Reef nutrition

What are you using as your nitrate dosing?

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richiev

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My frag tank I need to dose nitrate to get numbers up. @JVU and others in a similar boat, what are you using as your dosing and why?

I'm using a bottle of NeoNitro I have at the moment, but I don't have any particular reason to use that type.


Avoiding all the likely other comments:

Yes I've fed more. It's a frag tank with 3 fish being fed 9 times a day, 45 second of Reef Jerky.

Yes I've reduced other things like skimming. Skimmer only is used for aeration. Fuge runs at an off hours schedule, and only the end of the night (I'd prefer all night though to get a better pH boost). Yes I'm not over water changing (I haven't recently).

Yes I've measured multiple times and am confident the numbers are too low. It's been this way for awhile.

Symptom is low color/bleached coral, who are responding positively to my multiple times a day NO dosing.
 
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Question is -what is your current NO3 now and where do you want to go with it?

I have to measure again as my current NO3 is 5.x -which is fine -except for the fact that my PO4 is .6x - so I need to raise it about two to get on the other side of it.


Below is the thread for ammonium bicarbonate
/chloride is posted . I need to check nitrates again but if it’s still below the 10:1 NO3 /PO4 ratio that is what I am going to dose.

If you really need to dose to really get those nitrates up -then sodium or potassium nitrate perhaps. I may have a small bag..

www.reef2reef.com

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...
www.reef2reef.com www.reef2reef.com
 
L/B Block said:
Question is -what is your current NO3 now and where do you want to go with it?

I have to measure again as my current NO3 is 5.x -which is fine -except for the fact that my PO4 is .6x - so I need to raise it about two to get on the other side of it.


Below is the thread for ammonium bicarbonate
/chloride is posted . I need to check nitrates again but if it’s still below the 10:1 NO3 /PO4 ratio that is what I am going to dose.

If you really need to dose to really get those nitrates up -then sodium or potassium nitrate perhaps. I may have a small bag..

www.reef2reef.com

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...
www.reef2reef.com www.reef2reef.com
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Any experience with the ammonia dosing? The idea intrigues me and scares me. Intuitively it makes sense, since coral eat ammonia and presumably that's the benefit of fish in a system, but seems easy to screw up.

Cheap though.
newfly said:
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This type of approach is probably my default fallback unless someone speaks strongly about something like NeoNitro and related
 
@richiev -not yet. I am about to mix up some this week and just add in the equivalent of upping the NO3 by 2 ppm. But I am also slightly apprehensive although RHF said that if you mix at the level he prescribes there should be nothing to worry about.

I intend to dose it real slow (11 ml over 45 min 2x a day) into the sump. And away from feeding times so my fish don’t get a sip of ammonia with that ROE.


Just tested my PO4 and NO3. Good news is that my NO3 has come back up to 7.8 without intervention. Bad news my PO4 is now up to .74. Bah.
 
When I had low nutrient issues I used potassium nitrate, purchased in powder form from a freshwater planted aquarium fertilizer supplier. Worked great for me.
greenleafaquariums.com

Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer - 1lb Jar

Shop Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer (1lb Jar) for your planted aquarium aquascape. Brand: Green Leaf Aquariums (GLA). Orders ship fast worldwide and get free shipping on orders $125.
greenleafaquariums.com greenleafaquariums.com

Calculator here for determining your solution concentration and how much you need to dose:
 
I use NeoNitro. It’s inexpensive with the large refill jug, made for dosing reef tanks, and doesn’t require a deep dive or making up solutions. I haven’t tried other options since this works well.
 
Here are my notes on nitrate dosing. Very easy and cheap to make. It is commonly used for food preservation so you can find food grade readily available for sale:

Nitrate Dosing:
  • Sodium or calcium nitrate
  • Can use calculator for potassium here: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm
  • 95 grams of sodium nitrate in 500ml rodi = Each 1ml raises nitrate by 0.25ppm for 125g system
  • To raise 125g system by 5ppm dose 20ml
 
Any suggestions on maximum increase I can do a day? Assume I'm near zero now. I'm planning to just keep dosing slightly more until I get a reading, but could I jump to 5.0 in one day? 1.0? 2.0?
 
What's your phosphate at? Charles mentions in that video the ideal molar (not mass based) ratio based on that. Everyone also agrees on ammonia rather than nitrate dosing since it's the preferred form by the corals, bacteria, etc.
 
I use reagent grade Sodium Nitrate off of Amazon and make my own solution.

Darkxerox said:
What's your phosphate at? Charles mentions in that video the ideal molar (not mass based) ratio based on that. Everyone also agrees on ammonia rather than nitrate dosing since it's the preferred form by the corals, bacteria, etc.
Click to expand...

While i don’t have an argument about ammonia being easier to use for photosynthetic critters, I’d be more worried about dosing malfunctions. A ton of sodium nitrate isn’t likely to do as much damage as a ton of ammonia chloride.
 
RandyC said:
I use reagent grade Sodium Nitrate off of Amazon and make my own solution.



While i don’t have an argument about ammonia being easier to use for photosynthetic critters, I’d be more worried about dosing malfunctions. A ton of sodium nitrate isn’t likely to do as much damage as a ton of ammonia chloride.
Click to expand...


Valid point! With the Neptune dosers and the Red Sea dosers I have no fear of that but I could see other dosers that simply run on a timer malfunction. I did hear case of malfunction with hydros wireless power bar that loss of signal triggered the doser..
 
richiev said:
Any suggestions on maximum increase I can do a day? Assume I'm near zero now. I'm planning to just keep dosing slightly more until I get a reading, but could I jump to 5.0 in one day? 1.0? 2.0?
Click to expand...

I think I have seen 2.0 a day is ok.
I do have a bag of sodium nitrate if you want.
Live in Oakland but I can drop at high tide.
 
richiev said:
Any suggestions on maximum increase I can do a day? Assume I'm near zero now. I'm planning to just keep dosing slightly more until I get a reading, but could I jump to 5.0 in one day? 1.0? 2.0?
Click to expand...
I don’t think this is one of those things you have to go slow with. I am sure dosing a couple ppm at once is ok because that’s what I do. No real reason to do more than that at once. I generally just squirt it for a few seconds over the top of my aquarium when I remember to do so very roughly once a week or so. Obviously using a doser and a more careful approach would be better if you feel like it.
 
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