Dosing ammonia???

[TuxUrchin07]

I have seen some threads where people dose ammonia??? To my knoledge it’s just supposed to be 0… why would u dose ammonia? Anyone mind telling me?

 

[Spieg]

I've read that some corals process ammonia easier than they do nitrate/phosphate. There may be some benefit to dosing ammonia in tis case.

 

[TuxUrchin07]

I've read that some corals process ammonia easier than they do nitrate/phosphate. There may be some benefit to dosing ammonia in tis case.

Huh never heard of it before

 

[MaxTremors]

They dose ammonia to start the nitrogen cycle when starting a new tank instead of adding fish or adding fish food and waiting for it to decompose into ammonia (and then be processed into nitrite and then nitrate).

 

[MaxTremors]

Huh never heard of it before

This is not a thing. Ammonia is toxic to corals, fish, and invertebrates.

 

[blasterman]

They typically dose ammonia to do a fishless cycle.

Ammonia is toxic only to animals that breathe oxygen.

Corals, which incorporate xooanthalae algae as a symbiotic dont breath oxygen, and algae is known to use ammonia as fuel.

Ammonia is not toxic to coral.

 

[TuxUrchin07]

Uhh...?

 

[Azedenkae]

I have seen some threads where people dose ammonia??? To my knoledge it’s just supposed to be 0… why would u dose ammonia? Anyone mind telling me?

What context? Like dosing ammonia when the tank is already established, or for cycling purposes?

 

[TuxUrchin07]

What context? Like dosing ammonia when the tank is already established, or for cycling purposes?

I saw them for both

 

[Azedenkae]

I saw them for both

Ah. Well for cycling it's to introduce an energy source for nitrifiers to grow and propagate during the cycle. Otherwise it's some idea that certain organisms we want to prosper may utilize ammonia better than nitrate or other nitrogen sources.

 

[old salt reefer]

I dose ammonia to feed my corals(SPS). Been doing it for months with no ill effects. Aquarium has a nice bioload(fish) but cronic low nitrate(0 PPM) even though fish are well fed and no algae in tank. Figured when I read about dosing ammonia what's the worse that could happen-- dead coral-- which is what was happening due to no nitrates--again even with a good bioload of well feed fish. I was dosing quite a bit of nitrate a week( to maintain at least 2.5 PPM of nitrate) but if I didn't dose nitrate it would zero out. Decide to try dosing ammonia, bought some Dr.Tim's and I think to cycle a tank it calls for 4 drops per gallon. I dose 1 drop per 10 gallons everyday. I'm no longer dosing nitrates and my tank nitrate stays stead at 2.5 PPM.

 

[TuxUrchin07]

I dose ammonia to feed my corals(SPS). Been doing it for months with no ill effects. Aquarium has a nice bioload(fish) but cronic low nitrate(0 PPM) even though fish are well fed and no algae in tank. Figured when I read about dosing ammonia what's the worse that could happen-- dead coral-- which is what was happening due to no nitrates--again even with a good bioload of well feed fish. I was dosing quite a bit of nitrate a week( to maintain at least 2.5 PPM of nitrate) but if I didn't dose nitrate it would zero out. Decide to try dosing ammonia, bought some Dr.Tim's and I think to cycle a tank it calls for 4 drops per gallon. I dose 1 drop per 10 gallons everyday. I'm no longer dosing nitrates and my tank nitrate stays stead at 2.5 PPM.

I overfeed and it is steady at 10

 

[old salt reefer]

I overfeed and it is steady at 10

This is the first tank I've ever had that I had to dose nitrates. Don't know why as I have other tanks with same set up that have been fine with nitrates( they run steady at 5 PPM ).

 

[TuxUrchin07]

This is the first tank I've ever had that I had to dose nitrates. Don't know why as I have other tanks with same set up that have been fine with nitrates( they run steady at 5 PPM ).

