I have recently started an experiment "“ dosing ammonia to a reef tank. The primary aim for my experiment was to reduce phosphate, which I have difficulties controlling, through dosing nitrogen compound. While the experiment is still running, I would like to share some observations as well as inviting comments to the way I am doing it and the result of the experiment.
Background
After a catastrophic failure of the chiller which wiped out 90% of my coral 2 years ago, I restarted my 1,200L (approximately 330G) but due to financial consideration I could only use all the old rock, which were covered with algae and red slim at the time. I managed to clean most of which with elbow grease, and added a parrot fish (yes, the coral crusher) to the tank with a hope that it will help keep the algae in check. After about 3 months when the system seemed to have stablelized, I started to add SPS to the tanks and fortunately, they survive"¦.although not in much of a good shape, barely any growth with poor coloration. The problem, I believed, appeared to be the phosphate level, which was at 1ppm. Other parameters were fine.
6 months after restart I started to battle with the phosphates. Various methods had been employed, including biopellets, VSV dosing, GFO, ATS, they all works somehow, but once the phosphate level reached 0.1ppm it refused to go down further, no matters how I "œtwisted" the dosing and how much I increase the amount of GFO used, the o.1ppm remained the same. During the period I added more and more corals and fishes, and other than the colour of the coral, everything seemed fine; corals were growing and fishes were healthy and eating well. I even added a melon butterfly (kind of crazy"¦) to the tank as I though the growth of my coral could substantiate it dietary need. Fortunately I was right and the melon butterfly is still here (over 9 months) and getting really fat without any severe damages done to the corals.
But I am not satisfied. The colour of my coral was still not good, especially the red ones which all turned dark brown within weeks after entering my tank. I believed it had something to do with the phosphate level, and hence I looked into the idea of dosing nitrogen compound to facilitate export of phosphate. At first I wished to use nitrate, but unfortunately pure nitrate compound are heavily controlled in my country and it is virtually impossible for me to obtain pure nitrate compound. I therefore turned to ammonia, which is more assessable and from what I read, it should be more readily used by bacterium and algae. The only concerned would be its toxicity to fishes and invert.
Experiment
Starting 17 Nov, I add 1ml of 5% ammonia to my tank twice every day, one dose in the morning and one dose in the night. Since 1 Dec, each dose was increased to 2ml. By 15 Dec I further increased the dose to 3ml and since then I maintained the dose for fear of poisoning my fishes. All other filtration equipment in used (skimmer, biopellet and ATS) remained status quote although adjustment to skimmer was necessary to prevent overflow. There was no change in lighting period.
Observations
Phosphate level were monitored using Hanna Phosphate LR meter every two days. The generalized readings are as follows:
Week 1: 0.1ppm
Week 2: 0.1ppm
Week 3:0.08 ppm
Week 4: 0.07 ppm
Week 5: 0.06 ppm
Week 6: 0.06 ppm.
Nitrate level was also monitored using Salifert test kits and it read zero all the time.
There were some noticeable changes in the tank. First of all, the skimmer went nut after the second weeks and I had to dial down the water level to prevent overflow. There was also an increase in KH demand and I need to increase CO2 input to the calcium reactor to make up the requirement. Water clarity seems to have improved, and corals are lighten up a bit, with red being more visible now. Algae on ATS grow like crazy and I have to clean it weekly instead of monthly before. Coral growth is difficult to estimate, but at least there is no receding observed.
There were also some adverse effects. Since week 3 when I up the dose to 2ml, patches of red slim began to appear here and there and I have to clean it manually. There are also one or two spots of itch developed on one of my tangs since week 5 and although it does not get more serious, I am closely monitoring. Some other fishes (mostly wrasses) also seems to be stressed when I added the ammonia, although the effect last only 1/2 an hour or so.
Any views/advice is much appreciated.
Neo
Background
After a catastrophic failure of the chiller which wiped out 90% of my coral 2 years ago, I restarted my 1,200L (approximately 330G) but due to financial consideration I could only use all the old rock, which were covered with algae and red slim at the time. I managed to clean most of which with elbow grease, and added a parrot fish (yes, the coral crusher) to the tank with a hope that it will help keep the algae in check. After about 3 months when the system seemed to have stablelized, I started to add SPS to the tanks and fortunately, they survive"¦.although not in much of a good shape, barely any growth with poor coloration. The problem, I believed, appeared to be the phosphate level, which was at 1ppm. Other parameters were fine.
6 months after restart I started to battle with the phosphates. Various methods had been employed, including biopellets, VSV dosing, GFO, ATS, they all works somehow, but once the phosphate level reached 0.1ppm it refused to go down further, no matters how I "œtwisted" the dosing and how much I increase the amount of GFO used, the o.1ppm remained the same. During the period I added more and more corals and fishes, and other than the colour of the coral, everything seemed fine; corals were growing and fishes were healthy and eating well. I even added a melon butterfly (kind of crazy"¦) to the tank as I though the growth of my coral could substantiate it dietary need. Fortunately I was right and the melon butterfly is still here (over 9 months) and getting really fat without any severe damages done to the corals.
But I am not satisfied. The colour of my coral was still not good, especially the red ones which all turned dark brown within weeks after entering my tank. I believed it had something to do with the phosphate level, and hence I looked into the idea of dosing nitrogen compound to facilitate export of phosphate. At first I wished to use nitrate, but unfortunately pure nitrate compound are heavily controlled in my country and it is virtually impossible for me to obtain pure nitrate compound. I therefore turned to ammonia, which is more assessable and from what I read, it should be more readily used by bacterium and algae. The only concerned would be its toxicity to fishes and invert.
Experiment
Starting 17 Nov, I add 1ml of 5% ammonia to my tank twice every day, one dose in the morning and one dose in the night. Since 1 Dec, each dose was increased to 2ml. By 15 Dec I further increased the dose to 3ml and since then I maintained the dose for fear of poisoning my fishes. All other filtration equipment in used (skimmer, biopellet and ATS) remained status quote although adjustment to skimmer was necessary to prevent overflow. There was no change in lighting period.
Observations
Phosphate level were monitored using Hanna Phosphate LR meter every two days. The generalized readings are as follows:
Week 1: 0.1ppm
Week 2: 0.1ppm
Week 3:0.08 ppm
Week 4: 0.07 ppm
Week 5: 0.06 ppm
Week 6: 0.06 ppm.
Nitrate level was also monitored using Salifert test kits and it read zero all the time.
There were some noticeable changes in the tank. First of all, the skimmer went nut after the second weeks and I had to dial down the water level to prevent overflow. There was also an increase in KH demand and I need to increase CO2 input to the calcium reactor to make up the requirement. Water clarity seems to have improved, and corals are lighten up a bit, with red being more visible now. Algae on ATS grow like crazy and I have to clean it weekly instead of monthly before. Coral growth is difficult to estimate, but at least there is no receding observed.
There were also some adverse effects. Since week 3 when I up the dose to 2ml, patches of red slim began to appear here and there and I have to clean it manually. There are also one or two spots of itch developed on one of my tangs since week 5 and although it does not get more serious, I am closely monitoring. Some other fishes (mostly wrasses) also seems to be stressed when I added the ammonia, although the effect last only 1/2 an hour or so.
Any views/advice is much appreciated.
Neo
