0.00 nitrates + AFR dosing

[fernandodal]

Hi everyone,

I'm posting to ask for some help with my 25-gallon nano reef.

My parameters show Nitrates at 0.00 (Salifert) and Phosphates at 0.26 (Hanna). I mainly keep LPS. I do a 20% water change every two weeks and run an algae scrubber for 10 hours a day. For alkalinity and trace elements, I use Tropic Marin All-For-Reef (AFR).

Lately, cyanobacteria has completely taken over the scrubber, replacing the green hair algae, and it's now starting to show up in the display tank.

To raise my nitrates, I've been dosing Refine, but the bottle is almost empty. I was planning to switch to a DIY sodium nitrate solution using a recipe I found on the forum, but here in Europe, food-grade sodium nitrate isn't available for sale to individuals.

Given that I'm dosing AFR, which nitrate source/alternative do you think would be best? Calcium nitrate, potassium nitrate, or something else?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[exnisstech]

I've been dosing AFR and ammonium bicarb for nitrate. I see better results using ammonium vs dosing nitrate. I switched from nitrate to ammonium about 1 year ago. I buy food grade ammonium bicarb from Amazon.

Here's some info and dosing chart.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-chart.1123913/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Can you find either calcium nitrate or bakers ammonia (ammonium bicarbonate)?