Potassium nitrate (Spectracide stump remover) dosing steps

[twilliard]

Ya I have found that I can not get it locally but Amazon has great prices on it!

 

[KWSanders]

I always thought NO3 was bad for the reef tank which was the reason for getting rid of the bioballs and replacing with anaerobic sand beds when I had a reef tank years ago . My have things changed

 

[Maximo]

I always thought NO3 was bad for the reef tank which was the reason for getting rid of the bioballs and replacing with anaerobic sand beds when I had a reef tank years ago . My have things changed

too much nitrate is bad. None at all is worse. Think of it like blood pressure too high is bad but none at all.... Well, I think you get the point.

 

[cadmanof50s]

I just wanted to add to this thread my own experience with Potassium Nitrate...
I have a fairly large reef tank that is 1.5 years old that is well filtered via a sump..i.e. filter socks, large skimmer, carbon reactor, etc, etc. For the first 14 months I could NOT keep SPS corals alive for more than a few weeks. Every one I purchased would immediately go through a short growth spurt, then become pale and would eventual die. I blamed my lack of knowledge on lighting...so I spent months fiddling with spectrum, intensity...but it did not help. Same pattern: sudden burst of growth, paling and then death for the SPS.

I checked and checked my water parameters and they were always the traditional values: pH 8.2, Alk: 8.0, Phos. 0, Nitrates 0.
Nitrates always 0. I then changed the brand of test kit. Still 0 nitrates. I got to the point of not bothering checking Nitrates any more. When I restarted checking...again Nitrates 0.

And THAT was my problem all along!! The corals were starving to death. They literally faded away after they consumed all their stored nutrients in the initial growth spurt.
I started feeding heavily to encourage some Nitrates....and it did nothing! Nitrates still 0.
Finally I started dosing Potassium Nitrate...and after a few days....for the first time EVER I saw a trace of No3 on my test kit. Within a week I was registering 5 ppm.

Then it happened. The coral (that were still hanging on to life), their colors suddenly exploded. I have never seen colors on my corals like this before. The polyps extended out like I have never seen before. And then I noticed that the new SPS frags that I purchased stopped dying. Their was no more growth spurt...just slow and steady growth.

I'm now actively dosing small amounts of KNO3 but I check the nitrate levels regularly and try to keep it between 5 and 8 ppm. Corals are MUCH happier and I haven't lost a single SPS since I started dosing it.

Thought I would share this experience.

V. Brincat

 

[Russ265]

I just wanted to add to this thread my own experience with Potassium Nitrate...
I have a fairly large reef tank that is 1.5 years old that is well filtered via a sump..i.e. filter socks, large skimmer, carbon reactor, etc, etc. For the first 14 months I could NOT keep SPS corals alive for more than a few weeks. Every one I purchased would immediately go through a short growth spurt, then become pale and would eventual die. I blamed my lack of knowledge on lighting...so I spent months fiddling with spectrum, intensity...but it did not help. Same pattern: sudden burst of growth, paling and then death for the SPS.

I checked and checked my water parameters and they were always the traditional values: pH 8.2, Alk: 8.0, Phos. 0, Nitrates 0.
Nitrates always 0. I then changed the brand of test kit. Still 0 nitrates. I got to the point of not bothering checking Nitrates any more. When I restarted checking...again Nitrates 0.

And THAT was my problem all along!! The corals were starving to death. They literally faded away after they consumed all their stored nutrients in the initial growth spurt.
I started feeding heavily to encourage some Nitrates....and it did nothing! Nitrates still 0.
Finally I started dosing Potassium Nitrate...and after a few days....for the first time EVER I saw a trace of No3 on my test kit. Within a week I was registering 5 ppm.

Then it happened. The coral (that were still hanging on to life), their colors suddenly exploded. I have never seen colors on my corals like this before. The polyps extended out like I have never seen before. And then I noticed that the new SPS frags that I purchased stopped dying. Their was no more growth spurt...just slow and steady growth.

I'm now actively dosing small amounts of KNO3 but I check the nitrate levels regularly and try to keep it between 5 and 8 ppm. Corals are MUCH happier and I haven't lost a single SPS since I started dosing it.

Thought I would share this experience.

V. Brinact

....i think this and others have stated similar results. so many aquarists dont believe it and state their nitrate is 0 and they have awesome growth. i highly doubt they have "true" 0.

i even got so frustrated stating the same thing over and over and over i did a writeup. posted pictures. posted of other's results.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-my-sps-are-paling-and-i-dont-know-what-to-do.210035/

.... still no sticky
/sigh

btw you have before and afters?

 

[cadmanof50s]

Russ265,

sorry no pictures. I just didn't think it was worth taking pictures of lifeless sticks....;-)

V. Brincat

 

[Russ265]

Russ265,

sorry no pictures. I just didn't think it was worth taking pictures of lifeless sticks....;-)

V. Brincat

welcome to r2r!

 

[kewadiak]

I just wanted to add to this thread my own experience with Potassium Nitrate...
I have a fairly large reef tank that is 1.5 years old that is well filtered via a sump..i.e. filter socks, large skimmer, carbon reactor, etc, etc. For the first 14 months I could NOT keep SPS corals alive for more than a few weeks. Every one I purchased would immediately go through a short growth spurt, then become pale and would eventual die. I blamed my lack of knowledge on lighting...so I spent months fiddling with spectrum, intensity...but it did not help. Same pattern: sudden burst of growth, paling and then death for the SPS.

I checked and checked my water parameters and they were always the traditional values: pH 8.2, Alk: 8.0, Phos. 0, Nitrates 0.
Nitrates always 0. I then changed the brand of test kit. Still 0 nitrates. I got to the point of not bothering checking Nitrates any more. When I restarted checking...again Nitrates 0.

