I DOSED nitrate, and all can say is WOW!
- Thread starter Marklu
- Start date
Los
New member
Think of salt. A little salt in your diet is important. If you take 50X that amount of salt, your health will suffer. The same is true of pretty much everything that's good for you; in excess, it will kill you. Heck, I need some water, but if I had to drink 20 gallons a day, I'm pretty sure my health would suffer.
I suspect that most people who are having coral health problems are suffering from things other than limited nutrients in their water. However, nutrient deficiencies do appear to be a problem for some.
FoothillCorals
Premium Member
Has anyone thought about using Magnesium Nitrate? I do not know anything about it myself. But It seems to me that it would be a better way to go. Assuming that it is possible to obtain it without other impurities that we wouldn't want.
skippyreef
New member
A place called the science store sell lab grade ammonium chloride.
stony_corals
New member
Come on people, a coral has NO use for NO3, other than it is a source of N. Yes, corals will brown out from high levels of nitrates, why? Because the zoox are able to reproduce more causing an increase in zoox density, hence the brown color - this is not caused by phosphate.
Foothill Corals, some have dosed CalciumNitrate as well....
recife111, that's not why you dose ammonium nitrate! You dose ammonium nitrate because ammonium tends to be taken up much easier than nitrate, in clams, and zoox.
Again, there's a lot of misinformation here.... prove your greater growth via photos and measurements versus "my corals look great and are growing faster...."
Foothill Corals, some have dosed CalciumNitrate as well....
recife111, that's not why you dose ammonium nitrate! You dose ammonium nitrate because ammonium tends to be taken up much easier than nitrate, in clams, and zoox.
Again, there's a lot of misinformation here.... prove your greater growth via photos and measurements versus "my corals look great and are growing faster...."
stony_corals
New member
On a side note, could someone list some values measure for NO3 on the reefs? (It does vary)
really low Amphiprion
Premium Member
OT: I don't really recall any of the mechanisms with this, but it would have to be reduction, as you can't oxidize nitrate any further.
toaster77
New member
this is correct, you cannot oxidize nitrate any further.
to metabolize nitrates an organism must have nitrate reductases, that convert nitrate to nitrite, and then nitrite is reduced to ammonia. Usually only certain ogranisms such as plants, algae, and certain species of bacteria (e.g., anaerobic) have the ability to reduce nitrates.
Rickyrooz1
Acropora Nut
Following along
Garage1217
GET OFF MY LAWN
Goes with the post, my little experiment with KN03. Updated daily.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15764775#post15764775
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15764775#post15764775
André Silvestre
Reefaholic
Hello,
I had posted this experience in another topic but it seems this topic is more suited to register this information.
Here´s my experience:
I have been dosing KNO3 in my tank for the past 2 months to raise my Nitrates for the same reasons: pale corals, few patches of Cyano here and there, stunted growth on the sps, poor polyp extension. As I was dosing, I saw really nice results; corals gained much more colour, more polyp extension, growth began again, Cyano gave signs of weakness and some patches totally disappeared. On the downside, two Acroporas began to loose tissue only in the tips, exposing the white skeleton.
I mixed the solution to add 1ppm of NO3 for each ml of KNO3 solution in 300L of water and for two weeks, I raised " slowly" the NO3 from 0mg/L to 1.5mg/L with a dosing regimen of 2ml daily in the first week and 4ml daily in the second week. Testing was also done everyday.
After two weeks, the signs began to show on those two Acropora.
I searched on the Internet for something related to " potassium overdosing" and it was in the Zeovit Forum that I found a possible answer. The same signs I observed are related to Zeovit users that dose too much K-Balance in their tanks and the suggestion is always to stop the addition of K that the corals will recover in 3-4 weeks.
I immediately stopped the KNO3 dosing and, as suggested, in 4 weeks my Acroporas recovered 100%. I even snapped some pictures to follow the recovery on one of them.
