Ammonium dosing

[Maho.B]

Every system is different, and I've read many success stories on here with dosing ammonium, but I think I'm close to throwing in the towel. A couple months ago I went the route of dosing Ammonium bicarbonate to increase nitrate. Within a a couple weeks cyanobacterium and some type of brown "hair" type algae is growing every. I've stayed the course and even recently increased the dose as the Nitrate reads 0 and the increase in the cyano and brown hair algae is insane. I've manually siphoned off the cyano 3 different times and it instantly comes back. Tank is a year and a half old with live rock and 6 fish. I think I need to switch to something else to increase nitrate, for whatever reason it just seems that ammonium is doing nothing but feeding the cyano and brown algae. Would love to know if anyone has had a similar experience with Ammonium. Thanks!

 

[Ziggy17]

Perhaps dose nitrate and dose a lower amount of the ammonium. The corals will still enjoy the value of the easier uptake ammonium, however the nitrates dose will keep the pest algae at bay. The brown may be dinos if you’ve been at 0 NO3 for awhile.

 

[exnisstech]

Was any of this nuisance algae and cyano present even in small amounts before you started the ammonium dosing? Ive read a few others having something similar happen when dosing ammonium. Ive been very happy with the results I'm getting in my SPS tank dosing ammonium bicarb but I had zero nuisance algae or cyano before starting.

 

[Maho.B]

I can't say for certain but I definitely didn't notice any nuisance algae or cyano prior to dosing ammonium, live rock was pristine with excellent purple and maroon coraline algae. The sand bed did have amphidinium dino's making it brown, that's why I decided to increase my Nitrates to begin with. A month and a half later 90 percent of the rocks are covered with either cyano or brown hair algae. The corals ironically are thriving. I may take the suggestion of backing the ammonium way down and supplementing with a product like Neo-nitrate. Frustrating.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Every system is different, and I've read many success stories on here with dosing ammonium, but I think I'm close to throwing in the towel. A couple months ago I went the route of dosing Ammonium bicarbonate to increase nitrate. Within a a couple weeks cyanobacterium and some type of brown "hair" type algae is growing every. I've stayed the course and even recently increased the dose as the Nitrate reads 0 and the increase in the cyano and brown hair algae is insane. I've manually siphoned off the cyano 3 different times and it instantly comes back. Tank is a year and a half old with live rock and 6 fish. I think I need to switch to something else to increase nitrate, for whatever reason it just seems that ammonium is doing nothing but feeding the cyano and brown algae. Would love to know if anyone has had a similar experience with Ammonium. Thanks!

In the many discussions I’ve read, I don’t remember seeing cyano and brown hair algae mentioned. Maybe your tank was pre-seeded with them.

Are you confident in the nitrate test?

Are you monitoring phosphate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I may take the suggestion of backing the ammonium way down and supplementing with a product like Neo-nitrate. Frustrating.

If you go the nitrate route, I recommend food grade sodium or calcium nitrate.

 

[Maho.B]

In the many discussions I’ve read, I don’t remember seeing cyano and brown hair algae mentioned. Maybe your tank was pre-seeded with them.

Are you confident in the nitrate test?

Are you monitoring phosphate?

Pre-seeded perhaps, I had cyano once for a short period about a year ago but it wasn't bad and went away on its own within a week.

I test regularly, the phosphate has been declining over the same period that my Nitrates have decreased. The phosphate as of yesterday was 0.05 down from 0.09 a week ago.

Thanks for the tip on product choices.

 

[LiquidSpace]

If you go the nitrate route, I recommend food grade sodium or calcium nitrate.

If you’re buying on Amazon, how can you tell if it’s food grade? Some say 100% food grade, can those be trusted? What about ones that say industrial/tech grade (99% purity). I lean more towards the second one than the first with a chef on it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you’re buying on Amazon, how can you tell if it’s food grade? Some say 100% food grade, can those be trusted? What about ones that say industrial/tech grade (99% purity). I lean more towards the second one than the first with a chef on it.

I do not know if you can trust them, but FCC or food grade provides the assurance. Percentages alone and vague statements like industrial/tech grade are not very useful.

 

[LiquidSpace]

I do not know if you can trust them, but FCC or food grade provides the assurance. Percentages alone and vague statements like industrial/tech grade are not very useful.

Thanks! It looks like @exnisstech actually left a review on the food grade one so I think I can trust that one :)

 

[exnisstech]

 

[rtparty]

When I started dosing my 250 with ammonia all the little Dino spots on the sand started turning (being covered) into cyano. It was dinos that made me check my nitrates and they were zero. This was a big surprise because that tank was running at like 40+ nitrate for months on end. Phosphate was like 0.4ppm when I started dosing ammonia.

Within a couple weeks phosphate had dropped to .2 and nitrates climbed to around 10ppm. Cyano went away on it own pretty quickly.

The few times I’ve fought cyano my nitrates were always 0 or close to and phosphate was higher than nitrates.

 

[Maho.B]

Interesting, when I started dosing Ammonium my Nitrates were low, between 1.5/2 and got it up in the 5-6 range. Then when cyano went nuts the nitrate went to 0 within a couple weeks or so. Now cyano is bad. I ordered the sodium nitrate so I'll see how that goes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just don’t use that big copper pot to mix it. Lol

 

[CHSUB]

however the nitrates dose will keep the pest algae at bay

How does this work? If I eat donuts and get fat, would eating more donuts make me lose weight?

 

[Maho.B]

Just don’t use that big copper pot to mix it. Lol

Noted ;)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How does this work? If I eat donuts and get fat, would eating more donuts make me lose weight?

I’ve always said feeding donuts to reef tanks is a bad idea.

But, as I suspect you are tired of hearing me say, competition can mean that things that thrive best at high nutrients do not need to be the same things that thrive best at low nutrients. It is not the case that anything grows faster at lower nutrients, it is a question of which things slow down the most.

 

[Ziggy17]

That’s the one I use as well. It’s been a few months with no issues.

 

[CHSUB]

I’ve always said feeding donuts to reef tanks is a bad idea.

But, as I suspect you are tired of hearing me say, competition can mean that things that thrive best at high nutrients do not need to be the same things that thrive best at low nutrients. It is not the case that anything grows faster at lower nutrients, it is a question of which things slow down the most.

Or maybe you are tired of my humorous metaphors…haha.

Mangroves grow slowly and can grow in salt or freshwater. Near the ocean they dominate because nothing else grows, going up the Peace River( freshwater) where everything grows faster, mangroves disappear because they run out of space and can’t compete with palmettos, cypress, water locust, sweet gum, cabbage palm and live oak. So yes, there is some validity in nature to this Dino theory; however what is the something else that outcompetes Dinos in just days that causes the Dinos to disappear?

 

[LiquidSpace]

Thanks! I was so unsure of it because of the package.
And you use the nitrate from potassium nitrate on the calculator, right?