DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

And ammonium chloride would be ok?

Sorry to bother, just want to be sure before using

The bicarbonate is likely fine, especially if you put the ammonia bicarbonate into the vinegar, release the bubbles of CO2, and then add that to the calcium chloride. Essentially that makes ammonium acetate.

The ammonium chloride does not have any possible precipitation issue.

 

[TastyScrants]

Still dosing after several months. My dose is now up to 17mL a day of a 0.1ppm solution which is providing about 0.5ppm of ammonia to my tank.

I have PE all day now and I think my colours are better. Here’s an unedited photo of my pearl berry using iPhone 15 plus, Orphek orange lens filter and XR15 pro at 70% on an AB+ profile in evenings (they get more white during day)

I am however thinking of stepping back from acropora and just keeping the basic SPS (slimer, stylo, monti etc) and moving more towards soft corals for ease of care/maintennace. So I don’t know if I’ll continue with ammonium bicarbonate in the future. I think I’d always use it in achieving that extra 5% out of my acropora.

 

[RoanokeReef]

So maybe a dumb question, do I keep upping the dose until I get to a Nitrate I want (5 in this case)? And can I increase this daily? I've only been dosing a week and noticed better polyp extension.

As a side note I'm also dosing a small amount of Bacto balance to control my phosphates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So maybe a dumb question, do I keep upping the dose until I get to a Nitrate I want (5 in this case)? And can I increase this daily? I've only been dosing a week and noticed better polyp extension.

As a side note I'm also dosing a small amount of Bacto balance to control my phosphates.

You can dose up to a nitrate level, or you can dose based on coral appearance. Both can work.

 

[PR_nano]

Mixed my first batch (ammonium bicarbonate) and about to dose a bit over the recommended. Will be doing 5ml vs the 4.6ml for 50 gallons that make up .1ppm

Since January Nitrates have been under 5 have been dosing NeoNitro but almost running out.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Mixed my first batch (ammonium bicarbonate) and about to dose a bit over the recommended. Will be doing 5ml vs the 4.6ml for 50 gallons that make up .1ppm

Since January Nitrates have been under 5 have been dosing NeoNitro but almost running out.

Sounds fine. Let us know if anything observable happens in the tank. :)

 

[PR_nano]

Day 1 ended dosing 10ml of the ammonium bicarbonate.

Day 0 Nitrates at 1.6
Day 1 Nitrates at 3.2
Day 2 Nitrates at 3.6
Day 3 Nitrates at 5
Day 4 Not measured
Day 5 Nitrates 5.9

 

[Joe Rice]

Just tested my phosphate and it's dropped from 0.67 to 0.42 over the past 10 days so perhaps that's a better indicator that the ammonium dosing is increasing nutrient uptake

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Phosphate back up to 0.73 so scratch that theory

 

[BriDroid]

I have also started to notice that my LPS, especially my little trachy, is starting to darken and lose a lot of the colors it had when I bought it a while back. They’re all super healthy and plump, but the colors are blah. I was battling hydroids, so I stopped all coral feedings and dosed coral snow to starve them out. That along with the tuxedo urchin has wiped them out completely. Because they’re now gone, I’m going to change my N and P dosing to Tropic Marin Amino-Organic for the N and Phos-Feed for the P.

I’m going to run this for a few months and see if the colors come back, but more importantly, are the corals as happy and fat as they were on ammonium bicarbonate and trisodium phosphate.

I do LOVE the tinkering of this hobby!

It's only been just shy of one month, but I'm happy to say that I am very pleased with the Amino-Organic/Phos-Feed combo. The colors are starting to come back in my LPS, mainly my trachy and my two plates. My orange plate was turning brown. It's back to orange again. Everything is puffy and colored up. The easier SPS that I have in there are growing like weeds too. No dinos or cyano to speak of. In fact, I got rid of my tiger conch and my small tuxedo urchin since they were running out of things to eat. Algae growth on the glass has slowed way down too from the ammonium dosing. Overall, my little tank is happy!

