imarkspeed
New member
so what brand is best ? or how do i get (AA)
I DOSED nitrate, and all can say is WOW!
- Thread starter Marklu
- Start date
Michael7979
New member
Same question here.
I assume you put the powder in water and mixed it up and added back to the system.
But how much did you use?
How much water volume?
How much did it raise it?
I dosed one teaspoon. I added it to a small container (about 10 ounces) of RO/DI water then slowly added it to the sump.
I have 120 gallons of water volume.
I tested the next day. But my test kit was an old API kit so I wouldnt take much stock in it.
It measured 20ppm. Whereas prior to the addition it read 0ppm.
Using the same kit today showed a reading of around 8ppm. Still pretty high.
BUT THEN......
I purchased an ELOS kit today, and I'm reading less then 1ppm of nitrate. So I'm sure the elos kit, which is 0 to 25ppm vs the API 0 to 160ppm is a little more accurate.
Maybe time to dose
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Michael7979
New member
One teaspoon ......for how much water volume?
tastingSalty
New member
If your looking for Amino Acids (which will also directly feed corals in addition to possibly raising nitrate levels), I personally like KZ's/Zeovit. The problem with using amino acids to raise nitrate levels is that they also have the ability to raise phosphate levels. You can buy amino acids at almost all online reef retailers. AAs are best for feeding corals instead of raising nitrate levels.
If you are looking to only raise nitrate levels, do a ebay search for potassium nitrate or look for stump remover in stores.
.......this was all covered earlier in the thread. read up if you consider dosing either one of the above supplements. nitrate increasing is definitely not for every aquarist...
Michael7979
New member
Gotcha!
Thanks!!
Thanks!!
Doug Piranha
New member
Ok I started dosing too!!!
Ok I started dosing too!!!
Hi,
I hope this thread and addition of Nitrate helps my tank. I test 0 nitrate and phosphate. My sps have had terrible growth and some tissue necrosis. I had in the last 3 months added a new sump with algae and I think it was over stripping my tank of nitrogen. I never have overfed my tank as in hinde site may of made conditions worse. I do dose daily essentials, AA, and Lugols.
I went to walgreens and the got 1lb of kNO3 in one day for $12.
Added 3grams to a cup of water and now i measured levels and they appear to be 10ppm nitrate.
Now its time to see....
Ok I started dosing too!!!
Hi,
I hope this thread and addition of Nitrate helps my tank. I test 0 nitrate and phosphate. My sps have had terrible growth and some tissue necrosis. I had in the last 3 months added a new sump with algae and I think it was over stripping my tank of nitrogen. I never have overfed my tank as in hinde site may of made conditions worse. I do dose daily essentials, AA, and Lugols.
I went to walgreens and the got 1lb of kNO3 in one day for $12.
Added 3grams to a cup of water and now i measured levels and they appear to be 10ppm nitrate.
Now its time to see....
tastingSalty
New member
Doug - Please keep us posted on your results...
Michael7979
New member
Yes please do!
My tank sounds similar to a lot of you that have started dosing. Very interested!!
My tank sounds similar to a lot of you that have started dosing. Very interested!!
stony_corals
New member
THEY DO NOT NEED NO3 TO GROW!!! They need N (do you know the difference?), which can be provided in many ways. I have run ZEO and vodka for many years, and despite having large skimmers, and low nutrients, I didn't have cyano. There's definitely a time and a place for dosing sources of N (aminos, KNO3, add'l feeding), but they should only be done when appropriate. Hobbyists look for too many "silver bullets", and when there are a plethora of half-truths, understanding effects of doing something may not be a causal relationship.
dan223
Custom User Title
Here is a calculator for dosing nitrate, enter 1ml for amount of water to mix with which will show you how many ppm you will raise by dosing entire dry amount of kno3. Also I would not dump stump remover in my tank Ive invested thousands on, Get your kno3 from a decent source.http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm
Doug Piranha
New member
What to feed/dose
What to feed/dose
I agree that the source of nitrogen can be from many things but when ur having trouble and doing everything you can, a new variable/source is fun to try.
In short, i have too low nitrogen. I definitly could over feed more and will, i do add amino acids and now am trying to get my nitrates up to feed the corals some nitrogen. Heck i feed my lawn nitrogen too!!! Can't hurt too much considering my tank is so low in nitrogen and the animals are suffering.
