DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate.

For this reason, I thought it would be useful to provide some DIY directions for ammonia dosing.

There are many materials that could be used for ammonia dosing, including some household ammonia solutions, but in order to give better assurance of purity, I'm electing the show directions using food grade ammonium chloride and food grade ammonium bicarbonate.

Ammonium Chloride
Ammonium chloride, NH4Cl is essentially ammonia (NH3) plus hydrochloric acid (HCl). The reason I mention that fact relates to the impact on alkalinity. Dosing NH3 followed by consumption by organisms to form tissue in a net alkalinity neutral process. I'm ignoring the fact that if it is converted into nitrate, alk is lost, because if that nitrate is later used, all the alk lost comes back.

However, the HCl that is effectively dosed will steadily deplete alk. Adding the equivalent of 50 mg/L nitrate (0.81 meq/L; coming from NH4Cl) will have depleted 0.81 meq/l (2.3 dKH) of alkalinity. That may need to be made up for in some other fashion, such as adding more alkalintiy supplement.

High quality ammonium chloride is readily available and inexpensive. Loudwolf is one brand, but there are many. Aim for food grade or ACS reagent grade. Amazon carries many Loudwolf is $7 for 4 ounces, which contains 38,000 mg of ammonium, and is equivalent to 131,000 mg of nitrate, enough to raise 100 L of aquarium water to 5 ppm nitrate about 262 times. So cost is not significant.

Ammonium Bicarbonate
Ammonium bicarbonate, also known as baking ammonia, NH4 HCO3 is essentially ammonia (NH3) plus CO2 and water.

As mentioned above, dosing NH3 followed by consumption by organisms to form tissue in a net alkalinity neutral process. The CO2 and water also do not impact alkalinity. Thus, ammonium bicarbonate is a net alk neutral way to dose ammonia.

High quality ammonium bicarbonate is also available from Amazon as baking ammonia. It is readily available and inexpensive. One brand sells 11 ounces for $15, so it's cost is similar to the Loudwolf ammonium chloride per unit of ammonia added (one needs to use more of the ammonium bicarbonate than the ammonium chloride, evening out the cost).

Stock Solution
Using either of these materials, we will make a stock solution for dosing. Keep it closed up as it will smell of ammonia and slowly loses ammonia to the air. Ammonium bicarbonate will have a higher pH, smell more, and lose ammonia to the air faster.

13.5 grams of ammonium chloride (about 3 - 4.6 teaspoons, varies by brand) in 1 L RO/DI water.
OR
20 grams of ammonium bicarbonate (about 4 and 3/4 teaspoons) in 1 L RO/DI water.

Both solutions contain approximately 4300 mg/L (4.3 mg/mL) ammonia, equivalent to 15,700 mg/l nitrate.

Dosing

Don't be overly afraid of dosing ammonia due to toxicity, but one cannot dose substantial amounts all at once. IMO, it is safe to add 0.1 ppm ammonia (equivalent to 0.36 ppm nitrate) at once to any reef tank, and one can likely add more, if it mixes in well. Don't dose it right onto a fish, but dosing 2-3x that amount at once is also likely OK. Of course, using a dosing pump to spread out the dosing is fine and may be preferable, but be sure to guard against dosing pumps out of control (e.g., stuck on). Stock solutions can be increased or decreased in potency to match pumping needs. The ammonia could also be put into an ato since exact daily dosing is not required.

To add 0.1 mg/L ammonia to an aquarium, you would need to add 2.3 mL of either stock solution to a 100 L (26 gallon) aquarium. You may need to add this amount multiply times per day to dose enough.

I'd add it to a sump, if possible, to dilute it well before it gets to the main tank. Most folks dosing ammonia wouldn't also be using media intended to push the nitrogen cycle in various ways, but if you do, dose downstream of that media.

Of course, if anything seems to react badly the first time or two that you dose, stop dosing, double check the amounts, and perhaps come back to this thread for further discussion of what might be happening.

This article has a lot more on ammonia in reef aquaria, although some parts of it may not be correct (such as the utility of products such as Prime):

Ammonia and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Happy Reefing!

edit: One can use this calculator for dosing these stock solutions. Use the entry for ammonia from ammonium nitrate when using the ammonium bicarbonate. For ammonium chloride, use it the same, but dose 0.7 times the amount it says to add to the aquarium.