 

[zheka757]

how often you dose ammonia? after first dose, when you dose again? daily? weekly?, test ammonia wait till its back to zero?

 

[Ocypode sinensis]

how often you dose ammonia? after first dose, when you dose again? daily? weekly?, test ammonia wait till its back to zero?

I dose whenever I remembered to lol, 1~3 times a day, about 0.1ppm each time.

 

[zheka757]

Is it just me? Or is handling amonia does something to skin. This is my second day handling amonia and I'm itching like crazy through the body

 

[Ocypode sinensis]

Is it just me? Or is handling amonia does something to skin. This is my second day handling amonia and I'm itching like crazy through the body

Did you wear a glove? I don't think you are supposed to touch the ammonia? I had mine in a 1L HDPE bottle and I dose with a 1mL syringe that comes in salifert test kit. If your syringe isn't long enough to reach the ammonia in the bottle you can always put a airline tubing on it, doesn't affect measuring.

 

[bradreef]

Here you go

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, the dosing solution is not very concentrated. It is much lower than the concentration in ammonia window cleaners.

The above warning clearly is referring to all sorts of ammonia concentrations.

 

[emvanburen]

Looking forward to starting this on my 500gal system tomorrow on which I’m currently having to dose neonitro to keep measurable nitrates. Going to start adding ammonium bicarbonate and weaning off of neo nitro. Randy thanks for starting this thread and responding to all the questions. Once I get some performance data I will share it back.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Looking forward to starting this on my 500gal system tomorrow on which I’m currently having to dose neonitro to keep measurable nitrates. Going to start adding ammonium bicarbonate and weaning off of neo nitro. Randy thanks for starting this thread and responding to all the questions. Once I get some performance data I will share it back.

Sounds good!

 

[rishma]

About five weeks ago, I added ammonium bicarbonate to my monosodium phosphate dose. The goal was to boost nitrogen, which the corals liked, but not enough to darken the colors. Nitrate had been steady around 1-2ppm. I failed to purge the dosing line, so I’m not sure when the new cocktail started to get dosed to the tank.

About two weeks ago, the weekly phosphate test showed phosphates had dropped from the typical 0.08 to 0.02. I increased the phosphate-ammonia dose by 2X. Phosphate levels have stayed around 0.02. Not good.

I just got home (been gone for a month) and the LPS are not happy. My Trachyphyllia is always the most sensitive to nutrient levels. It is substantially less fluffy than normal. Nitrates have stayed 1 to 2 ppm.

I’ve got some work to do. While certainly not definitive, I’d say this experiment was not successful. I am going to focus on getting phosphate back around 0.1 ppm then play with ammonia doses again to see if I can improve coral appearance without tanking phospate levels.

 

[zheka757]

About five weeks ago, I added ammonium bicarbonate to my monosodium phosphate dose. The goal was to boost nitrogen, which the corals liked, but not enough to darken the colors. Nitrate had been steady around 1-2ppm. I failed to purge the dosing line, so I’m not sure when the new cocktail started to get dosed to the tank.

About two weeks ago, the weekly phosphate test showed phosphates had dropped from the typical 0.08 to 0.02. I increased the phosphate-ammonia dose by 2X. Phosphate levels have stayed around 0.02. Not good.

I just got home (been gone for a month) and the LPS are not happy. My Trachyphyllia is always the most sensitive to nutrient levels. It is substantially less fluffy than normal. Nitrates have stayed 1 to 2 ppm.

I’ve got some work to do. While certainly not definitive, I’d say this experiment was not successful. I am going to focus on getting phosphate back around 0.1 ppm then play with ammonia doses again to see if I can improve coral appearance without tanking phospate levels.

you reminded me to test my phosphate. i just start dosing to! but im not to worried singe my phosphate generally stays high in .2 range

 

[rishma]

you reminded me to test my phosphate. i just start dosing to! but im not to worried singe my phosphate generally stays high in .2 range

I’ve dosed ammonium bicarbonate before and definitely saw an impact on phospate. i also carbon dose, though I don’t know if that matters.