What to feed/dose
I agree that the source of nitrogen can be from many things but when ur having trouble and doing everything you can, a new variable/source is fun to try.
In short, i have too low nitrogen. I definitly could over feed more and will, i do add amino acids and now am trying to get my nitrates up to feed the corals some nitrogen. Heck i feed my lawn nitrogen too!!! Can't hurt too much considering my tank is so low in nitrogen and the animals are suffering.
acrylic_300
New member
Sorry, I was wrong and you're absolutely correct. It actually slows their growth.
So now I'm digging deep to figure out why corals stop growing and turn pale without Nitrate in a reef tank.
1. zooxanthelle use it.
2. phytoplankton use it.
This an article explaining why the Nitrate slows calcification:
A model is presented which suggests that the diffusion-limited supply of CO2 from surrounding seawater is used preferentially by the enlarged zooxanthellae population for Photosynthesis, thereby reducing the availability of inorganic carbon for calcification.
Here is the article: http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/4/595
Basically nitrate causes the zooxanthellae to increase and starve the coral of CO2.
So why are people getting results dosing Nitrate? I haven't tried dosing Nitrate, but I truly believe people are getting results.
I'm embarrassed that I gave false information....it was a bad assumption on my part. Corals do not need Nitrate.
However, (I think) some of the organism that corals eat need nitrate to survive.
I don't think we can totally dismiss that adding nitrate may give the corals better growth under certain circumstances and comparatively it causes less problems than phosphate.
I have read that article about nitrate as well, and I don't know enough about coral biology/chemistry to know why this has helped certain individuals when articles such as this one suggest nitrate to be detrimental in any amount. Perhaps the absence of live food (zooplankton) in a sterile system is problematic. Why no3 fixed these problems, i don't know. I toyed with the thought of dosing for a long time before I actually did. I read up on it and I am certainly not the first to do it. But for some reason it seems to have helped my corals. Also, I used to have zero coraline algae due unsuitable/imbalanced nutrients (my assumption), and now I do! I think it may not be the actual uptake of nitrate that is helping, but putting nutrient levels back into the correct, possibly more natural proportions that is allowing things to grow or prevent inhibition of calcification due to po4. Has there been any studies on the effect of phosphate on calcification with varying nitrate levels? Perhaps phosphates at any concentration can become detrimental if they are not balanced with no3. But i am just rambling here, somebody more knowledgeable then I should chime in.
stony_corals
New member
Don't worry about it! That's a good study, there's another study that found the opposite (to a certain point)..... We can not dismiss that adding KNO3 may help with N limitation, that wasn't my point at all.... There are some scenarios where I believe N limitation to be happening, but the reality is there are fewer ULN systems that people believe/say. In those minority of systems are, the corals NEED N to live and grow. No questions.... You combine this with the fact that relative to the reef, acros receive much less nutrition from heterotrophic feeding than autotrophic feeding in our systems! We need to feed more!!! But nutrient export needs to be good (wc, skimming, ozone, probiotics, etc - lots of technology) or else this feeding may create a worse scenario, eutrophication....
There is some good discussion, but let's see some pictures, and growth measurements (preferable) to illustrate the results we may be seeing. Second, only one variable is to change at a time (in this scenario, KNO3 additions). Continue the discussion!!
stony_corals
New member
Phosphate is problematic anyway you dice it..... Once PO4 rises above 0.2ppm, lots of bad things start to happen... It's not a balance issue at all... Any pics? Growth measurements? Bias is natural, we make a change and think things are looking better...
Wish I could get you a decent pic. But I only have a point and shoot that can hardly focus on the corals through the glass. lol But I can tell you over the past months since dosing and maintaining a tiny bit of detectable nitrate, coral growth has been going great. Before this, my coral growth was almost none existent, especially in the sps. My monti cap was a pale pinkish/orangish and quickly became a deep vibrant red, similar to what they we're when I purchased it.
My results were not based out of bias. I tried dozens of things over a very long period of time with no luck. This is what worked. I appreciate you skepticism, however.
I do not dose very often anymore, I use my caps as an indicator; when they start to get pale I add a little.
My results were not based out of bias. I tried dozens of things over a very long period of time with no luck. This is what worked. I appreciate you skepticism, however.
I do not dose very often anymore, I use my caps as an indicator; when they start to get pale I add a little.
