Bringing down Nitrates - A miracle cure?

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95Harley

95Harley

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2006
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Annapolis, MD
Just reading on a Saltwater forum that a visit about a potential solution that some of the guys have found.

I have never tried this or heard of it till tonight, but I want to know if anyone has ever tried this on FW tanks.

Here is the long and short of it. They are adding between 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of Sugar to their tanks per tonight and it's bringing Nitrates and Phosphates down by increaing bacteria with no bad effects. One guy has brought Nitrates from over 60ppm to under 5ppm without a water change.

I feel like the kid who just learned there was no Santa. Just had to share and see if any of my Monster keepers of ever heard of this or tried it?

I'm leaving town tomorrow so I can't try it without being here but when I get back I will give this a shot on my FW Monster tank.

Stay tuned:popcorn:
 
haha wow sounds a little too god to be true
keep us posted
 
:bs:
Nitrates arent normally reduced by the bacteria in the "cycle" they are the end product.Some sw tanks use deep sand beds to reduce nitrates but most use a skimmer.I wouldnt be surprised to find out this is a joke.
 
Agreed with both comments, but as I read it this seems to be working with SW tanks with Skimmers. Not sure how this will work on FW tanks. I am curious to know if anyone on here has heard of it. The guys on reefcentral and saltwaterfish are claiming this is working for them but no one has tested it long term to see if there is any ill effects or build up and break over effects.

I will keep you guys posted.

Maybe do some googles to see if this is anywhere else. And hold on to your hat, they are saying Vodka works too. I know I know WTF over....but I'm just spreading the word on what I just read.
 
this is the same idea as dosing with vodka, and been brought up before. it works. but only in saltwater. i plan to test it when i set up another 40gal in a few weeks.
gomezladdams;1922983; said:
:bs:
Nitrates arent normally reduced by the bacteria in the "cycle" they are the end product.Some sw tanks use deep sand beds to reduce nitrates but most use a skimmer.I wouldnt be surprised to find out this is a joke.
Click to expand...

skimmers dont reduce nitrates per se, they remove proteins straight from the water, preventing it from decomposing at all.

nitrate CAN be reduced in the nitrogen cycle, at least in SW. [i'm sure deep sand beds work in FW as well. though refugiums are probably more practical.] thus the bacteria that works in these environments [DSB, centers of rock, etc] theoretically is boosted by the sugar or vodka, and there you have the extra nitrate reduction.
 
gomezladdams;1922983; said:
:bs:
Nitrates arent normally reduced by the bacteria in the "cycle" they are the end product.Some sw tanks use deep sand beds to reduce nitrates but most use a skimmer.I wouldnt be surprised to find out this is a joke.
Click to expand...

one skimmers dont really reduce nitrates.... they just remove the compounds some of the compounds that turn into nitrates....

2 i wouldnt add sugar to my tank and stop doing water changes to try to reduce my nitrates.... sounds way too :screwy::ROFL: to me....
 
I saw something awhile back on this with renewed interest I started googling, here are a couple of comments I found. In the meantime I have to keep reading:

"Nitrates can only be eliminated naturally by anerobic bacteria, which of course is not in anyones tank since anerobic bacteria. There are very few of these bacteria in aquariums. In order to get this bacteria you need to feed it somthing, what happens to be sugar, plain old white granulated
sugar. Ok, now, this is how I did it...

First of all, you need to have a protein skimmer, it won't work without one, if you don't have one I would highly suggest getting one. As a start I would add 1/8 of a teaspoon of sugar for every 25 gallons of water, every other day. If you have any corals I would do every two days. You can add more but it's better to be safe than sorry. Doing this promotes the growth of anerobic bacteria as I mentioned before. Growing this type of bacteria will use up some oxygen in your tank, thats why it's better to start off with a low ammount of sugar. Your skimmer will supply oxygen as well as skim out all those anerobic bacteria that have just consumed nitrate. Therefore lowering your nitrates This truly does work and you will be very suprised how much money it saves you in salt for water changes. "



Then I found this pdf using sugar fermentation to increase co2 in a FW planted
tank...


http://www.geosystemaquarium.com/geoeng/careguides/naturalplant_e.pdf
:popcorn:
 
Why would this not work- assuming it works - in SW?
 
hang on - i believe this works [or has more commonly worked] only in SW. might be due to the fact that nitrates have to be kept extremely low [compared to most FW systems] in SW. SW tanks incorporate anaerobic bacteria much more than freshwater systems [live rock, sand/mud beds]
never heard of anyone dosing sugar or vodka in fresh.
 
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