Dosing potassium nitrate (Spectracide Stump Remover)...Tips??

[willthethrill]

A while ago I posted about the fact that I was unaware my tank NEEDED nitrates and some phosphate for coral to grow. I've always thought I should have zero. It was recommended to me to feed more and add more fish. So...I added a tang, fed more, turned off my skimmer every night so it's only on half the time, and I turned off my gfo reactor.

Nitrates are still 0, phosphates are still 0 except I think that's wrong because now I have a bunch of cyano starting to grow on my rocks. However my nitrates are definitely 0 because I verified with another test kit. All this extra food is just giving me ugly cyano outbreaks. I'm just gona start feeding normally again and keep my skimmer and gfo on, except now I'm gona manually add nitrate with this potassium nitrate I keep hearing about.

So who's used it and how should I go about dosing it? Thanks! I think the 0 nitrates have been the reason I'm not seeing growth in my coral.

 

[LostInTheDark]

Whenever you make a change to the tank it takes a while to balance out again. I started dosing Potassium nitrate for the same reasons as you. I went from 0 to barely 1 using Salifert test kits but I see a remarkable difference in SPS colors and growth. The tank went through a Cyano stage and a small algae stage and then balanced back to equilibrium after a few months. I no longer run GFO as adding nitrates has actually reduced my po4 to .04. This took a couple of months to happen and may explain the algae breakout. Every tank is going to react differently so no one is going to be able to give you the perfect solution. I can only offer the advise to go very slow and let the tank tell you when its settled.

 

[willthethrill]

Whenever you make a change to the tank it takes a while to balance out again. I started dosing Potassium nitrate for the same reasons as you. I went from 0 to barely 1 using Salifert test kits but I see a remarkable difference in SPS colors and growth. The tank went through a Cyano stage and a small algae stage and then balanced back to equilibrium after a few months. I no longer run GFO as adding nitrates has actually reduced my po4 to .04. This took a couple of months to happen and may explain the algae breakout. Every tank is going to react differently so no one is going to be able to give you the perfect solution. I can only offer the advise to go very slow and let the tank tell you when its settled.

How did you dose it? What quantities.

 

[helldiver]

What is the recommend nitrates to keep p04 low.
I am thinking about dosing af np pro bacteria

 

[LostInTheDark]

I have about a 250 gallon system with a fuge and a lot of live rock. Its an established tank running for several years. I guess as the tank matured it became more efficient at eating nitrates. I made a solution using 2 teaspoons of Potassium Nitrate to one liter of water. I dose 10 ml a day using a dosing pump. It took a couple of weeks or so but my nitrates went from 0 and are now staying steady at 1. SPS look better and calcium and alk use climbed also showing things are growing better. Its a very simple setup with half the overflow going to mesh filter socks and the other half to a 30g fuge. I toss about a basketball size of cheato every month or so. The only other thing I run is a skimmer which picked up the pace when I started dosing.

 

[EW_Fish]

Leave the skimmer on 24/7 you want to introduce nutrients to the tank but also strip them out the water at a reasonable rate. People do all kinds of things to keep nutrients at bay. Dumping skimate back into the system and so on(i do not recommend this if you dont know what your doing) but as above stated your system has to become stable again. Nothing in this hobby is fast once you rush things it gets out of hand quick.

 

[helldiver]

I have about a 250 gallon system with a fuge and a lot of live rock. Its an established tank running for several years. I guess as the tank matured it became more efficient at eating nitrates. I made a solution using 2 teaspoons of Potassium Nitrate to one liter of water. I dose 10 ml a day using a dosing pump. It took a couple of weeks or so but my nitrates went from 0 and are now staying steady at 1. SPS look better and calcium and alk use climbed also showing things are growing better. Its a very simple setup with half the overflow going to mesh filter socks and the other half to a 30g fuge. I toss about a basketball size of cheato every month or so. The only other thing I run is a skimmer which picked up the pace when I started dosing.

Can you show me a pic of potassium nitrate and where to buy
What are your nitrates now

 

[rvlcf]

My tank has been up for about 8 months and has always had 0 nitrates. I noticed some of my my sps starting to brown out so I decided to dose potassium nitrate. I purchased Spectracide stump remover and dissolved 2 tablespoons in 2 cups of RODI water. I added 10ml first day and an hour later I tested and had a noticeable reading on my Salifert test kit for the 1st time. I dosed another 10 ml the next day and I got a nitrate reading of 2.
I haven't needed to add any more since, about 2-3 weeks, and I'm still showing a low, and desireable, reading when I test. My browned out sps are almost back to there original colors. I was starving my corals and didn't know it.

 

[rvlcf]

Can you show me a pic of potassium nitrate and where to buy
What are your nitrates now

Google "Spectracide Stump Remover", it is potassium nitrate.

 

[willthethrill]

My tank has been up for about 8 months and has always had 0 nitrates. I noticed some of my my sps starting to brown out so I decided to dose potassium nitrate. I purchased Spectracide stump remover and dissolved 2 tablespoons in 2 cups of RODI water. I added 10ml first day and an hour later I tested and had a noticeable reading on my Salifert test kit for the 1st time. I dosed another 10 ml the next day and I got a nitrate reading of 2.
I haven't needed to add any more since, about 2-3 weeks, and I'm still showing a low, and desireable, reading when I test. My browned out sps are almost back to there original colors. I was starving my corals and didn't know it.

Awesome. I found a thread somewhere, where a guy figured out the actual portions to raise one gallon of water by one ppm nitrate. I think I might've taken a screen shot of it.

 

[Cary Meredith]

I am actually going to try and start dosing this as well, losing too many SPS corals or close to losing and my nitrates and phosphates are reading zero. I am trying to us the following schedule to try and jump start it, do a double dose for 1 week, testing every other day. Then back off to a single dose. Plan on picking a dosing system, so might be looking for recommendations.

 

[willthethrill]

I am actually going to try and start dosing this as well, losing too many SPS corals or close to losing and my nitrates and phosphates are reading zero. I am trying to us the following schedule to try and jump start it, do a double dose for 1 week, testing every other day. Then back off to a single dose. Plan on picking a dosing system, so might be looking for recommendations.

I have been doing this since I created this post. Test with small amounts of the mixture you mix up. Everyone's concentrations might be different. I used two nitrate test kits everytime. I found that the red sea was better than the salifert for the low end readings.
With that said, aside for a black/brown layer on my sand bed the first 2-3 days, my coral have been doing wayyyy better. Even my euphylia that haven't been looking good for a while are looking longer and fuller. And I'm actually seeing polyp extension in my sps frags and I've noticed them growing out over the frag plug edges at the base. I've been trying to keep it from .50 to 1.5 ppm. It's been working out so far.
I'm gona have to dose more often because over the period of 3-4 days my tank brings the nitrate back to 0.