adding nitrates to vsv mixture

4age

Member
Hi guys

I was wondering if it was possible to add potassium nitrate directly to my VSV mixture. my thoughts are that the mixture should stay inert until dosed into the tank as there should be no phosphate in the mixture for the bacteria to start consuming the nitrate.

Once its dosed into the tank, the phosphates in the tank should then help the bacteria do its thing, and with the added nitrates in the vsv mixture I was hoping that the phosphates will be reduced at a better rate than normal vsv dosing.

I know I can dose the potassium nitrate manually but just thought about mixing with the vsv mixture and adding onto dosing pump. Anyone done this yet?
 
Thought about it, major stopping point though is you will most likely need more nitrate than what you could put in via potassium nitrate. You'll most likely really jack up your potassium levels which will lead to other issues.

I've looked into this extensively as I would love to simplify things, but ultimately I think Red Sea did it right. Nopox+Reef Energy...
They use tryptophan, amino acids, and other various phosphate-free nitrate sources, so basically it's a nitrate source that is also nutritious in multiple ways...

I've paired up several amino-acid sources (like acropower) and they work for a bit, but I think a couple times I came near-overdosing levels just to satisfy the needed nitrate levels to tackle the excess phosphate situations. So I chose to just work with RE since it's more nutritious than just amino's too..
 
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