DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[ryukendoK]

I wanted to report my experience dosing ammonia, which has been a huge, huge improvement in my tank. It seems like it solved a lot of problems all at once and now for the first time I can say all of my corals are thriving. I've documented some of the problems with my tank in another post here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...lia-please-share.1092587/page-3#post-13236925

In that post, you can see that my tank is a red macroalgae + LPS + SPS tank, with the red macroalgae occupying the entire back half of my tank. It was set up in Feb of this year; macros were introduced first. My tank has had persistently 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates, so for about the first 10 months of keeping this aquarium I've fed reef roids every day, sometimes going up to a quarter of a teaspoon every day. SPS and most LPS were growing very well except for euphyllias.

A bacterial bloom and a shipment of corals with RTN from Barrier Reef Aquariums introduced bacterial issues, two SPS's started to STN, but even after treating the tank twice with cipro this was not resolving the problem; corals that experienced STN continued to STN, just more slowly, and my hammers and frogspawns consistently went through tissue recession and eventual death over a period of months. Stopping reef roids seemed somehow to make the STN slower, but this meant there was no N and P. I started dosing Brightwell NeoNitro in my ATO water at ~2ppm nitrate per day, up to ~4ppm per day, and Birghtwell phosphate up to ~.04ppm phosphate a day, but this was not resolving my issues.

Last week, I switched to dosing enough ammonia to provide the amount of N present in ~4-5ppm of nitrate (I calculated the amount of ammonia to have the same N concentration as Brightwell NeoNitro), and the effect is very dramatic. Both my SPS and LPS have better PE, especially my pink Stylo which is also getting a more intense pink color. My candy cane would actually put out its tentacles every time more water came down the ATO. Even better, my STN has stopped completely on both SPS and LPS.

I think the large amounts of macroalgae starved the rest of my tank of N; even with Nitrate dosing the starving corals had to use energy to pump the low concentrations of nitrate and then had to chemically process it. Ammonia resolved this N deficiency and offered something more readily usable.

 

[Necrodaemus]

I wanted to report my experience dosing ammonia, which has been a huge, huge improvement in my tank. It seems like it solved a lot of problems all at once and now for the first time I can say all of my corals are thriving. I've documented some of the problems with my tank in another post here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...lia-please-share.1092587/page-3#post-13236925

In that post, you can see that my tank is a red macroalgae + LPS + SPS tank, with the red macroalgae occupying the entire back half of my tank. It was set up in Feb of this year; macros were introduced first. My tank has had persistently 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates, so for about the first 10 months of keeping this aquarium I've fed reef roids every day, sometimes going up to a quarter of a teaspoon every day. SPS and most LPS were growing very well except for euphyllias.

A bacterial bloom and a shipment of corals with RTN from Barrier Reef Aquariums introduced bacterial issues, two SPS's started to STN, but even after treating the tank twice with cipro this was not resolving the problem; corals that experienced STN continued to STN, just more slowly, and my hammers and frogspawns consistently went through tissue recession and eventual death over a period of months. Stopping reef roids seemed somehow to make the STN slower, but this meant there was no N and P. I started dosing Brightwell NeoNitro in my ATO water at ~2ppm nitrate per day, up to ~4ppm per day, and Birghtwell phosphate up to ~.04ppm phosphate a day, but this was not resolving my issues.

Last week, I switched to dosing enough ammonia to provide the amount of N present in ~4-5ppm of nitrate (I calculated the amount of ammonia to have the same N concentration as Brightwell NeoNitro), and the effect is very dramatic. Both my SPS and LPS have better PE, especially my pink Stylo which is also getting a more intense pink color. My candy cane would actually put out its tentacles every time more water came down the ATO. Even better, my STN has stopped completely on both SPS and LPS.

I think the large amounts of macroalgae starved the rest of my tank of N; even with Nitrate dosing the starving corals had to use energy to pump the low concentrations of nitrate and then had to chemically process it. Ammonia resolved this N deficiency and offered something more readily usable.

How are your nutrients since dosing Ammonium?

 

[ryukendoK]

How are your nutrients since dosing Ammonium?

Increasing very slowly. Using salifert test kits, NO3 is ~1ppm and PO4 is <0.03ppm. So almost all the ammonia and phosphate I'm putting in is used basically immediately.

 

[rishma]

Increasing very slowly. Using salifert test kits, NO3 is ~1ppm and PO4 is <0.03ppm. So almost all the ammonia and phosphate I'm putting in is used basically immediately.

Thanks for sharing this. Great application of ammonia dosing. Dosing phosphate still? If not, I think it would be a good idea.

Edit: Nevermind, I checked your other thread. Dosing phosphate 0.2ppm per day. Good stuff!