I don’t know but I have a refugium and that helps a lot

 

[brandon429]

Here’s the ammonia dosing thread next post.

these are full running stocked reefs

read this, and let me know how it affects your concept of what reef tanks can do :)


blasterman was first to tell me about this long ago.


there is a toxicity level that would kill corals and fish, its just way more than we’d guess.
this is exact proof that no reef tank can stall in ammonia control, they always always always trend back to the thousandths ppm nh3

from this one thread we see these rules:

- reefs do not ramp up and add more bac to move more ammonia, existing bac instantly quadruple efforts


- no stalling occurs


- no reef stalls back in the hundredths ppm they always move back to the universal conversion rate all our tanks run at which is thousandths ppm nh3 form ammonia

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...-how-would-one-try.770535/page-7#post-8530027
notice how on seneye a whole new world is opened up


nobody can see what ammonia does and how quickly it is handled without that critical testing device


*** this thread above is precisely why when someone posts they have a free ammonia issue, they don’t. They have an Api or Red Sea issue but not a real ammonia issue.

 

[Timfish]

Far better to feed fish more and/or add more fish. Not only does fish poop have the urea corals prefere over ammonia/ammonium, to be clear corals do love ammonia/ammonium far better than nitrates, but fish poop also has phosphorus which needs to be in balance with nitrogen as well as calcium and magnesium carbonates. Just for refference amino acids and urea are two forms of organic nitrogen while ammonia/ammonium, nitrite and nitrate are three inorganic forms. Phosphorus also organic and inorganic forms and coral will use the organic forms also. For those interested here's some links (these first three I've been posting on forums for a decade now):

Ammonium Uptake by Symbiotic and Aposymbiotic Reef Corals
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/umrsmas/bullmar/1979/00000029/00000004/art00011
Amino acids a source of nitrogen for corals
https://journals.biologists.com/jeb...2/Uptake-of-dissolved-free-amino-acids-by-the
Urea a source of nitrogen for corals
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022098105005538
Diazotrpophs a source of nitrogen for corals
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27335448/
Context Dependant Effects of Nutrient Loading on the Coral-Algal Mutualism
https://www.researchgate.net/public...nutrient_loading_on_the_coral-algal_mutualism
https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...reef-corals/AFB1CF4CB68823BD13AD254623FD3C7C#An Experimental Mesocosm for Longterm Studies of Reef Corals

Phosphate Deficiency:
Nutrient enrichment can increase the susceptibility of reef corals to bleaching:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1661
Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Symbiotic Algae Reflect the Availability of Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients and Particulate Food to the Reef Coral Holobiont:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2015.00103/full
Phosphate deficiency promotes coral bleaching and is reflected by the ultrastructure of symbiotic dinoflagellates
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17301601?via=ihub
Effects of phosphate on growth and skeletal density in the scleractinian coral Acropora muricata: A controlled experimental approach
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098111004588
High phosphate uptake requirements of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/214/16/2749.full
Phosphorus metabolism of reef organisms with algal symbionts
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.w...98e60zfBEvx5IcIVGhmlpUYmzIJuqUNVm0sG8_0vth6lq
Fish as major carbonate mud producers and missing component of the tropical carbonate factory
https://www.pnas.org/content/108/10/3865

 

[old salt reefer]

I don’t know but I have a refugium and that helps a lot

At reducing nitrates. My problem in that tank is I had no nitrates.

 

[TuxUrchin07]

At reducing nitrates. My problem in that tank is I had no nitrates.

Well adding more fish helps. Like a tang or something that poops a lot

 

[TheSheff]

I dose ammonia to feed my corals(SPS). Been doing it for months with no ill effects. Aquarium has a nice bioload(fish) but cronic low nitrate(0 PPM) even though fish are well fed and no algae in tank. Figured when I read about dosing ammonia what's the worse that could happen-- dead coral-- which is what was happening due to no nitrates--again even with a good bioload of well feed fish. I was dosing quite a bit of nitrate a week( to maintain at least 2.5 PPM of nitrate) but if I didn't dose nitrate it would zero out. Decide to try dosing ammonia, bought some Dr.Tim's and I think to cycle a tank it calls for 4 drops per gallon. I dose 1 drop per 10 gallons everyday. I'm no longer dosing nitrates and my tank nitrate stays stead at 2.5 PPM.

This is late, but do you still dose ammonia, or did you notice any positive affects from dosing it? Do you recommend it?