Re: [APD] Getting shot of Nitrate Xperiment

[Stuart Halliday <stuart at mytriops_com>]

I've been doing more of this experiment on my 15L tank and ensured I had a 
working nitrifying cycle. So I monitored that ammonia was getting turned 
into nitrate.

The effect of the sugar doesn't last long. A few days with no nitrate 
probably caused the bacteria to die or go into a dormant state.

I re-added 0.5ppm ammonia daily and nitrate is getting produced with no nitrite.

I waited 24 hours but nitrate was still at the same level.

I added a 1/4 tsp of sugar and within 4 hours the water turned a little bit 
cloudy. Just noticeable. I waited a day and the 10ppm of nitrate had gone to 
zero again.

I see why Tetra say add their EasyBalance/NitratMinus once a week. You need 
to do this slowly to not cause a death of the O2 levels. I'm not providing 
any aeration of the water other than the output from the internal filter 
breaking the surface. Tetra do advise you do this however. So I suspect 
their dosage amount is on the cautious side.

(Circumstances prevent me from operating an air pump on the test tank as its 
next to my bedroom and the noise from the tank will keep my wife awake.)

So adding sugar certainly removes nitrate. The trick is to add just enough 
and wait 24 hours for the result...

I suppose you could mix sugar in with Plaster of Paris (I think that's what 
is used in those weekend food pyramids) and as it dissolves it releases the 
sugar.

-- 
Stuart Halliday
http://mytriops.com/
200 Million years in the making...
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