New to dosing nitrate and phosphate. Advice welcome!

[Scythanith]

Ok, I did some testing yesterday and here is what I got so far!

Hanna phosphates ULR monitor 0.00ppm
Red Sea phosphate 0.04ppm

Red Sea nitrates 0.25-0.5ppm
Salifert nitrates 0.5ppm

So the Hanna and RS don't really line up on phosphates but my reagent is getting close to expiring for the hanna monitor.

I upped the concentration on the nitrates so I can dose a little less and get a bigger bang per dose. Also did a couple manual larger doses to start raising the n & p closer to the target ppm. Is everyone good with 5ppm N and 0.05ppm P as a starting target?

And as for the actual corals, they are looking great! LPS seem a little happier and colours are starting to recover. SPS look pretty good as well.

Once again thanks for your help!

 

[Scythanith]

Just to keep anyone reading this up to date:

Currently dosing 27ml KNO3- mix (300g granulated KNO3-/3500ml H2O) 4x week. Started 3 weeks ago and now have ~10-12ppm NO3. 5ml KH2PO4- mix (50g powdered KH2PO4-)/3500ml H2O) 3x week. Now have 0.04ppm NO3.

Corals are looking brighter and have deeper colouration. Some green algae in the sand but I am not worrying about that until I'm sure I have the dosing right. I assume it will change somewhat while the corals adjust to the presence of the N & P.

Actually, reading this over I am going to drop my KNO3- dosing down to 15ml 4x week. I only want about 5ppm NO3.

 

[zachxlutz]

How is your dosing regimen going? I just recently started dosing phosphates in addition to nitrates. Curious to hear your experience.

 

[sromero287]

@Scythanith excellent research and thanks in advance I will start dosing accordingly my h20 volume, already ordered same products, will see, definitely my SPS needs some NO3 and PO4. [emoji106][emoji225][emoji886]

 

[Scythanith]

How is your dosing regimen going? I just recently started dosing phosphates in addition to nitrates. Curious to hear your experience.

Things are going well! The NO3 & PO4 dosing are pretty much on auto-pilot right now. I am still in the lower range for nitrates but don't want to be too hasty to dial it up. Slow and steady wins the race! But colours have definitely becomes deeper and polyp extension at night has increased.

 

[Scythanith]

@Scythanith excellent research and thanks in advance I will start dosing accordingly my h20 volume, already ordered same products, will see, definitely my SPS needs some NO3 and PO4. [emoji106][emoji225][emoji886]

Thanks, glad it could help you!

 

[zachxlutz]

Things are going well! The NO3 & PO4 dosing are pretty much on auto-pilot right now. I am still in the lower range for nitrates but don't want to be too hasty to dial it up. Slow and steady wins the race! But colours have definitely becomes deeper and polyp extension at night has increased.

Thanks for the response. I just started dosing phosphates as a possible solution to a dinoflagellate problem and I'm fairly certain I'm already seeing some response in the coral, as a byproduct. I'm only target .1 or so and letting it drop to .05 before dosing it back up again. I think the livestock is appreciating the phosphates. Let's just hope it cures the dinos.

 

[Scythanith]

Thanks for the response. I just started dosing phosphates as a possible solution to a dinoflagellate problem and I'm fairly certain I'm already seeing some response in the coral, as a byproduct. I'm only target .1 or so and letting it drop to .05 before dosing it back up again. I think the livestock is appreciating the phosphates. Let's just hope it cures the dinos.

What are your nitrates at? Just keep in mind you need those as well for the corals to be able to properly utilize the phosphates

 

[zachxlutz]

Yep, I'm dosing both nitrate and phosphate to the system... 9 fish just isn't enough to create a substantial bioload in a system totaling 140-150 gallons. My target numbers are NO3 5 ppm and PO4 between .05 and .1 ppm. Quite the experiment I have going on over here. haha

 

[rog2961]

I started doing the same. It's funny with all the tech out today, really all thats needed is just phophate and nitrates. After messing around with it for a couple weeks, I can bring down 20ppm to <1ppm in 2-3 days by just adding nitrates. Same goes for the reverse, if phophates are too high, I can just add more nitrates and watch them drop. Need to be careful because its easy to bottom them out. What I have also noticed is at different ratios, different types of things grow. 0 po4 = dinos. High nitrates and barely detectable phophates = chrysophytes. GFO, carbon dosing, reactors, none of that is really needed. All you need is nitrates and phosphates to control each other.

 

[zachxlutz]

I started doing the same. It's funny with all the tech out today, really all thats needed is just phophate and nitrates. After messing around with it for a couple weeks, I can bring down 20ppm to <1ppm in 2-3 days by just adding nitrates. Same goes for the reverse, if phophates are too high, I can just add more nitrates and watch them drop. Need to be careful because its easy to bottom them out. What I have also noticed is at different ratios, different types of things grow. 0 po4 = dinos. High nitrates and barely detectable phophates = chrysophytes. GFO, carbon dosing, reactors, none of that is really needed. All you need is nitrates and phosphates to control each other.

I've begun to notice the same thing. Finding the balance is tricky.

 

[drtrash]

I just started the balancing act, how foes P consumption effect N levels? My n is close to 5 but p is jumping around from 0 to .06 according to ms hanna

 

[Scythanith]

That's more likely your organisms in the tank adjusting to the presence of NO3, especially if the NO3 stays balanced. I still run carbon every once and a while, keeps the water clear

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just started the balancing act, how foes P consumption effect N levels? My n is close to 5 but p is jumping around from 0 to .06 according to ms hanna

For organisms to grow they need enough N and P. If one is in too short of supply, they stop growing and hence stop consuming the other.

 

[sundog101]

If the calculator linked above doesn't answer your dosing questions, just let us know.

Also, don't take it from that calculator that potassium salts are best. For a reef tank, I'd use sodium salts if they are available to you, but potassium can be OK.

Bringing back this thread for a moment. Randy, would the math be the same for the sodium phosphate and potassium phosphate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bringing back this thread for a moment. Randy, would the math be the same for the sodium phosphate and potassium phosphate?

It's a little different (sodium phosphate has a higher percentage of phosphate in it by weight than potassium phosphate), but most importantly, there are several forms: trisodium phosphate, sodium hydrogen phosphate, and sodium dihydrogen phosphate, all with different percentages of phosphate in them.

 

[sundog101]

It's a little different (sodium phosphate has a higher percentage of phosphate in it by weight than potassium phosphate), but most importantly, there are several forms: trisodium phosphate, sodium hydrogen phosphate, and sodium dihydrogen phosphate, all with different percentages of phosphate in them.

Alright thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Alright thanks!

You're welcome.

If you have an exact one in mind, we can specify the dosing.

Happy Reefing.

 

[Scythanith]

I have drastically increase my addition of KNO3-. I can't seem to get it up into the 2-5ppm range. My corals are consuming it quickly, but so are some of the nuisance algae. Nothing in the main tank, just some annoying growth in the frag tank.

 

[sundog101]

Well, I've decided to use Brightwell's NeoPhos. The dosage recommended seems really high to me and I just wanted to make sure it sounds right.
"Multiply tank capacity in gallons x ppm increase desired x 18.9 = ml of product to add. Example to raise the concentration of phosphate in a 25 gallon aquarium by 0.01ppm is 25 x 0.1 x 18.9 = 4.7 ml."
So in my case, 110 x 0.1 x 18.9 = 20.8mL. I might start with half that; 20mL of phosphate just makes me a little nervous haha!