Nitrate Dosing

[gurumasta]

My system is ultra low nutrient to the point that I can’t even grow macro algae. I am considering dosing nitrates to try and boost my coral color and growth. I also am considering dosing acropower but I am not sure which route to go...

Who is doing this?
What are your results?
What product are you using and what dosage?

I see the tree stump remover as well as the potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate and I am wondering if one is better than the other?


Thanks!!

 

[EddieM]

I was running in to the same issue and just recently started dosing Nitrate. I decided to go with MECoral "Nitrate", which is a mix of sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium nitrate....and it comes premixed, ready to dose. My nitrates are up and my corals look better, but too early to see if my macro are benefiting. As for Acropower, I've dosed that once a week for some time now, but I've understood that while it may help raise nitrates, it also introduces carbon, which can have other effects on your system. Ultimately, adding pure nitrate allows you to specifically target your problem without introducing other variables. Having said that, I continue to use both.

 

[gurumasta]

I was running in to the same issue and just recently started dosing Nitrate. I decided to go with MECoral "Nitrate", which is a mix of sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium nitrate....and it comes premixed, ready to dose. My nitrates are up and my corals look better, but too early to see if my macro are benefiting. As for Acropower, I've dosed that once a week for some time now, but I've understood that while it may help raise nitrates, it also introduces carbon, which can have other effects on your system. Ultimately, adding pure nitrate allows you to specifically target your problem without introducing other variables. Having said that, I continue to use both.

Thanks for that reply. Isn't it much more expensive to dose the MECoral? How many ml are you dosing daily and what is your water volume?

Thanks again!

 

[madducks42]

I started dosing for nitrates and phosphates about 2 months ago. Similar situation, our tank was at zero and we wanted to raise both. I'm still working on finding a good dosing schedule to keep them steady but most of the coral seem to be doing better and we finally started to get algae on our algae scrubber and the dino in the tank is almost completely gone. Yay!

I've been using Seachem's Flourish Nitrate and Flourish Phosphorus.

 

[jah-hoeva]

Tagging along here. Another forum mentioned I need to raise my nitrate and phosphate.

 

[EddieM]

Thanks for that reply. Isn't it much more expensive to dose the MECoral? How many ml are you dosing daily and what is your water volume?

Thanks again!

A 32oz bottle is about $20 and they recommend 1 ml/5 gal Nitrate (NO3) by 1 ppm. When researching, I was finding various pros/cons to the various types of nitrates, a blended mix combines the benefits of each without the risk of overdosing a specific type. To me, the price was worth it for peace of mind and ease of dosing. I have a 240 gal tank and dose about 10 ml twice a week to maintain my nitrate around 5ppm.

 

[gurumasta]

A 32oz bottle is about $20 and they recommend 1 ml/5 gal Nitrate (NO3) by 1 ppm. When researching, I was finding various pros/cons to the various types of nitrates, a blended mix combines the benefits of each without the risk of overdosing a specific type. To me, the price was worth it for peace of mind and ease of dosing. I have a 240 gal tank and dose about 10 ml twice a week to maintain my nitrate around 5ppm.

That doesn't sound bad at all.

32 oz/ 946 ml is over 45 weeks of dosing at 20 ml a week. That's about $20 a year for me (180 water volume) so I think I can swing it lol. I may go this route.

How should I start the dosing if I don't want to promote an algae bloom?

Thanks again for the input!

 

[Chris A.]

More fish

 

[EddieM]

That doesn't sound bad at all.

32 oz/ 946 ml is over 45 weeks of dosing at 20 ml a week. That's about $20 a year for me (180 water volume) so I think I can swing it lol. I may go this route.

How should I start the dosing if I don't want to promote an algae bloom?

Thanks again for the input!

Keep in mind that each tanks requirements will vary. I started with about a 1/4 (5 ml) of the recommended dose daily, upping that to half the recommended dose and tested daily until achieving the desired levels. Now I find that 1/2 dose (10 ml) twice a week does the trick.