 

[Necrodaemus]

Increasing very slowly. Using salifert test kits, NO3 is ~1ppm and PO4 is <0.03ppm. So almost all the ammonia and phosphate I'm putting in is used basically immediately.

Pretty much what I'm seeing. I'm not dosing PO4 but I've started increasing feedings to help keep it from bottoming out. It's currently at the lowest I've ever seen it in the year and a half this tank has been running.

 

[rishma]

Pretty much what I'm seeing. I'm not dosing PO4 but I've started increasing feedings to help keep it from bottoming out. It's currently at the lowest I've ever seen it in the year and a half this tank has been running.

Isn’t that cool! When I stopped dosing ammonia, I had to adjust my feeding so my phosphate would stop rising. It’s really interesting how they are tied together.

 

[Necrodaemus]

Isn’t that cool! When I stopped dosing ammonia, I had to adjust my feeding so my phosphate would stop rising. It’s really interesting how they are tied together.

Very much so!! I was at 0.1-0.2ppm for the longest time

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I wanted to report my experience dosing ammonia, which has been a huge, huge improvement in my tank. It seems like it solved a lot of problems all at once and now for the first time I can say all of my corals are thriving. I've documented some of the problems with my tank in another post here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...lia-please-share.1092587/page-3#post-13236925

In that post, you can see that my tank is a red macroalgae + LPS + SPS tank, with the red macroalgae occupying the entire back half of my tank. It was set up in Feb of this year; macros were introduced first. My tank has had persistently 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates, so for about the first 10 months of keeping this aquarium I've fed reef roids every day, sometimes going up to a quarter of a teaspoon every day. SPS and most LPS were growing very well except for euphyllias.

A bacterial bloom and a shipment of corals with RTN from Barrier Reef Aquariums introduced bacterial issues, two SPS's started to STN, but even after treating the tank twice with cipro this was not resolving the problem; corals that experienced STN continued to STN, just more slowly, and my hammers and frogspawns consistently went through tissue recession and eventual death over a period of months. Stopping reef roids seemed somehow to make the STN slower, but this meant there was no N and P. I started dosing Brightwell NeoNitro in my ATO water at ~2ppm nitrate per day, up to ~4ppm per day, and Birghtwell phosphate up to ~.04ppm phosphate a day, but this was not resolving my issues.

Last week, I switched to dosing enough ammonia to provide the amount of N present in ~4-5ppm of nitrate (I calculated the amount of ammonia to have the same N concentration as Brightwell NeoNitro), and the effect is very dramatic. Both my SPS and LPS have better PE, especially my pink Stylo which is also getting a more intense pink color. My candy cane would actually put out its tentacles every time more water came down the ATO. Even better, my STN has stopped completely on both SPS and LPS.

I think the large amounts of macroalgae starved the rest of my tank of N; even with Nitrate dosing the starving corals had to use energy to pump the low concentrations of nitrate and then had to chemically process it. Ammonia resolved this N deficiency and offered something more readily usable.

Good to hear!

 

[14 foot reef]

I started Dosing @Randy Holmes-Farley 's DIY ammonia 7 days ago. My system is 1000 gallons total water volume. My nO3 was 6.7 via Hanna Nitrate Checker, my pO4 was .05 per Hanna checker. I set up 3 liters of Randy's solution in a sealed dosing container and programmed my Apex Neptune DOS to 90ml per day split up to dose 7.5ml per dose 4 times per hour, for 1 hour, every 6 hours for a total 90ml's in 24 hours. It has run flawless so far.

My question is, what is the approach or formula to increasing dosage to the near max amount the system will handle? My nO3 have not increased, nor my pO4. What would be the ml increase per day the experienced users of this method would suggest per week, and what will be the indicator of reaching the near max amount of Ammonium Bicarbonate i should expect to hit?
Thanks for your experienced input and look forward to some real life examples of current users of this amonia dosing practice.
Happy Reefing !!!

 

[Doob]

No.

sodium is normally in the 10,000 ppm range and chloride 20,000 ppm .
For every 1 ppm of phosphate increase with trisodium phoshate you would raise sodium about .75 ppm
For every 1 ppm of ammonia increase with ammonia chloride you raise chloride about 3 ppm

Thanks for the reply. Can these 2 components be added to the same solution if the consumption is known?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the reply. Can these 2 components be added to the same solution if the consumption is known?

Yes.

