Dosing Nitrates help?

F

fishkeeprian

Active member
Hello,

What is the go to product to dose nitrates?

I want to dose nitrates through my doser, my current reading is zero and I want them at around 5ppm.

So my questions are;

1) what product to use?
2) if mixing is required, what ratio etc?
3) how much to dose how often?

Thanks
 
I found some food grade sodium nitrate on Amazon, at one point. Even a reagent grade should be fine, though. You could consider dosing amino acids, as well. A formula for sodium nitrate:
Add about 0.52 grams of sodium nitrate per 100 gallons of water to raise the nitrate level by 1.0 ppm. That's about 1 tsp per 500-1000 gallons, very roughly. For potassium nitrate, use about .62 gram per 100 g.
Click to expand...
Do you have a scale?
 
 
bertoni said:
I found some food grade sodium nitrate on Amazon, at one point. Even a reagent grade should be fine, though. You could consider dosing amino acids, as well. A formula for sodium nitrate:

Do you have a scale?
Click to expand...

Scales for weighing? Then yes.

My tank is approx 200 Litres.

I would like to make up a solution of potassium nitrate, and feed through my doser.

How to make up a solution and how much to dose daily to bring up my nitrates?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
That product should be fine. It should take about 0.31 grams to raise the nitrate level by 1 ppm. I'd probably dose by hand a few days to get some idea of the amount of nitrate the tank is going to consume. You could try a solution of 5 grams in 100 ml of water, or so. A dose of about 6 ml would be 1 ppm. I might try half that, to make sure I've done the math properly:

(.31 g / 5 g) * 100 ml = 6.2 ml

What's the slowest the doser will go?
 
bertoni said:
That product should be fine. It should take about 0.31 grams to raise the nitrate level by 1 ppm. I'd probably dose by hand a few days to get some idea of the amount of nitrate the tank is going to consume. You could try a solution of 5 grams in 100 ml of water, or so. A dose of about 6 ml would be 1 ppm. I might try half that, to make sure I've done the math properly:

(.31 g / 5 g) * 100 ml = 6.2 ml

What's the slowest the doser will go?
Click to expand...


Hi my doser will dose 0.3ml, I can also do one off manual doses if required.

Is that a 100ml of RO water or tank water?

Is it dosed daily or weekly?


Thank you for your help.
 
That's 100 ml of RO water. I think the potassium nitrate all should dissolve, but let me know if you see a significant amount of undissolved solids.

As far as the dosing rate, I don't have a good way to predict how much nitrate your tank will consume in a day. Some tanks will consume that much per day. I would try dosing and testing by hand for a while.
 
bertoni said:
That's 100 ml of RO water. I think the potassium nitrate all should dissolve, but let me know if you see a significant amount of undissolved solids.

As far as the dosing rate, I don't have a good way to predict how much nitrate your tank will consume in a day. Some tanks will consume that much per day. I would try dosing and testing by hand for a while.
Click to expand...

After dosing how long should I wait before testing?
 
I would test very shortly after dosing a few times, to make sure that the nitrate is hitting the expected level. A wait of a minute or two likely is enough unless the tank has a large refugium or the like. I'd probably test again just before the next dose, probably daily for a few days, much like alkalinity testing, to see what's happening.

After getting to the dose you'd like, you should be able to back off a lot, maybe once a month or less.
 
bertoni said:
I would test very shortly after dosing a few times, to make sure that the nitrate is hitting the expected level. A wait of a minute or two likely is enough unless the tank has a large refugium or the like. I'd probably test again just before the next dose, probably daily for a few days, much like alkalinity testing, to see what's happening.

After getting to the dose you'd like, you should be able to back off a lot, maybe once a month or less.
Click to expand...

I've done my first dose this evening. Should I wait and test tomorrow at same time?

If I don't get a reading do I double up my next dose?
 
What filtration types are you using?
Skimmer, Algae Scrubber, fuge?
Maybe your export systems are too efficient?

How can you get zero nitrates?
I would have expected trace results even in the best of cases.
 
Uncle99 said:
What filtration types are you using?
Skimmer, Algae Scrubber, fuge?
Maybe your export systems are too efficient?

How can you get zero nitrates?
I would have expected trace results even in the best of cases.
Click to expand...

Skimmer yes, fugue yes, I don't get a nitrate reading and my icp test also stated nitrates undectable.
 
I no longer run a light on my fugue to slow any growth. I don’t want to take my skimmer off line as is serves as an oxygenator aswell.
 
If you don't get a reading tomorrow, you could increase the dose (maybe double it) and then measure after a couple of minutes, to see whether the supplement is working as intended.
 
bertoni said:
If you don't get a reading tomorrow, you could increase the dose (maybe double it) and then measure after a couple of minutes, to see whether the supplement is working as intended.
Click to expand...

Just tested for nitrates and it's at 5ppm, wasn't expecting 5ppm, thought I only dosed enough for 1ppm. I tested before dosing and I wasn't getting a reading.

I dosed 5g in 100ml of RO = 1ppm, was that correct? or have I missed something?

Thanks
 
fishkeeprian said:
I no longer run a light on my fugue to slow any growth. I don't want to take my skimmer off line as is serves as an oxygenator aswell.
Click to expand...

I know you don't want to take your skimmer off line, but would that not be a safer and more efficient method to pull a trace reading of nitrate?

You must have other flow makers for gas exchange.

A simple $5 buck timer Turing power of once a day say for two hours.

Sorry, I am always fearful of dosing anything but 2-part, the uptake would be different in every tank.
 
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