Dosing Nitrates

[jason7274]

Any recommendations for Nitrate Dosing? I’ve been at 0.0 for over a month. PO has been between .04-.09, I just can’t get nitrates up. I’ve tried heavy feeding, but no luck. I think it’s time to step it up. My corals have been closed most of the day for the last several days.

 

[timeconsumer]

There's a few ways to do it. You could buy a standard nitrate dosing solution like NeoNitrate or something similar and dose according the the bottle directions and test nitrate. You could buy a nitrate salt like sodium nitrate and mix your own solution (or just dose the salt directly I suppose). This would require a little calculation to know how much to dose but it isn't that hard to figure out. You could also buy potassium nitrate which is a little easier to find and a little cheaper but the math will be a little different and it will increase potassium levels which could cause issues if dosed regularly over long periods.

 

[bg2311]

We use GLA Potassium Nitrate to raise our nitrates as needed. A 1LB jar will last a long time:

Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer - 1lb Jar

Green Leaf Aquariums Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) delivers vital nitrogen and potassium to fuel healthy, robust aquatic plant growth.

greenleafaquariums.com

Our mix for a 200 gallon system is 500ml of RO/DI water to 60 grams of KNO3 powder. This produces a solution that will raise nitrates .1ppm for every 1ml we add to the system. We adjust the dose accordingly based on the test results. Using the NYOS test kit for nitrate testing.

Here is a page that will calculate based on your total system volume what your mixed KNO3 solution will produce: https://greenleafaquariums.com/ferts/

Example from our system below:

 

[jason7274]

We use GLA Potassium Nitrate to raise our nitrates as needed. A 1LB jar will last a long time:

Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer - 1lb Jar

Green Leaf Aquariums Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) delivers vital nitrogen and potassium to fuel healthy, robust aquatic plant growth.

greenleafaquariums.com

Our mix for a 200 gallon system is 500ml of RO/DI water to 60 grams of KNO3 powder. This produces a solution that will raise nitrates .1ppm for every 1ml we add to the system. We adjust the dose accordingly based on the test results. Using the NYOS test kit for nitrate testing.

Here is a page that will calculate based on your total system volume what your mixed KNO3 solution will produce: https://greenleafaquariums.com/ferts/

Example from our system below:
View attachment 50192

Great info, thanks. Now I just need a mathematics degree for the calculation. haha

 

[bg2311]

Great info, thanks. Now I just need a mathematics degree for the calculation. haha

The site does all the heavy lifting. Just need to have some stuff to measure with like a small scale, squeeze bottle of known capacity (like 500ml), and graduated cylinder.

 

[Adam]

I was just reading this thread on R2R today. Haven't got all the way through it yet but the topic really has me thinking about how I will approach this in the future.

Does anyone dose ammonia and/or how would one try?

So, after an interesting discussion on nitrate dosing and looking at my Walt Disney coral and seeing it slightly less colorful than I have seen it in others tanks, I have decided I want to learn about and then try dosing ammonia instead of buying 20 damsels. Nitrate additives I see abound and...

www.reef2reef.com