Have low nutrients? Here’s how you can dose them

[Miami Reef]

This will be a simple glossary for the dosing options we have to raise nutrients


Dosing N (nitrate, ammonia, urea, etc)
If you need something available immediately, you can purchase Brightwell NeoNitro. It is more expensive and diluted, but it raises nitrate and many LFS carry it.

Sodium Nitrate: Fast, predicable, and immediately raises nitrate.

Link for sodium nitrate: https://a.co/d/bTCuBJ5

DIY Nitrate Dosing Recipe

Here’s a quick guide of the DIY nitrate recipes we commonly use for reef tanks. Sodium nitrate and calcium nitrate are the most common materials used. It’s crucial to ensure that these compounds are food-grade or have a purity rating. Sourcing pure chemicals is more economical than purchasing...

www.reef2reef.com

Ammonia Dosing: Corals prefer it over nitrate. Ammonium bicarbonate is the best option for increasing N availability IMO:

Link for ammonium bicarbonate: https://a.co/d/iGkXzYK

DIY Ammonia Dosing Chart

Introduction: Many reef tanks have an incredible nitrate demand, and despite the additional fish and coral food, still struggle to make an impact on the nitrate level. This can subject corals, anemones, coralline, macro/microalgae, and clams to nutrient starvation. Any photosynthetic organism...

www.reef2reef.com

Urea + Ammonium: Some prefer adding urea to the ammonium mix

Link for urea: https://a.co/d/f2ukI2F

DIY Urea + Ammonia Mix Dosing Chart

It appears many users are noticing benefits by dosing Urea + Ammonia to their reef tanks. Both increase useable nitrogen and nitrate in reef tanks for corals to consume. I believe this is the original article that informed users of the potential benefits of urea dosing. This chart emulates the...

www.reef2reef.com

Dosing P (phosphate)
If you need something available immediately, you can purchase Brightwell NeoPhos. It is more expensive and diluted, but it raises phosphate and many LFS carry it. Reefroids can also raise phosphate quickly.

Link for sodium phosphate dibasic: https://a.co/d/5NRwaXK

DIY Phosphate Dosing Recipe

Sometimes phosphate can be so stubbornly low that the only way to meaningfully raise it is by directly dosing phosphate. When you feed foods, you’re adding nitrogen, carbon, and loads of organics. This effect is compounded if you’re trying to offset rocks that initially work against you by...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[mcarroll]

Would you mind translating this into locally available products too?

 

[Miami Reef]

Would you mind translating this into locally available products too?

What do you mean by this?

 

[mcarroll]

What do you mean by this?

...just stuff I could find (eg) at the LFS if I wanna shop locally.

 

[Miami Reef]

...just stuff I could find (eg) at the LFS if I wanna shop locally.

Oh, I already did. That’s why I was a bit confused.

Dosing N (nitrate, ammonia, urea, etc)
If you need something available immediately, you can purchase Brightwell NeoNitro. It is more expensive and diluted, but it raises nitrate and many LFS carry it.

Dosing P (phosphate)
If you need something available immediately, you can purchase Brightwell NeoPhos. It is more expensive and diluted, but it raises phosphate and many LFS carry it. Reefroids can also raise phosphate quickly.

 

[Sickness69]

This is great information broken down very well like one of my chemistry professors from decades ago! Thank you!

 

[jonelder68]

The GOAT at this hobby! Thank you for what you do!

 

[mcarroll]

Sweet!

My eyes must've been crossed when I looked at it before, just saw the chemical names and amazon links.

 

[Miami Reef]

Bump in case anyone’s missed it.

 

[mcarroll]

BTW, Seachem's Flourish products seemed like the go-to before Brightwell came out with their stuff.

Flourish might still be more available locally than a lot of things, and also might be more concentrated.....the Brightwell stuff is actually marketed for REDUCING nutrient levels believe it or not, so the low concentration actually sorta makes sense.

 

[Spencer]

@Miami Reef I have low nutrients and cyano, which seemed to slowly develop (over months) after "successfully" dosing FluxRX for hair algae. Probably related, maybe not. This tank has historically always had low nutrients. Four-day blackout did not help with cyano.

For the past week, I've dosed approximately 120 mg of ammonium bicarb per day (6mL of stock, 20g NH4HCO3 in 1 liter of water) or about 0.55 ppm of NO3 daily for my 170 liter tank.