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

 

[jda]

I might add that I would not try and test for the ammonia/ammonium once you dose, or at least not rely on a test. I have not used every test kit, but the 0.1 mg/L suggested is well below any reliable test kit that I have ever used, seen or heard of. Also, the ammonium could start to be consumed nearly instantly upon dosing. Perhaps the Good Dr disagrees, but if you want to do this, just trust the math when you dose.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Interesting read. My non scientific brain would never have accepted dosing ammonia. I would love to try this out…. Maybe I’ll convince myself. I’ve been reefing for a long time and absolutely never had to add nitrate or phosphate, until……. I became a lemming and went bare bottom live rock. Three years in and still dosing a decent amount of nitrate and phosphate daily!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Interesting read. My non scientific brain would never have accepted dosing ammonia. I would love to try this out…. Maybe I’ll convince myself. I’ve been reefing for a long time and absolutely never had to add nitrate or phosphate, until……. I became a lemming and went bare bottom live rock. Three years in and still dosing a decent amount of nitrate and phosphate daily!

If you currently dose nitrate, it would be a wonderful experiment to begin to dose ammonia and see if anythign was different.

But it would need to be done carefully to not let N availabiltiy suddenly drop too much by starting ammonia slowly compared to existing nitrate dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I might add that I would not try and test for the ammonia/ammonium once you dose, or at least not rely on a test. I have not used every test kit, but the 0.1 mg/L suggested is well below any reliable test kit that I have ever used, seen or heard of. Also, the ammonium could start to be consumed nearly instantly upon dosing. Perhaps the Good Dr disagrees, but if you want to do this, just trust the math when you dose.

I haven't use an ammonia kit for a very long time, but I can accept that may not detect the 0.1 ppm reliably.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

If you currently dose nitrate, it would be a wonderful experiment to begin to dose ammonia and see if anythign was different.

But it would need to be done carefully to not let N availabiltiy suddenly drop too much by starting ammonia slowly compared to existing nitrate dosing.

I’ll play with the idea for awhile to see if it’s something I think I can handle. Not being able to visually note animal health other than seeing a brightly colored blob is obviously weighing heavily on any method changes I may make. I keep my nitrate at around ten ppm plus or minus which has required me to dose close to five ppm of nitrate daily for the last three years. Nothing is really an exact science with me. Exact measurements and doses have always ended up being a starting point and require a little manipulation to get dialed in. I would probably split the difference by cutting my sodium nitrate in half and easing into ammonia. I’ll ponder it over the weekend. Thanks for posting this link and the link to your reefkeeping article.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ll play with the idea for awhile to see if it’s something I think I can handle. Not being able to visually note animal health other than seeing a brightly colored blob is obviously weighing heavily on any method changes I may make. I keep my nitrate at around ten ppm plus or minus which has required me to dose close to five ppm of nitrate daily for the last three years. Nothing is really an exact science with me. Exact measurements and doses have always ended up being a starting point and require a little manipulation to get dialed in. I would probably split the difference by cutting my sodium nitrate in half and easing into ammonia. I’ll ponder it over the weekend. Thanks for posting this link and the link to your reefkeeping article.

You could stick to your normal dosing and try manually dosing 0.1 ppm ammonia once in the AM and once in the PM and see if that alone does anything detectable. Little risk to that, IMO.

 

[taricha]

I might add that I would not try and test for the ammonia/ammonium once you dose, or at least not rely on a test. I have not used every test kit, but the 0.1 mg/L suggested is well below any reliable test kit that I have ever used, seen or heard of.

I haven't use an ammonia kit for a very long time, but I can accept that may not detect the 0.1 ppm reliably.

True, you can't tell 0.0 vs 0.1 or 0.2 in a single test, but....
If you pull a cup or two of water out of the tank before dosing and then test it side-by-side with the tank after dosing, I'm confident any total ammonia kit will show you a slight color difference.

this is what straight API kit does....

left: no way to tell that the +0.10ppm spike is anything other than zero.
right: tank water, tw+0.10ppm, tw+0.20ppm.

 

[Mystery Fish]

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate.

For this reason, I thought it would be useful to provide some DIY directions for ammonia dosing.

There are many materials that could be used for ammonia dosing, including some household ammonia solutions, but in order to give better assurance of purity, I'm electing the show directions using food grade ammonium chloride and food grade ammonium bicarbonate.

Ammonium Chloride
Ammonium chloride, NH4Cl is essentially ammonia (NH3) plus hydrochloric acid (HCl). The reason I mention that fact relates to the impact on alkalinity. Dosing NH3 followed by consumption by organisms to form tissue in a net alkalinity neutral process. I'm ignoring the fact that if it is converted into nitrate, alk is lost, because if that nitrate is later used, all the alk lost comes back.

