Dosing aspartic acid

[rkb]

I have been dosing aspartic acid in a powders form as an alternative to commercialy prepared AA mixes. Today marks my second week of dosing where my regiment is three times per week dosing one Salifert spoonfuls for my 60g water volume.

My tank is a mixed reef with some grapefruit sized colonies of SPS, four tridacnids and a fun mix of brain corals-

So far- I have noticed an increase in growth on my acropora yongei and an acropora millie. I'm sure the others have experienced growth but these two have shown exceptional growth in the past two weeks.

No percievable change in color.

No increase in nuisance algae.

I am now needing to increase my two part a sizable amount from 30ml per day to near 45ml per day to maintain the same levels.

I would like to hear others experiences with aspartic acid dosing.

peace
Russell

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the info. I've not heard of any results from anyone dosing it alone, but I do think it is a good choice among amino acids.

 

[JRF]

rkb, how do you get the aspartic to disolve? I have some that I bought from Iherb, it is like sand consistancy and I have problems getting it to disolve before I add it to the tank. Is yours the same?
Thanks

 

[rkb]

I have the same problem, so I simply place a spoonful in the back portion of my overflow box and over a few days it seems to slowly disolve.

 

[JRF]

Ok, thanks

 

[DeathWish302]

....one Salifert spoonfuls.....

Is this the same spoon as in the Mg kit?

I may have to start dosing some aspartic acid as soon as I note any changes from the iodine additions (I know Randy, you saw no changes from additions). I was playing around with the idea a few months ago of creating my own AA blend, but never followed through for fear of ODing on a specific AA. At least with aspartic acid, we know this is definitely needed and not produced via the coral.

 

[Keyvan S]

rkb: are you using the L-Aspartic Acid, Free-Form Powder?

 

[HighlandReefer]

rkb,

Good to hear your results. I am interested to hear how prolonged usage works out for you. Keep us posted, especially if negative results occur. Different carbon sources may induce different results in different coral. I believe a little aspartic acid goes a long way like you are currently doing. Overdosing may lead to problems. Problems could be seen as tissue necrosis in your coral. If you see this I would back off or stop altogether.

 

[rkb]

-Is this the same spoon as in the Mg kit?

Yes, it's also the same spoon that comes with the Salifert nitrate and calcium kit.

-rkb: are you using the L-Aspartic Acid, Free-Form Powder?

Yes, I ordered from IHerb- it's the Source Naturals L-Aspartic Acid in the 100gram bottle- free form powder.

 

[elijaher]

Tagged alone

 

[rkb]

rkb,

Good to hear your results. I am interested to hear how prolonged usage works out for you. Keep us posted, especially if negative results occur. Different carbon sources may induce different results in different coral. I believe a little aspartic acid goes a long way like you are currently doing. Overdosing may lead to problems. Problems could be seen as tissue necrosis in your coral. If you see this I would back off or stop altogether.

Scary- I'll proceed with caution. Perhaps I'll drop to once a week and see what the alk/calc and growth rates are. As of today I can see zero negative effects except for increasing my monthly alk/calc bill. When you speak of these potential issues can you give examples with dosage amounts and water volumes so those of us that are doing this can have that information to shape our decision making process.

Thanks Cliff!
Russell

 

[HighlandReefer]

Russell,

To be honest I have not seen an results form dosing the aspartic acid. So far you are seeing great results. I would stick with what you have been doing and watch for negative coral response. I would not increase the dose myself. If you see negative response, then I would reduce your dose rate by half.

My statement is simply based on some research which has not isolated types of carbons sources, where they find that changing carbon sources (unknow type) can cause bacterial shifts. These bacterial and symbiotic algae shifts can be good and they can be bad. Only testing yourself will tell. But this is something to watch for.

 

[rkb]

Thanks Cliff for the clarification, I'll proceed with caution and careful recorded observation and report back!

R

 

[HighlandReefer]

I would also add, that as your coral grow and you add more, you may need to dose a little more of the apartic acid to meet demand. Trying to find a sweet spot will require slow increases though and each tank will definitely be different, so I would not base dosing on other tanks.

 

[rkb]

I would also add, that as your coral grow and you add more, you may need to dose a little more of the apartic acid to meet demand. Trying to find a sweet spot will require slow increases though and each tank will definitely be different, so I would not base dosing on other tanks.

Indeed- and to be honest at some point a slower growth to maintain the balance in the design of my aquascape will win over the simple awe of fast growing coral!

 

[HighlandReefer]

:lol:

 

[redfishsc]

Thank you for posting this, this is very interesting.

 

[JRF]

I took a small glass jar of tank water and added the Iherb AA to the jar yesterday around noon, shaking it every so often. This morning it is still not disolved. I would assume that it has to be disolved befroe it does any good, hopefully it will begin to disolve soon. I starting to wonder if it will disolve at all...any thoughts?

 

[rkb]

I took a small glass jar of tank water and added the Iherb AA to the jar yesterday around noon, shaking it every so often. This morning it is still not disolved. I would assume that it has to be disolved befroe it does any good, hopefully it will begin to disolve soon. I starting to wonder if it will disolve at all...any thoughts?

I'm going to start dosing aspartic once a week and my hope is that over a weeks time the dose will have slowly leeched the AA into the water. I'm unsure of this but hopeful. My question is- Is the powder pure aspartic acid or is there a small amount of the acid combined with some other ingredient to add bulk or stability? Hopefully the later is the case and the aspartic acid is dissolve away from whatever it's combined with and can enter the water.

Or perhaps we are just adding to our sand beds:spin1:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

1 g of aspartic acid dissolves in about 222 mL of water at 20 deg C. So it is farily insoluble, but will dissolve. Try fresh water instead of tank water.