 

[gurumasta]

I a actually looking to add about two more fishes at some point.

Awesome thanks again I am going to order some right now.

 

[Chris A.]

My problem is completely the opposite lol

 

[Collin]

My problem is completely the opposite lol

lol same I wish I had this problem


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[EddieM]

I a actually looking to add about two more fishes at some point.

Awesome thanks again I am going to order some right now.

FYI. You can order direct from them, but they charge $10 shipping. Saltwateraquarium.com offers price match, just click on the button on their page and wait for the email. They offer free shipping.

 

[EddieM]

lol same I wish I had this problem


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I can't make sense of it. I've had issues battling nutrients in the past, but since moving to our current house it's been the opposite. Now I find myself adding them.

 

[Chris A.]

Too much biological filtration ( rock)
Fuge, biomedia , carbon

 

[gurumasta]

FYI. You can order direct from them, but they charge $10 shipping. Saltwateraquarium.com offers price match, just click on the button on their page and wait for the email. They offer free shipping.

I ordered too soon and paid $25 from saltwateraquarium.com. Next time!

I agree with Chris on the too much filtration. I have a basement sump with over 100 lbs of extra rock, a large skimmer and a good sized refugium so nutrients never had a chance in my system. My display isn't large enough to have 100 fish so the fish load doesn't really match the water volume/ filtration. I don't think I would change it because I would rather try and control the nutrients instead of fight them. Plus I feed my fish a ton with no issues and they love it.

Adding nitrates is a new venture for me so its kind of cool in a way but I just have to make sure I take it low and slow!

 

[mpsteve]

First thing I did to up the nutrients in my system 260g total water volume was took my algae scrubber offline and changed to cheato. After that didn’t work like I hoped was to take my eshopps s300 skimmer offline. Still have zero nitrate and po4 has raised to .05 from .03. Next step I added 3 more fish, fed more food, and started feeding corals with Brs reef chilli, and reef roids in both my display and frag tank nightly. Haven’t tested in a few weeks but everything looks way better so I can only assume everything is good. Growth has exploded.

Also I dose 10ml of acro power every night. 2ml of iron couple times a week. The iron I use is dissolved iron supplement pills that randy Holmes Farley uses from cvs. Also I have the Red Sea colors a,b,c,d and dose 2.5ml of each weekly

 

[gurumasta]

First thing I did to up the nutrients in my system 260g total water volume was took my algae scrubber offline and changed to cheato. After that didn’t work like I hoped was to take my eshopps s300 skimmer offline. Still have zero nitrate and po4 has raised to .05 from .03. Next step I added 3 more fish, fed more food, and started feeding corals with Brs reef chilli, and reef roids in both my display and frag tank nightly. Haven’t tested in a few weeks but everything looks way better so I can only assume everything is good. Growth has exploded.

Also I dose 10ml of acro power every night. 2ml of iron couple times a week. The iron I use is dissolved iron supplement pills that randy Holmes Farley uses from cvs. Also I have the Red Sea colors a,b,c,d and dose 2.5ml of each weekly

Your a maniac man! That is a lot of dosing yo... I'm not sure I could keep that straight. I will start with a couple more fish and the nitrate dosing for now. I like the reef chili idea as well I have some of that and I stopped using for no reason.

I do dose aquaforest amino acids as well but that isn't helping with the zero nutrients.

Thanks for the input Steve!

 

[ReefAddict]

I been dosing nitrates for awhile now.

I use Sodium nitrate & Potassium Nitrate from http://www.loudwolf.com/store/

1 tablespoon to one cup of RO/DI

..and use this calculator to come up with dosing amounts http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

*note I use 1/2 Sodium nitrate & 1/2 Potassium Nitrate

I got it on my dosing pump to dose 12ml once a day every day. seems to keep my nitrates at 2.5 - 5 (roughly 130-140 gallons total water volume for my system)