DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[Reefing_addiction]

It depletes it. I noted that in the recipe post at the start of this thread:

. 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.

Sorry I’ve been awake since about 11:45pm last night so my brain is not braining. I do not like having to go to work at 2am lol

 

[Reefing_addiction]

I’ve dosed the ammonium bicarbonate and did not see any dip or adverse affects. I dosed 6ml in my 75. I did not test nitrates cuz I’ve been exhausted so remembering to do the dosey thing is a win in my book

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sorry I’ve been awake since about 11:45pm last night so my brain is not braining. I do not like having to go to work at 2am lol

No problem. :)

 

[Troylee]

I did my first dose of ammonium bicarbonate yesterday morning of 26ml (Randy’s stock solution) on my 300 gallon system. NO3 was 2.5 prior to dosing. After dosing, I tested again and after a few hours it was 2.9. Awesome and spot on per Randy’s calculation. I did a second dose that night. Prior to testing, NO3 dropped slightly to 2.7. After second dose, went back up to 2.9. No adverse effect observed and alk remains stable. I’m going to do 3 doses of 26ml today.

That’s a little high for a single day to start.. I myself have a 300 and I’ve found 50-60ml to be the sweet spot… one thing I observed is dosing 20ml in 3 seperate shots I experienced my nitrates dropping as I think the bacteria grew rapidly! I split that 60ml a day up over 24hours and my nitrates finally climbed from 3 to 27!

 

[rishma]

I don’t track nitrates very closely, I just know they stay 5-10 ish. I do track phosphate closely. I stopped dosing ammonia for 5 days. My phosphates climbed from 0.08 to 0.18. I started ammonia dosing again and watched them fall back down. Really cool.

 

[tbrown]

Question for you Randy: if I'm dosing Ammonium Chloride stock solution and Calcium Chloride from your 2-Part recipe, are they able to be mixed together or should they be kept separate? If I'm dosing 20 mL of Ammonium and 60 mL of Calcium I would mix 3000 mL of Calcium solution with 1000 mL of Ammonium solution and then dose 80 mL of the mix daily?

 

[rishma]

Question for you Randy: if I'm dosing Ammonium Chloride stock solution and Calcium Chloride from your 2-Part recipe, are they able to be mixed together or should they be kept separate? If I'm dosing 20 mL of Ammonium and 60 mL of Calcium I would mix 3000 mL of Calcium solution with 1000 mL of Ammonium solution and then dose 80 mL of the mix daily?

I was having a similar thought about mixing baking soda in my ammonium carbonate, but then decided it might raise the pH of the solution and reduce the solubility of ammonia. (I don’t know this as fact). Since calcium chloride is about neutral, maybe it could work. Interested to see what Randy says.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Question for you Randy: if I'm dosing Ammonium Chloride stock solution and Calcium Chloride from your 2-Part recipe, are they able to be mixed together or should they be kept separate? If I'm dosing 20 mL of Ammonium and 60 mL of Calcium I would mix 3000 mL of Calcium solution with 1000 mL of Ammonium solution and then dose 80 mL of the mix daily?

Yes that sounds ok. :)

 

[TangingOut]

Dosed ammonium bicarbonate for a month with no noticeable coral growth or coloration improvement. Hair algae exploded, choking out some nice zoas. Also all snails(trochus and astrea) became very inactive with a few dying. Last week of experiment, I dosed nitrates and phosphates in addition to the ammonium bicarbonate and only then did I see an increase in nutrients. This was a failed experiment for me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosed ammonium bicarbonate for a month with no noticeable coral growth or coloration improvement. Hair algae exploded, choking out some nice zoas. Also all snails(trochus and astrea) became very inactive with a few dying. Last week of experiment, I dosed nitrates and phosphates in addition to the ammonium bicarbonate and only then did I see an increase in nutrients. This was a failed experiment for me.

Thanks for the info. What nutrient levels did you see? What daily dose were you using? How old was the tank?

 

[Shirak]

Got my ammonium bicarbonate today. Made up 250ml stock solution. Going to use it in a fishless system approx. 45 gallons. It's comprised of a 20long another tank about 5gal and a third approximately 20gal. No sand beds. Small canister chamber with rock chunks the main pump goes through. Rock chunks in the 20long and bits and pieces in the third tank with a MarinePure 8x8x4" bioblock. Hang on refugium on the 20long with external skimmer. A few corals in the 5gal tank. Goni frag garden in the third tank. Bunch of hermits and snails.
I dosed 2ml this evening. Tomorrow I will check NO3 and PO4. I also dose 2ml AFR/day and Iodide, Iron, and Manganese. I feed daily with a mix of dried Goni type food powders.

I am thinking 2ml in the morning and 2ml at night. Probably just dose manually for now with a syringe and see how things go. Chaeto is growing in the refuge and quite a bit of hair algae all over. CUC is working on it and the patches are diminishing slowly. Nitrates drop quickly with the hair algae. Have been using sodium nitrate to keep it around 20ppm.