However, the HCl that is effectively dosed will steadily deplete alk. Adding the equivalent of 50 mg/L nitrate (0.81 meq/L; coming from NH4Cl) will have depleted 0.81 meq/l (2.3 dKH) of alkalinity. That may need to be made up for in some other fashion, such as adding more alkalintiy supplement.

High quality ammonium chloride is readily available and inexpensive. Loudwolf is one brand, but there are many. Aim for food grade or ACS reagent grade. Amazon carries many Loudwolf is $7 for 4 ounces, which contains 38,000 mg of ammonium, and is equivalent to 131,000 mg of nitrate, enough to raise 100 L of aquarium water to 5 ppm nitrate about 262 times. So cost is not significant.

Ammonium Bicarbonate
Ammonium bicarbonate, also known as baking ammonia, NH4 HCO3 is essentially ammonia (NH3) plus CO2 and water.

As mentioned above, dosing NH3 followed by consumption by organisms to form tissue in a net alkalinity neutral process. The CO2 and water also do not impact alkalinity. Thus, ammonium bicarbonate is a net alk neutral way to dose ammonia.

High quality ammonium bicarbonate is also available from Amazon as baking ammonia. It is readily available and inexpensive. One brand sells 11 ounces for $15, so it's cost is similar to the Loudwolf ammonium chloride per unit of ammonia added (one needs to use more of the ammonium bicarbonate than the ammonium chloride, evening out the cost).

Stock Solution
Using either of these materials, we will make a stock solution for dosing. Keep it closed up as it will smell of ammonia and slowly loses ammonia to the air. Ammonium bicarbonate will have a higher pH, smell more, and lose ammonia to the air faster.

13.5 grams of ammonium chloride (about 3 - 4.6 teaspoons, varies by brand) in 1 L RO/DI water.
OR
20 grams of ammonium bicarbonate (about 4 and 3/4 teaspoons) in 1 L RO/DI water.

Both solutions contain approximately 4300 mg/L (4.3 mg/mL) ammonia, equivalent to 15,700 mg/l nitrate.

Dosing

Don't be overly afraid of dosing ammonia due to toxicity, but one cannot dose substantial amounts all at once. IMO, it is safe to add 0.1 ppm ammonia (equivalent to 0.36 ppm nitrate) at once to any reef tank, and one can likely add more, if it mixes in well. Don't dose it right onto a fish, but dosing 2-3x that amount at once is also likely OK. Of course, using a dosing pump to spread out the dosing is fine and may be preferable, but be sure to guard against dosing pumps out of control (e.g., stuck on). Stock solutions can be increased or decreased in potency to match pumping needs. The ammonia could also be put into an ato since exact daily dosing is not required.

To add 0.1 mg/L ammonia to an aquarium, you would need to add 2.3 mL of either stock solution to a 100 L (26 gallon) aquarium. You may need to add this amount multiply times per day to dose enough.

I'd add it to a sump, if possible, to dilute it well before it gets to the main tank. Most folks dosing ammonia wouldn't also be using media intended to push the nitrogen cycle in various ways, but if you do, dose downstream of that media.

Of course, if anything seems to react badly the first time or two that you dose, stop dosing, double check the amounts, and perhaps come back to this thread for further discussion of what might be happening.

This article has a lot more on ammonia in reef aquaria, although some parts of it may not be correct (such as the utility of products such as Prime):

Ammonia and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Happy Reefing!

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic as of late. Thank you for the head start. Once again you have proven an invaluable resource on my road to reefing. Thank you!

 

[vahegan]

@Randy Holmes-Farley - while not exactly "ammonia", would it not make sense to consider urea dosing in the frames of the same article? Basically, carbamide can be considered as a combination of two ammonia molecules with one carbon dioxide.

 

[biom]

Urea is not just a mix of ammonia and carbon dioxide it is different organic molecule and is metabolized by corals in different pathways and in different rates than ammonia is.

 

[sayurasem]

When you say ammonia may be more beneficial for some organism, does that include corals/ zooxanthellae?

I’ve read articles where aquatic freshwater plants actually prefer ammonia over nitrite or nitrate as their source of nitrogen.

 

[Dburr1014]

I just so happen to have an unopened bottle of this laying around. I have often thought of using it to dose as I currently have had 0 no3 for a few weeks now.



I assume this can be done in the same manner?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Urea is not just a mix of ammonia and carbon dioxide it is different organic molecule and is metabolized by corals in different pathways and in different rates than ammonia is.

I agree. It may well be a perfectly suitable nitrogen source, as are amino acids and lots of other molecules, but it is not as simple as it containing CO2 and ammonia, just like amino acids are not just a combination of CO2, water, and ammonia.