 

[rishma]

Reporting back, after several several weeks without ammonia dosing, my nitrate has drifted to near zero. I see no change in the corals. I am about to leave for a month, so a little concerned, but I’ll leave it this way. Changes in coral color are easier to notice when you don’t see the tank for a month

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Reporting back, after several several weeks without ammonia dosing, my nitrate has drifted to near zero. I see no change in the corals. I am about to leave for a month, so a little concerned, but I’ll leave it this way. Changes in coral color are easier to notice when you don’t see the tank for a month

Take a picture before heading out!

 

[Anthrax91]

If one has a tank packed with coral would the coral use the ammonia before it could be turned to nitrate ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If one has a tank packed with coral would the coral use the ammonia before it could be turned to nitrate ?

Packed or not, that is the hope when dosing ammonia. :)

 

[ncjeepguy75]

Here is my data for January 2025...the black blocks simply represent days that I was unable to test and get a reading...corals are really extended...my blasto actually split off another head...my stylos are growing some too...magnifica anemone opens to its fullest every day...the clam LOVES it...doesn't seem to be impacting fish, snails or shrimp in any way...I have it set to dose ammonia 4 times per day during lights on period...I am dosing NP Bacto Balance simply to help feed corals...when I do not dose it, polyp extension is not as good...as you can see in the last few days I seem to have hit a point where I am starting to increase the ammonia dose while the nitrates are still going down...I will keep increasing the ammonia dose until I see it impact the nitrate reading...at first the nitrate reading was going up so I wrangled the ammonia dosing a bit to get it to level out...my tank is roughly 120 gallons including a sump that is still running with chaeto...I keep chaeto for my tangs and rabbit fish...I understand this affects the readings a little bit as it uses some of the free ammonia and I am ok with that...

 

[ncjeepguy75]

I started Dosing @Randy Holmes-Farley 's DIY ammonia 7 days ago. My system is 1000 gallons total water volume. My nO3 was 6.7 via Hanna Nitrate Checker, my pO4 was .05 per Hanna checker. I set up 3 liters of Randy's solution in a sealed dosing container and programmed my Apex Neptune DOS to 90ml per day split up to dose 7.5ml per dose 4 times per hour, for 1 hour, every 6 hours for a total 90ml's in 24 hours. It has run flawless so far.

My question is, what is the approach or formula to increasing dosage to the near max amount the system will handle? My nO3 have not increased, nor my pO4. What would be the ml increase per day the experienced users of this method would suggest per week, and what will be the indicator of reaching the near max amount of Ammonium Bicarbonate i should expect to hit?
Thanks for your experienced input and look forward to some real life examples of current users of this amonia dosing practice.
Happy Reefing !!!

yeah I am interested to see too how much per day I end up with...I am currently at 30 ml per day in a 120 gal system and nitrates are still going down...I try to keep nitrates around 5ppm and phosphate around .05ppm so to keep dinos at bay...

 

[14 foot reef]

Here is my data for January 2025...the black blocks simply represent days that I was unable to test and get a reading...corals are really extended...my blasto actually split off another head...my stylos are growing some too...magnifica anemone opens to its fullest every day...the clam LOVES it...doesn't seem to be impacting fish, snails or shrimp in any way...I have it set to dose ammonia 4 times per day during lights on period...I am dosing NP Bacto Balance simply to help feed corals...when I do not dose it, polyp extension is not as good...as you can see in the last few days I seem to have hit a point where I am starting to increase the ammonia dose while the nitrates are still going down...I will keep increasing the ammonia dose until I see it impact the nitrate reading...at first the nitrate reading was going up so I wrangled the ammonia dosing a bit to get it to level out...my tank is roughly 120 gallons including a sump that is still running with chaeto...I keep chaeto for my tangs and rabbit fish...I understand this affects the readings a little bit as it uses some of the free ammonia and I am ok with that...

This is great thanks for sharing, do you think its more beneficial to dose at lights on only, or would say its really necessary to dose during photo period only ?

 

[thedon986]

When I stopped dosing ammonia, about 15mls in 90g per day, I noticed a pretty sharp increase in nitrates. Nitrate was always pushing to zero while dosing. More effective than bacto balance which is interesting.

 

[14 foot reef]

@Randy Holmes-Farley & other Ammonia Dose reefers.
I'm Up to 130ml of ammonia dosed per 24 hours. Nitrates are still holding around 9 ppm. They went as low as 6.3 ppm but I have increased fish feeding dramatically with pellet auto feeders. I will say in the 2 weeks I have been dosing ammonia, my frag farm grow out tank has really increased in growth, too soon to tell if this is directly from the ammonia dosing, but it sure is pointing in that direction.
Going to keep increasing my dosing until I start to see a significant Nitrate rise, then will back off a bit and see how it settles out.
Still looking for input on thoughts of possible max dosing per day on 1000 gallons of a pretty heavily stocked SPS/LPS mixed reef.