Potassium nitrate

[iiluisii]

Randy My goal is to maintain 2 ppm nitrates So I started dosing 10ml the night before last night at the next morning the nitrates were at.25 but by the evening they were back at 0 so last night I dosed 20 ml and after 2 hours they measure at 1ppm so I dosed 20 more ml and after a few hours they measure 2 ppm and after checking it this morning and this evening they are still at 2ppm so what should I do now to maintain the 2ppm nitrates ? Thanks in advance Randy

 

[iiluisii]

Got the answer already

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK.

In general, only trial and error will tell you how much is needed to dose daily when the goal is to maintain a specific value. The amount in the first few days of dosing may be more than later, as depleted organisms take up an excess early on, but then may not need as much going forward.

I'm also not sure that maintaining a specific number is all that important. If you think 2 ppm is a good value, then dosing to 3 ppm at a dosing and dropping to 1 ppm before dosing again is almost certainly as good as maintaining exactly 2 ppm.

 

[iiluisii]

What is a good number you recommend to maintain nitrates

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What is a good number you recommend to maintain nitrates

The optimal level of nitrate cannot really be given in the absence of knowing what the creatures are, whether there's an algae or cyano problem, and what some of the other levels are, but IMO, a value around 0.2-1 ppm nitrate is often fine.

Here's a nitrate article of mine:

http://www.reefedition.com/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium/

 

[iiluisii]

Thanks for the help Randy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[roadrashpaul]

Hey Randy where would you suggest keeping it at if there was a cyano problem. I started dosing over the weekend and have developed some cyano since. I am aiming at 2ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, 2 ppm nitrate is quite a lot more than surface ocean waters, so perhaps backing off it appropriate. Maybe 0.5 ppm as a try.

 

[veselym]

I also had cyano from dosing this and was around .5ppm...cyano is still growing in sump despite 8+ WC's and reducing nitrate to 0 again

Hannah LR P04 checker reads 0 in display and .03 in sump (not sure if it means I have .03 or 0)

I would caution people who want to use this, not sure if it was the potassium nitrate or a fluke coincidence but I did lose one birdsnest after dosing this stuff and some of my hammer/frogspawns have been releasing zoox

also had some fading in a monti and 25% of my zoas look like crap

 

[iiluisii]

Which product did you use

 

[iiluisii]

I don't have any Cyano and my Zoas look better than ever

 

[veselym]

Spectracide...100% potassium nitrate

 

[iiluisii]

Randy what you think could be causing the Cyano for this guys

 

[iiluisii]

Have you tried dosing bacteria

 

[mocika]

I had same problem. No3 was long time 0. Po4 0.04. Started dosing NaNo3 and get great results with the colors but also cyano. No im not dosing coz im scared from cyano bloom and my coral arent happy coz my No3 is 0.

 

[malira]

Well I have cyno. Both green in DT and red in sump. I'm not dosing but I was coming back from not having enough nutrients and over feeding. My No3 is 4/5 and mt Po4 reads 0.
I've been battling it with flow and removal. I also cut down on feeding. But I still have it, so not I added just nitrfying bacteria last night, I also scraped the sump, did a water change and filtered the sump water through a filter sock yo catch the particles I didn't remove. I will remove from the sanded tonight.
I don't believe dosing is the problem, an enbalance of nutrients is. Nitrates expose the problem.

I'll take a cyno bloom over low nutrients any day. My lps are fat, colorful and happy. My zoas are more colorful and opening up bigger than ever and the sps are just getting stunning.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy what you think could be causing the Cyano for this guys

If there are adequate nutrients available (including trace elements like iron), space for them, and the right species present to begin with, you'll get a variety of different pests, including algae, diatoms, cyanobacteria, dinos, etc. I'm not sure what is different, but many tanks have some amount of cyano. Mine does.

 

[veselym]

So should we keep dosing or stop? I can take one birdsnest dying but don't understand why my hammers are expelling and some zoas unhappy

I don't have a ton of algae in the display, only on glass/overflow box...Some coral is growing while others look crappy and fading so I am having a REALLY hard time trying to figure out what is wrong

It has to be lighting or nutrients but that is so freaking hard to figure out

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The corals expelling zoox are likely responding to excessive increases in zoox levels due to available nutrients. That isn't necessarily a big problem,however.

It might be better to look to other ways to feed the corals that are pale, such as amino acids.