Last week, I began dosing KNO3 again because corals were turning pale again and take a stronger conclusion if it was indeed the excess of K that was causing the tip tissue loss or if it was the instability of raising NO3 from zero to 1.5mg/L in two weeks.
This time, the dosing regimen was 1ml of solution ( the same solution) day yes/day no and after two weeks, the same Acropora began to show, one more time, tissue loss on the tips.
I don´t know what was my K level before and I don´t know what is my K level now but I am more convinced that the KNO3 solution is saturating this parameter ( potassium) in the water and some corals are showing little to none toleration for this excess.
I do bi-weekly water changes with the ELOS salt and before the second KNO3 dosing, I performed a 15% WC with NSW.
I am using the Balling Method and all parameters related to this are/were in check and stable ( Ca, Mg, kH). The same for the density and temperature.
After two weeks of KNO3 dosing - some affected tips
After three weeks after with no KNO3 dosing - recovering stage in the same tips
This is my experience with KNO3 dosing.
Maybe it´s the excess of K or the spike of Nitrate in the water column that causes the burnt tips of some corals. I had to test either my K or get a peristaltic pump to dose the KNO3 drop by drop and see the results...
Regard,
André
I had posted this experience in another topic but it seems this topic is more suited to register this information.
Here´s my experience:
I have been dosing KNO3 in my tank for the past 2 months to raise my Nitrates for the same reasons: pale corals, few patches of Cyano here and there, stunted growth on the sps, poor polyp extension. As I was dosing, I saw really nice results; corals gained much more colour, more polyp extension, growth began again, Cyano gave signs of weakness and some patches totally disappeared. On the downside, two Acroporas began to loose tissue only in the tips, exposing the white skeleton.
I mixed the solution to add 1ppm of NO3 for each ml of KNO3 solution in 300L of water and for two weeks, I raised " slowly" the NO3 from 0mg/L to 1.5mg/L with a dosing regimen of 2ml daily in the first week and 4ml daily in the second week. Testing was also done everyday.
After two weeks, the signs began to show on those two Acropora.
I searched on the Internet for something related to " potassium overdosing" and it was in the Zeovit Forum that I found a possible answer. The same signs I observed are related to Zeovit users that dose too much K-Balance in their tanks and the suggestion is always to stop the addition of K that the corals will recover in 3-4 weeks.
I immediately stopped the KNO3 dosing and, as suggested, in 4 weeks my Acroporas recovered 100%. I even snapped some pictures to follow the recovery on one of them.
Last week, I began dosing KNO3 again because corals were turning pale again and take a stronger conclusion if it was indeed the excess of K that was causing the tip tissue loss or if it was the instability of raising NO3 from zero to 1.5mg/L in two weeks.
This time, the dosing regimen was 1ml of solution ( the same solution) day yes/day no and after two weeks, the same Acropora began to show, one more time, tissue loss on the tips.
I don´t know what was my K level before and I don´t know what is my K level now but I am more convinced that the KNO3 solution is saturating this parameter ( potassium) in the water and some corals are showing little to none toleration for this excess.
I do bi-weekly water changes with the ELOS salt and before the second KNO3 dosing, I performed a 15% WC with NSW.
I am using the Balling Method and all parameters related to this are/were in check and stable ( Ca, Mg, kH). The same for the density and temperature.
After two weeks of KNO3 dosing - some affected tips
After three weeks after with no KNO3 dosing - recovering stage in the same tips
This is my experience with KNO3 dosing.
Maybe it´s the excess of K or the spike of Nitrate in the water column that causes the burnt tips of some corals. I had to test either my K or get a peristaltic pump to dose the KNO3 drop by drop and see the results...
Regard,
André
Garage1217
GET OFF MY LAWN
I have had the exact same results as you, however a little worse on the burning of the tips & heavy damage to my monti collection. The nitrate was being taken up at a very fast pace, however I could not test for K so I assume this is the culprit. I put the brakes on my test & just hope some of the corals recover as they look quite bad. I know as of today, I lost one of the monti colonies without question. I hope others learn from out experience.