Today, my (new) Hanna Checker tested nitrates at 0.0 ppm. The cyano has not improved.

If the cyano is simply consuming ammonium before anything else can convert it, should I switch to dosing NaNO3?

My phosphates should be a little higher (currently ~0.02) but as long as they're detectable, I figured I'd focus on my nitrates.

I'm preparing to dose Chemi-Clean and MB7 to try and recover my bacterial balance (e.g. in conjunction with stopping my ammonium bicarb dosing).

What do you think? Increase ammonium dose or stop it and try the bacteria approach (and resume ammonia afterwards, in a few weeks)?

 

[jonelder68]

@Miami Reef I have low nutrients and cyano, which seemed to slowly develop (over months) after "successfully" dosing FluxRX for hair algae. Probably related, maybe not. This tank has historically always had low nutrients. Four-day blackout did not help with cyano.

For the past week, I've dosed approximately 120 mg of ammonium bicarb per day (6mL of stock, 20g NH4HCO3 in 1 liter of water) or about 0.55 ppm of NO3 daily for my 170 liter tank.

Today, my (new) Hanna Checker tested nitrates at 0.0 ppm. The cyano has not improved.

If the cyano is simply consuming ammonium before anything else can convert it, should I switch to dosing NaNO3?

My phosphates should be a little higher (currently ~0.02) but as long as they're detectable, I figured I'd focus on my nitrates.

I'm preparing to dose Chemi-Clean and MB7 to try and recover my bacterial balance (e.g. in conjunction with stopping my ammonium bicarb dosing).

What do you think? Increase ammonium dose or stop it and try the bacteria approach (and resume ammonia afterwards, in a few weeks)?

@Miami Reef unfortunately has passed away . For cyano my go to is DIY coral snow with a bacteria added. See link…

https://reefsite.com/extreme-water-clarity-made-easy/

I would manually remove what I could then dose coral snow after lights off. Another option to try is dosing peroxide @ 1ml for every 10 gallons after lights off.

If you’re not detecting nitrates then I would up the dosing until it’s detectable. For quick results I would dose diy sodium nitrate to 5ppm or so. Then try and maintain with ammonia dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Miami Reef I have low nutrients and cyano, which seemed to slowly develop (over months) after "successfully" dosing FluxRX for hair algae. Probably related, maybe not. This tank has historically always had low nutrients. Four-day blackout did not help with cyano.

For the past week, I've dosed approximately 120 mg of ammonium bicarb per day (6mL of stock, 20g NH4HCO3 in 1 liter of water) or about 0.55 ppm of NO3 daily for my 170 liter tank.

Today, my (new) Hanna Checker tested nitrates at 0.0 ppm. The cyano has not improved.

If the cyano is simply consuming ammonium before anything else can convert it, should I switch to dosing NaNO3?

My phosphates should be a little higher (currently ~0.02) but as long as they're detectable, I figured I'd focus on my nitrates.

I'm preparing to dose Chemi-Clean and MB7 to try and recover my bacterial balance (e.g. in conjunction with stopping my ammonium bicarb dosing).

What do you think? Increase ammonium dose or stop it and try the bacteria approach (and resume ammonia afterwards, in a few weeks)?

These questions duplicate your other posts, but I’d either add more ammonia or dose nitrate. Doesn’t mean that is a cyano answer, however.

 

[Spencer]

@Miami Reef unfortunately has passed away . For cyano my go to is DIY coral snow with a bacteria added. See link…

https://reefsite.com/extreme-water-clarity-made-easy/

I would manually remove what I could then dose coral snow after lights off. Another option to try is dosing peroxide @ 1ml for every 10 gallons after lights off.

If you’re not detecting nitrates then I would up the dosing until it’s detectable. For quick results I would dose diy sodium nitrate to 5ppm or so. Then try and maintain with ammonia dosing.

Jeeze, I'm sorry to hear that.

I'll try using the flocculant + MB7 approach tomorrow and baste the cyano beforehand. I'll continue slowly increasing the ammonia dosage as well.

These questions duplicate your other posts, but I’d either add more ammonia or dose nitrate. Doesn’t mean that is a cyano answer, however.

Yes, I wanted to get your perspective and then Miami's since I saw he had relevant content as well.

Thank you guys, I'll let you know how it goes and try to take a good before/after.