Sugar/vodka Dosing

[jaylam]

Anyone have any experience in it?

I am considering it to help with my sudden algae situation and to bring down my Nitrates.

I have a 55g tank and after some reading have found that if I do it then it should be 1/4 of a table spoon every other day, can anyone confirm this?

 

[Morri]

It is very risky I would look at bio pearls instead they do the same things but more controlled.

I know Nemo does Vit C dosing with good results

Bio Pearls will take a few weeks to kick in I guess all the others do as well the issue with Carbon dosing is knowing how much to add and what you are adding`s purity

I would say more frequent water changes to bring it down and look for the source of high nitrates instead of trying to fix the nitrates themselves

I tried all the miracle cures I fixed mine in the end with higher water flow over my LR and twice weekly water changes.

 

[ian]

wow, you salties are crazy people!

 

[lewiss]

I thought this was a joke

Well I've never heard of that one before!! Interesting read though, not sure I'd want to risk putting foreign bodies into my reef though!!

 

[jaylam]

Well I have read on 4-5 different sites now that the people who have done it have had brilliant results.

Don't get me wrong im not looking to do this instead of water changes just as a short term to get my nitrates down a bit to see if it sorts the algae problem out.

 

[Morri]

I am not sure it will be a quick fix from my understanding of carbon dosing is you would need for the bacteria colony to build up I would expect it to take 3 - 4 weeks at a guess.

Send nemo a PM I know she did Vit C dosing

 

[Uriel]

It does work but is a very exact science. Too much and you kill everything in your tank. I would go with bio pearls/balls in a reactor if it was me or loads of water changes. You can also get nitrate absorbing media, but this is a short term solution.

 

[jaylam]

I am not sure it will be a quick fix from my understanding of carbon dosing is you would need for the bacteria colony to build up I would expect it to take 3 - 4 weeks at a guess.

Send nemo a PM I know she did Vit C dosing

Yeah most people are saying it took 2 weeks before noticing a different and the average out of all the post's I have read said after 2 weeks their Nitrates went from 20ppm to 5ppm and phos around 0.1ppm. Phos im not worried about as my reactor keeps that pretty low but interesting about sugar lowering Nitrate.

I think im going to give it a go.

 

[-Nemo-]

Looked into sugar/vodka dosing but felt more cmofortable with adding vitamin C... Having been dosing it on multiple tanks for over a year now with amazing results... 0 nitRATes and 0 Phosphates... No nuisance algae problem... (and PS: I use tap water ) It also has increased my coral's color and stabilized my KH at 10. I know of a couple people on here who have just started it recently. I'm an advocate.

 

[jaylam]

Looked into sugar/vodka dosing but felt more cmofortable with adding vitamin C... Having been dosing it on multiple tanks for over a year now with amazing results... 0 nitRATes and 0 Phosphates... No nuisance algae problem... (and PS: I use tap water ) It also has increased my coral's color and stabilized my KH at 10. I know of a couple people on here who have just started it recently. I'm an advocate.

Does vit c dosing do the same as sugar/vodka if so would you mind explaining how I could go about starting it, how much to dose? can I use any type of vic c etc etc.

Thanks.

 

[weezawoo]

Id rather add tequila and lime with that salt

 

[-Nemo-]

I'm not sure exactly how vodka/sugar works but i'm pretty sure it's all the same. You are essentially carbon dosing. This feeds a bacteria which builds up and breaks down nitRATes and Phos, the waste the bacteria produces is skimmed off by the skimmer. Your skimmer goes CRAZY when dosing. (This is similar to how the nitrogenous bacteria consumes ammonia and converts it into nitRITes).

Here's my original topic: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/326409-vitaminc-c-dosing
And here's a calculator on how much to dose: http/www.saltwatermasters.com/articles/Vitamin-C-Dosing

For how many ppm, I am doing between 8-10 ppm. You don't want to start that high. Start around 2ppm and work your way up slowly, otherwise you will get a huge (and i mean HUGE) diatom outbreak. That happened to me. So for example, 3/4 tsp gives me 8-10ppm, so I dose 3/4 tsp in the morning and 3/4 tsp at night.
At the bottom they have a link to a site to buy the vit. c, that is the site I get mine from as well. If you cannot/don't want to order from there, then you want Sodium ascorbate POWDER that is human consumption grade. It also NEEDS to be buffered to neutral pH.

