sugar in a reef tank???

[perezmk1982]

yesterday i went to a petshop. and we started talking about phospates and nitrates and i heard something that i never heard before. is it true that putting sugar into your reef tank helps w nitrate and phospate??? i never heard something like thats before. one crazy question that i have???? is this true???

 

[Josh]

Yes people put sugar in their tanks to artificially increase the level of bacteria in the tank.

It is essentially the same thing as vodka dosing or a pellet reactor. Basically you are just providing extra food for the bacteria and as a result they take more of the nitrate/phosphate out of the water (via skimmer export of mulm).

 

[ZANYMASTER]

It's risky thing.Vodka dosing is safer in my opinion.

 

[T3TRODOTOXIN]

And the safest IMO - Biopellets.

 

[davyr]

I started dosing sugar to kick start my pellets off and it worked a treat.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Vitamin C is interesting also and is very good to boost the immune systems of your fish

 

[jcolon2]

Wow, this is an interesting thread!