Mainly interested to see if it helps the corals in the absence of fish.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

I tested my 75 gal yesterday…I’ve been dosing roughly 6ml of ammonium bicarbonate as a supplement for the corals …..I’m at 13nitrates and phosphates were .19 (which is normal).
No extra algea and no issues to speak of.

I think the corals are happier! I’ve definitely see. An improvement from some of my gonis that were struggling….

But I do have a high coral load lol

 

[TastyScrants]

Thought I’d update as it’s been a while. Still dosing 0.1ppm (since around June) and my nitrate is holding steady. Thinking I increase my carbon dose and my ammonium bicarbonate dose to boost my growth.

As I have it to hand, also using it to feed my new tank while it seeds with some media from my main tank.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Thought I’d update as it’s been a while. Still dosing 0.1ppm (since around June) and my nitrate is holding steady. Thinking I increase my carbon dose and my ammonium bicarbonate dose to boost my growth.

As I have it to hand, also using it to feed my new tank while it seeds with some media from my main tank.

I was going to do this but then reading and listening to some podcast/youtube stuff decided not to until I got corals in.

I tested my new 100g tank - which I had been dosing only sodium nitrate to and had a whopping .9 nitrates lol but now there are corals. So I decided to dose both the sodium nitrate (10ml) and some ammonium bicarbonate (5ml). PO4 pre dose was .09….

May try and test again today and see what’s what but I’m just heading home from work sooooo

 

[Shirak]

Currently Alk 8.4dkh, PO4 .04ppm, NO3 14ppm
I don't expect my small doses of ammonium bicarb to make a huge impact on NO3 so I will most likely have to keep dosing nitrate as well for now. I did turn down the light on the refuge to 4hrs a day. Maybe once the hair algae gets under a bit more control the ammonium bicarb will have a greater impact? Looks like I need to watch the PO4 now too...

 

[rishma]

Ok, I cannot resist anymore. @Randy Holmes-Farley, can I mix baking soda in my ammonium bicarbonate?

I have tried to figure this out on my own without asking you another “can I mix these” for fear of a lifetime ban. Bicarbonate is complicated! Will pH go up or down? i promise not to ask another one until next year.

Why do I want to do this? Well, I could mix a solution to provide my daily ammonium dose AND 10% of my alkalinity thereby offsetting the over supply of calcium from AFR and Kalk. Unnecessary? Probably!

If I was home I’d just try it and see what happens but since I am gone until after the new year I got impatient. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok, I cannot resist anymore. @Randy Holmes-Farley, can I mix baking soda in my ammonium bicarbonate?

I have tried to figure this out on my own without asking you another “can I mix these” for fear of a lifetime ban. Bicarbonate is complicated! Will pH go up or down? i promise not to ask another one until next year.

Why do I want to do this? Well, I could mix a solution to provide my daily ammonium dose AND 10% of my alkalinity thereby offsetting the over supply of calcium from AFR and Kalk. Unnecessary? Probably!

If I was home I’d just try it and see what happens but since I am gone until after the new year I got impatient. :)

yes and no.

Ammonia will smell more and evaporate faster from the bicarbonate mix since the pH is higher, and if the sodium bicarbonate is near its saturation limit, you could possible hit the limit. The latter is unlikely, however.

 

[TangingOut]

Thanks for the info. What nutrient levels did you see? What daily dose were you using? How old was the tank?

Tank is 50gal and a little over 5 months old. Started with 1/2 mature live rock with lots of different sponges, feather dusters, aiptasia, etc. and 1/2 cured live rock from LFS tub. Nitrates 0.0 on Hanna checker at 4 month mark. Lost 2 hammer, 1 frogspawn coral, and SPS became pale. Phosphates had drifted from 0.15 to 0.01 on Hanna checker. Started with 4ml of stock solution and ended with 8ml dosed over 24hrs. Since dosing Brightwell Nitrate and Phosphate, 2 other hammer corals that were struggling have made a full recovery and 1 might be coming back from dead skeleton

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tank is 50gal and a little over 5 months old. Started with 1/2 mature live rock with lots of different sponges, feather dusters, aiptasia, etc. and 1/2 cured live rock from LFS tub. Nitrates 0.0 on Hanna checker at 4 month mark. Lost 2 hammer, 1 frogspawn coral, and SPS became pale. Phosphates had drifted from 0.15 to 0.01 on Hanna checker. Started with 4ml of stock solution and ended with 8ml dosed over 24hrs. Since dosing Brightwell Nitrate and Phosphate, 2 other hammer corals that were struggling have made a full recovery and 1 might be coming back from dead skeleton

Maybe you bottomed out the phosphate? Folks dosing N in any form should be aware of that possibility.

 

[Troylee]

Maybe you bottomed out the phosphate? Folks dosing N in any form should be aware of that possibility.

Without a doubt this ammonia dosing does bring down phosphates! I’ve experienced it first hand and has everyone I’ve talked too using this method.