Here's a copy/paste from a PM I sent someone regarding my topic:
"A note on the Pros and Cons I list on there...
The only downside I have ever experienced was a bad diatom bloom, in which I then halved the dosage I was doing and slowly worked my way up. No cyano outbreak out. Only bad thing is, you can't keep Macro, it's impossible. While my KH is increased, I consider this a Pro now, not a con. My KH used to run around 6, and the Vit. C has brought it up to a steady 10 (PERFECT!)

I used to have horrible hair algae in my previously tank and this has completely extinguished it all. Since setting up my new tank (75G) I completely skipped any algae blooms. All I have now is the occasional algae on the glass. There is still enough algae to feed the crabs and snails, but nothing excess. It has definitely increased coral color IMO..."

Just keep an eye on your pH and KH (just in case) and you'll be golden.

 

[Tolak]

I thought someone was making homemade brandy like my grandmother used to.

 

[jaylam]

I'm not sure exactly how vodka/sugar works but i'm pretty sure it's all the same. You are essentially carbon dosing. This feeds a bacteria which builds up and breaks down nitRATes and Phos, the waste the bacteria produces is skimmed off by the skimmer. Your skimmer goes CRAZY when dosing. (This is similar to how the nitrogenous bacteria consumes ammonia and converts it into nitRITes).

Here's my original topic: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/326409-vitaminc-c-dosing
And here's a calculator on how much to dose: http/www.saltwatermasters.com/articles/Vitamin-C-Dosing

For how many ppm, I am doing between 8-10 ppm. You don't want to start that high. Start around 2ppm and work your way up slowly, otherwise you will get a huge (and i mean HUGE) diatom outbreak. That happened to me. So for example, 3/4 tsp gives me 8-10ppm, so I dose 3/4 tsp in the morning and 3/4 tsp at night.
At the bottom they have a link to a site to buy the vit. c, that is the site I get mine from as well. If you cannot/don't want to order from there, then you want Sodium ascorbate POWDER that is human consumption grade. It also NEEDS to be buffered to neutral pH.

Here's a copy/paste from a PM I sent someone regarding my topic:
"A note on the Pros and Cons I list on there...
The only downside I have ever experienced was a bad diatom bloom, in which I then halved the dosage I was doing and slowly worked my way up. No cyano outbreak out. Only bad thing is, you can't keep Macro, it's impossible. While my KH is increased, I consider this a Pro now, not a con. My KH used to run around 6, and the Vit. C has brought it up to a steady 10 (PERFECT!)

I used to have horrible hair algae in my previously tank and this has completely extinguished it all. Since setting up my new tank (75G) I completely skipped any algae blooms. All I have now is the occasional algae on the glass. There is still enough algae to feed the crabs and snails, but nothing excess. It has definitely increased coral color IMO..."

Just keep an eye on your pH and KH (just in case) and you'll be golden.

Thanks for taking the time to post this, I feel more comfortable dosing vit c than sugar and vodka, I will order whats needed and keep a diary when I start and keep you all posted.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.

 

[jaylam]

Ok ordered Vit C.

One last question that website you posted said to increase the dosage over the week so if I start at 2ppm on the monday and increase it by 1ppm each day until I reach 8ppm then continue each day with that?, is that ok? (example below)

WEEK 1
Mon = 2ppm twice a day
Tues = 3ppm twice a day
Wed = 4ppm twice a day
Thur = 5ppm twice a day
Fri = 6ppm twice a day

WEEK 2
Mon = 7ppm twice a day
Tues = 8ppm twice a day
Wed = 8ppm twice a day
Thur = 8ppm twice a day
Fri = 8ppm twice a day