DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[BriDroid]

I'm just afraid of increasing my dosage much beyond what I am currently.

If you aren't seeing any increase in N, then it's obvious that the ammonia is being used and not accumulating. I dose 0.8ppm total, in four separate doses every day via a dosing pump. I struggle to keep my N above 0ppm in my nano. The tank is obviously using the ammonia.

 

[Necrodaemus]

Why?

Toxicity mainly. How high can one safely go?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Toxicity mainly. How high can one safely go?

Would you worry about ammonia toxicity adding another fish?

Just ramp up slowly, just like adding fish slowly.

 

[Necrodaemus]

Would you worry about ammonia toxicity adding another fish?

Just ramp up slowly, just like adding fish slowly.

Makes sense. I guess I'm overestimating the toxicity levels of what we are dosing. Thank you!

 

[grizzwald39]

Hey @Randy Holmes-Farley i started dosing the ammonium bicarbonate two days ago at 13 ml in my 150 gallon reef tank. Tank has been stablished for over a year and no signs of ich in fish for over a year. Today i noticed my fox face had some ich spots. Three days ago I mixed up a gallon of the ammonium bicarbonate solution so 74 g in 3.7L or 1 gallon. I used a doser to dos 13 ml over 24 hr starting on 01/08. It dosed 13 ml on 01/09 as well. Previously I had been dosing nitrate. My nitrate has been sitting at 6-8 for at least a week while dosing nitrate. ON the 8th nitrate was at 7.9 yesterday it was at 9.7 and today it has dropped to 3.9. I don't have an ammonia test kit (cant find it will get one this afternoon.) Wondering if you thought this could be from ammonia dosing or if you notice i did something wrong. Only thing i can think of to cause this ich outbreak. All other fish in tank as of now appear fine no signs of ich. I was gonna turn off ammonia dosing for now to see if issue resolves its self. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t see an issue.

Are you confident the doser added the amount you wanted?

 

[grizzwald39]

its a Neptune dos so i verified it added 13 ml. and the log and graphs shows it did. I did a calibration on it before i started this program as well. Okay thank you for confirming my math. Does the sudden drop in nitrates make sense to you with the switch to ammonia?

I don’t see an issue.

Are you confident the doser added the amount you wanted?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

By stopping the nitrate and adding some ammonia, you may have reduced total N added.

 

[Formulator]

I imagine with ammonia dosing, decrease in total nitrates would be expected and a beneficial side effect. Since ammonia is more readily metabolized by our corals, theoretically couldn’t we reduce nitrate to near zero with daily dosing of ammonia? If we dialed in consumption rate for our tank and matched that with our ammonia input, wouldn’t that be the ideal nutrient state and more representative of the natural reef?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I imagine with ammonia dosing, decrease in total nitrates would be expected and a beneficial side effect. Since ammonia is more readily metabolized by our corals, theoretically couldn’t we reduce nitrate to near zero with daily dosing of ammonia? If we dialed in consumption rate for our tank and matched that with our ammonia input, wouldn’t that be the ideal nutrient state and more representative of the natural reef?

That would presume that corals will outcompete nitrifiers for the added ammonia. If they cannot, then one may not be able to drive nitrate ever lower.

 

[Necrodaemus]

This is my current daily dosage of Ammonium bicarbonate in my 100g system. I started around 2 months ago and NO3 stayed around 3-5ppm. Now, for the past couple weeks, I've noticed more nuisance algae growth and NO3 is consistently testing at 0 with a Salifert test. Anything I could/should change in my dosage? I'm assuming this is normal as the algae is also feeding on it? Corals look great otherwise.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The nitrate may have drop because you are getting more algae, which might be for many reasons that may include the ammonia.

We’re you previously dosing nitrate?

 

[Necrodaemus]

The nitrate may have drop because you are getting more algae, which might be for many reasons that may include the ammonia.

We’re you previously dosing nitrate?

No, I haven't dosed NO3 in any form.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No, I haven't dosed NO3 in any form.

Folks sometimes see more growth that also reduces nitrate, and in any case, the algae will be taking up N.

Do you have a picture of the tank to get an idea of the extent of the algae issues?

 

[Shirak]

Just got a reefdose so I set that up. This should be much more accurate than the kamoer wifi pump I was using. Added a couple more chunks of rock to my 'sump' too. Currently dosing 3ml during the daylight period. .5ml x 6 two hours apart.

1.5ml had been dosed today so far.
Just ran Hanna marine Ammonia test and it came back at .06ppm I am going to monitor NO3. It was reading 14ppm on the Hanna. Have to do some water changes tomorrow so will see where I am after that and probably need to dose some nitrate to get back to 15ppm

Does it sound like I should be dosing more if I get a .06ppm reading? Or are we just adjusting to the point where nitrates remain stable? I still feed heavily almost every day a variety of powdered foods for the Goni's.

Wondering if I should target a test kit reading like .1ppm or something..?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

how long after dosing did you test ammonia?

 

[Shirak]

how long after dosing did you test ammonia?

Hi Randy. It's set to dose .5ml every 2 hours starting at 8am Next is 10am, noon etc

Looks like I took a water sample just before the noon dose so it dosed .5ml at 8 and again at 10, so sample would be about 90 minutes after the 2nd dose. Water volume is about 45 gal. I am using your stock solution for Am Bicarb.

Should I do a water sample prior to the first dose in the morning? Last dose of the day should be at 6pm. I could space the dosing evenly over 24hours but figured the corals would make better use of it during the light period.

 

[rishma]

Sounds like a good plan. Any idea where nitrate stands now?

I just checked. 8 ppm. So not high.

I just measured again and nitrate is down to 4 ppm in 1 week time with no ammonia dosing.

It appears my ammonia addition might have been providing some excess nitrogen but very little.

Incidentally I see no difference in the corals over the last week which is no surprise.

 

[BrokenReefer]

Would you worry about ammonia toxicity adding another fish?

Just ramp up slowly, just like adding fish slowly.

This thread always gives me PTSD.

Go slowly as stated by RHF above and most definitely follow the recipe to the letter. Don’t ask me how I know :(

 

[thedon986]

I have definitely noticed I need to dose more and more ammonia to keep N from going to zero. I may actually mix in some N so it stays up. I am having trouble keeping it above 3ppm dosing 14ml of ammonia in 90 gallons per day