if the sugar is working for you?

 

[t blackwell]

Biopellets are a different kind of carbon that first needs to be colonized as well, which sometimes takes more time than you think. So abruptly stopping with with a previously used carbon source is never a good idea when switching to biopellets. Just start dosing sugar again to keep nitrates where you want/need them and slowly reduce the sugar dosing.

Why are you actually switching to pellets if the sugar is working for you?

let me clarify..I have bio pellets running now..I have had them going since december ish...I was just wondering if people sometimes do a little sugar dosing with the bio pellets if the nitrates creep up a little more than you like..mine have done well..except recently they have crept up to like 20 25..before they where running maybe 10 which is fine by me...so I was more curious if people do sugar or vodka dosing while leaving their bio pellets running..before I had bio pellets I used to do a little sugar dosing and it seemed to work well..so its more of a curisoity question

 

[MabuyaQ]

let me clarify..I have bio pellets running now..I have had them going since december ish...I was just wondering if people sometimes do a little sugar dosing with the bio pellets if the nitrates creep up a little more than you like..mine have done well..except recently they have crept up to like 20 25..before they where running maybe 10 which is fine by me...so I was more curious if people do sugar or vodka dosing while leaving their bio pellets running..before I had bio pellets I used to do a little sugar dosing and it seemed to work well..so its more of a curisoity question

Sorry I misunderstood. It is fine to use a different carbonsources besides biopellets. I actually prefer to do so (have used biopellets with vinegar and vodka in the past). The only thing I have noticed with sugar dosing is that it sometimes stimulates slimy bacterial growth. If that would happen in your biopelletfilter it would clog up so not sure if I would combine sugar and biopellets.

 

[t blackwell]

Sorry I misunderstood. It is fine to use a different carbonsources besides biopellets. I actually prefer to do so (have used biopellets with vinegar and vodka in the past). The only thing I have noticed with sugar dosing is that it sometimes stimulates slimy bacterial growth. If that would happen in your biopelletfilter it would clog up so not sure if I would combine sugar and biopellets.

how much vinegar or vodka do you dose with pellets running

 

[MabuyaQ]

how much vinegar or vodka do you dose with pellets running

Depends on NO3 and PO4 levels. I prefer to keep PO4 in the 0.02-0.04ppm range with NO3 in the 2-5ppm range. When running biopellets if NO3 still went over 5ppm (which tended to happen on occasion due to overfeeding) I would simply dose V and/or V to get NO3 back in this range. Just had to make sure there was still enough PO4 left when dosing this extra carbon because at that time I had more trouble keeping that up even with the occasional overfeeding.

Currently it is the other way around I export PO4 with GFO and have to dose NO3 to keep this balanced (I still dose small amounts of vinegar or wodka twice a week to boost my bacterial population).

 

[t blackwell]

Depends on NO3 and PO4 levels. I prefer to keep PO4 in the 0.02-0.04ppm range with NO3 in the 2-5ppm range. When running biopellets if NO3 still went over 5ppm (which tended to happen on occasion due to overfeeding) I would simply dose V and/or V to get NO3 back in this range. Just had to make sure there was still enough PO4 left when dosing this extra carbon because at that time I had more trouble keeping that up even with the occasional overfeeding.

Currently it is the other way around I export PO4 with GFO and have to dose NO3 to keep this balanced (I still dose small amounts of vinegar or wodka twice a week to boost my bacterial population).

very interesting..thank you for sharing info