Carbon dosing " locking in " Nitrates?

[Science/G]

So I've been seeing this term locking in, when people mention their nitrates during carbon dosing. I have noticed this phenomenon myself in my classroom reef tank. Also, I've been trying to lower the nitrates a bit on home reef to no avail. Both are dosed with a modest amount of NOPOX daily, and microbacter 7 once a week. I've read the information on the Tropic Marin products, where this is discussed, but, would like the scientific explanation. Randy, can you explain the biological and chemical processes going on here.

Thanks in advance,
Frank

 

[rishma]

I have not seen the term locking in.

Can you explain what that means?

 

[Science/G]

Stabilizing, keeping them steady without much fluctuation

 

[rishma]

Oh, I guess I achieve that with both nitrate and phosphate. I feed very precise amounts, dose precise amounts, and skimmer runs consistently. I can see a temporary dip when I do water changes.

I became obsessive about stability in my little 100L tank so I went to great lengths to eliminate variables. It was a fun challenge. I learned a lot.

I use TM bacto balance. I think I could achieve the same stability with another type of carbon dosing but I haven’t tried.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve not seen the term either, but it may mean locking the N into organism tissues, such as bacteria, corals, or macroalgae.

 

[luxe]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I’m also having difficulty keeping detectable NO3 in my 25 g frag tank. PO4 is at a steady .03-.05 for months. I’ve been using 1 ml TM Plus NP for 2 weeks, feed a considerable amount, have 2 clowns, a six line, a lawnmower, and a black Molly. One spot of GHA on a plug. I feel like “locking in” is meant to be a consistent reading with barely any fluctuation. Even with the low NO3 all my corals look happy with nice PE and color.

 

[rishma]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I’m also having difficulty keeping detectable NO3 in my 25 g frag tank. PO4 is at a steady .03-.05 for months. I’ve been using 1 ml TM Plus NP for 2 weeks, feed a considerable amount, have 2 clowns, a six line, a lawnmower, and a black Molly. One spot of GHA on a plug. I feel like “locking in” is meant to be a consistent reading with barely any fluctuation. Even with the low NO3 all my corals look happy with nice PE and color.

If you want to try boosting nitrate a little, ammonium bicarbonate is a great choice. There is good thread by Randy in this forum. I find ammonium bicarbonate for N and sodium phosphate for P has better results for me than PlusNP in terms of corals appearance. I think adding ammonium bicarbonate in addition to the plus NP is good too. It’s cheap and easy to experiment with.

 

[luxe]

If you want to try boosting nitrate a little, ammonium bicarbonate is a great choice. There is good thread by Randy in this forum. I find ammonium bicarbonate for N and sodium phosphate for P has better results for me than PlusNP in terms of corals appearance. I think adding ammonium bicarbonate in addition to the plus NP is good too. It’s cheap and easy to experiment with.

I’ve read that thread (thanks Randy for the right up). And have been contemplating dosing. Might just start to see if I can raise it. Thanks

It does mention CO2, would that affect pH?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve read that thread (thanks Randy for the right up). And have been contemplating dosing. Might just start to see if I can raise it. Thanks

It does mention CO2, would that affect pH?

The amount in the ammonium bicarbonate will not impact pH. :)

 

[Dan_P]

So I've been seeing this term locking in, when people mention their nitrates during carbon dosing. I have noticed this phenomenon myself in my classroom reef tank. Also, I've been trying to lower the nitrates a bit on home reef to no avail. Both are dosed with a modest amount of NOPOX daily, and microbacter 7 once a week. I've read the information on the Tropic Marin products, where this is discussed, but, would like the scientific explanation. Randy, can you explain the biological and chemical processes going on here.

Thanks in advance,
Frank

Never heard the term “locking in”. Is it used to refer to a constant nitrate level?

 

[scotty333]

Oh, I guess I achieve that with both nitrate and phosphate. I feed very precise amounts, dose precise amounts, and skimmer runs consistently. I can see a temporary dip when I do water changes.

I became obsessive about stability in my little 100L tank so I went to great lengths to eliminate variables. It was a fun challenge. I learned a lot.

I use TM bacto balance. I think I could achieve the same stability with another type of carbon dosing but I haven’t tried.

I do exactly the same for phosphate, 16.5g of mysis and 1” of nori gets me .06 but nitrates I done 20ml of vodka to keep around 3 but this raises and dips more so I check it twice a week

 

[Science/G]

 

[Science/G]

With Bactobalance, discussed in the video above, once phosphate and nitrate are in the desired range, Bactobalance provides the carbon, a nitrogen source and phosphate to keep these levels stable.
Hypothetically, if I have reached stability with NOPOX, feeding, skimming and biological filtration, will it be more difficult to decrease or increase nitrates and or phosphates, if I want to adjust my levels. Or, is it the fact that my phosphates hover on the low side .02-..05 that is impacting the consumption of Nitrates.
My nitrates have been locked in around 20 ppm for three months now and barely change with weekly water changes.

 

[rishma]

With Bactobalance, discussed in the video above, once phosphate and nitrate are in the desired range, Bactobalance provides the carbon, a nitrogen source and phosphate to keep these levels stable.
Hypothetically, if I have reached stability with NOPOX, feeding, skimming and biological filtration, will it be more difficult to decrease or increase nitrates and or phosphates, if I want to adjust my levels. Or, is it the fact that my phosphates hover on the low side .02-..05 that is impacting the consumption of Nitrates.
My nitrates have been locked in around 20 ppm for three months now and barely change with weekly water changes.

I don’t like this locking in concept at all. Sorry, it just does not make sense to me.

Balance can be achieved, for example, with nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon inputs, consumption, and exports. That balance can even be quite stable over time. Nitrate levels often have long term stability in many tanks, including those that don’t carbon dose. Stable nitrates is not a new thing.

Bactobalance (which I use) is a thoughtfully designed product, I like it, but there is nothing magical about it. I manipulate the nitrogen and phosphorus inputs into my tank in addition to using bactobalance to achieve the levels and stability I want.