One drawback is that one cannot readily measure it, and folks would probably just assume each dose was being consumed as opposed to partly accumulating.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just so happen to have an unopened bottle of this laying around. I have often thought of using it to dose as I currently have had 0 no3 for a few weeks now.



I assume this can be done in the same manner?

Probably. Curious that it says:

"Odor variations are normal; some lots may not have a discernable ammonia odor"

Only gross changes in the formulation would change it from having an odor to not having an odor. Doesn't give one high confidence in the quality control. lol

 

[bennysmith1997]

Might be a dumb question but wouldn't overfeeding result in a similar effect of raising Ammonia/Nitrate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Might be a dumb question but wouldn't overfeeding result in a similar effect of raising Ammonia/Nitrate?

Yes, but it has other effects that you might not want, such as increased phosphate, organics, yellowing of the water, detritus, and possibly organisms such as cyano that consume organics.

In general, though, if you need both Na nd P, feeding more is an easy thing to try.

 

[taricha]

One idea worth thinking about, people who dose nitrate usually see their system respond when adjusting the NO3 from undetectable to 2-5 ppm. But when people do an amino acid supplement, those usually have much lower nitrogen amounts, like daily dose might be around a tenth of a ppm of N. And people see system responses from those low levels of added N. (perhaps an indicator of the relative usefulness to certain organisms of amino acids, versus nitrate.)
It's not immediately obvious to me whether ammonia dosing will show responses in the system at the nitrogen levels common with nitrate dosing, or the much lower nlnitrogen levels involved in amino acid dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

One idea worth thinking about, people who dose nitrate usually see their system respond when adjusting the NO3 from undetectable to 2-5 ppm. But when people do an amino acid supplement, those usually have much lower nitrogen amounts, like daily dose might be around a tenth of a ppm of N. And people see system responses from those low levels of added N. (perhaps an indicator of the relative usefulness to certain organisms of amino acids, versus nitrate.)
It's not immediately obvious to me whether ammonia dosing will show responses in the system at the nitrogen levels common with nitrate dosing, or the much lower nlnitrogen levels involved in amino acid dosing.

That's a good point.

One may only need to keep ammonia at natural ammonia levels, which would be undetectable with most test kits.

One may also need to keep nitrate higher in order to allow organisms to take it up if their uptake mechanisms for nitrate are not as efficient.

 

[vahegan]

Urea is not just a mix of ammonia and carbon dioxide it is different organic molecule and is metabolized by corals in different pathways and in different rates than ammonia is.

This is completely true if you assume that the added substance stays in the water column in sufficient concentration and long enough to be consumed directly by corals. But in an established system with LR, I believe that the main consumers are bacteria and their active biomass exceeds that of corals significantly. I suppose that unless the whole daily dose is dumped into the tank at once, but is rather dosed gradually during the day, it will be consumed by the bacteria instantly. I am not saying that's a bad thing as some of these bacteria will be in turn metabolized by corals and not all of the added nutrients will be wasted as skimmate (in the form of dead bacteria). Yet, if we consider such longer food chains, the effect of differences in coral metabolism might turn negligible - as long as there is a sufficient source of nitrogen and phosphorus.

I agree. It may well be a perfectly suitable nitrogen source, as are amino acids and lots of other molecules, but it is not as simple as it containing CO2 and ammonia, just like amino acids are not just a combination of CO2, water, and ammonia.

One drawback is that one cannot readily measure it, and folks would probably just assume each dose was being consumed as opposed to partly accumulating.

Does it have a chance to accumulate in a live tank with LR?

One idea worth thinking about, people who dose nitrate usually see their system respond when adjusting the NO3 from undetectable to 2-5 ppm. But when people do an amino acid supplement, those usually have much lower nitrogen amounts, like daily dose might be around a tenth of a ppm of N. And people see system responses from those low levels of added N. (perhaps an indicator of the relative usefulness to certain organisms of amino acids, versus nitrate.)
It's not immediately obvious to me whether ammonia dosing will show responses in the system at the nitrogen levels common with nitrate dosing, or the much lower nlnitrogen levels involved in amino acid dosing.

I have tried dosing aminos in such amounts to account for the tank's nitrogen demand. The result was disastrous, in the form of a huge dino outbreak which then took me months to conquer. Well, maybe I wasn't adding sufficient phosphorus - but I am much more careful with aminos ever since.

I am now of the opinion that a mix of different nitrogen sources, such as ammonia, amides, aminos, and nitrates would stimulate the growth of multiple types of bacteria rather than one dominant strain specializing on a specific form - and this variety should be more beneficial for the health of the tank.