And THAT was my problem all along!! The corals were starving to death. They literally faded away after they consumed all their stored nutrients in the initial growth spurt.
I started feeding heavily to encourage some Nitrates....and it did nothing! Nitrates still 0.
Finally I started dosing Potassium Nitrate...and after a few days....for the first time EVER I saw a trace of No3 on my test kit. Within a week I was registering 5 ppm.

Then it happened. The coral (that were still hanging on to life), their colors suddenly exploded. I have never seen colors on my corals like this before. The polyps extended out like I have never seen before. And then I noticed that the new SPS frags that I purchased stopped dying. Their was no more growth spurt...just slow and steady growth.

I'm now actively dosing small amounts of KNO3 but I check the nitrate levels regularly and try to keep it between 5 and 8 ppm. Corals are MUCH happier and I haven't lost a single SPS since I started dosing it.

Thought I would share this experience.

V. Brincat

What your describing sounds like my tank exactly. I can't wait to try this! Can I ask how you went about starting to dose and how many gallons your tank is. I'm not sure where to start I'm not good at numbers I have 320 gallons in my system any suggestions on where to start.

 

[Russ265]

What your describing sounds like my tank exactly. I can't wait to try this! Can I ask how you went about starting to dose and how many gallons your tank is. I'm not sure where to start I'm not good at numbers I have 320 gallons in my system any suggestions on where to start.

seems you have the same volume as me.

i went to the lfs (or petco) and bought seachem flourish NITROGEN.

since you have around 300 gallons, 60 ml will get you 3ppm no3.

hth

 

[kewadiak]

seems you have the same volume as me.

i went to the lfs (or petco) and bought seachem flourish NITROGEN.

since you have around 300 gallons, 60 ml will get you 3ppm no3.

hth

Thank you. Is this something that your guys found you have to dose very slow so you don't shock the system or just go right ahead and add say 2 ppm of nitrate?

 

[Russ265]

Thank you. Is this something that your guys found you have to dose very slow so you don't shock the system or just go right ahead and add say 2 ppm of nitrate?

doesnt need to be slow. just get it there to reverse paling. but do it however you want.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Can you use Hi-Yield brand stump remover interchangeably? It says it is 95 - 99% potassium nitrate

 

[Crackem]

Should I use the stump remover or flourish nitrogen? My tank is 120 gallons with a 40 breeder sump. How much do I dose? My tank has been running since June and is barebottom with manmade rocks. I started tank by using seachem stability and every time I tested I had 0 ammonia, nitrites,and 0 nitrates. I never saw a cycle! I tested nitrates using salifert and it's still 0. I do need to mention that my tank is now fallow because in my opinion my tank could not keep up with the bioload which caused an ich/ brooklynella outbreak killing all my fish. I will probably start my own thread to give the details of my tank but for now I need to get nitrates into my tank asap. My po4 is at 0.029 according to my triton test results. I thought triton would test for alkalinity and nitrates but I didn't see it on the results. Thank you for your input. I forgot to mention my alk is 9.5 , ca is 425, mag 1380

 

[srad750c]

I just wanted to add to this thread my own experience with Potassium Nitrate...
I have a fairly large reef tank that is 1.5 years old that is well filtered via a sump..i.e. filter socks, large skimmer, carbon reactor, etc, etc. For the first 14 months I could NOT keep SPS corals alive for more than a few weeks. Every one I purchased would immediately go through a short growth spurt, then become pale and would eventual die. I blamed my lack of knowledge on lighting...so I spent months fiddling with spectrum, intensity...but it did not help. Same pattern: sudden burst of growth, paling and then death for the SPS.

I checked and checked my water parameters and they were always the traditional values: pH 8.2, Alk: 8.0, Phos. 0, Nitrates 0.
Nitrates always 0. I then changed the brand of test kit. Still 0 nitrates. I got to the point of not bothering checking Nitrates any more. When I restarted checking...again Nitrates 0.

And THAT was my problem all along!! The corals were starving to death. They literally faded away after they consumed all their stored nutrients in the initial growth spurt.
I started feeding heavily to encourage some Nitrates....and it did nothing! Nitrates still 0.
Finally I started dosing Potassium Nitrate...and after a few days....for the first time EVER I saw a trace of No3 on my test kit. Within a week I was registering 5 ppm.

Then it happened. The coral (that were still hanging on to life), their colors suddenly exploded. I have never seen colors on my corals like this before. The polyps extended out like I have never seen before. And then I noticed that the new SPS frags that I purchased stopped dying. Their was no more growth spurt...just slow and steady growth.

I'm now actively dosing small amounts of KNO3 but I check the nitrate levels regularly and try to keep it between 5 and 8 ppm. Corals are MUCH happier and I haven't lost a single SPS since I started dosing it.

Thought I would share this experience.

V. Brincat

Just stumbled on this post, are you kidding me? Wow, I have been playing around with mixed reef tanks for many years and stayed away from SPS corals until this year. Got a couple of SPS, they didn't do much at first but they never died, keep NO3 and PO4 at 0 or like you said what I thought was 0. I did a series of 15 gal H2O changes and the 5 gals weekly to get those numbers. Nothing seemed to take off. Got ticked off and stopped changing 5 gals a week, told SPS live or die, sink or swim, they started growing. Dang! Old dogs can learn new tricks. Thank you guys. Now maybe my polyps will be happy again. Thank you guys for these post. I may supplement NO3 or just feed my fish a little more. Haven't checked NO3 and PO4 in about 3 weeks because my tank is very stablewith a low fish load. But I will check tomorrow.

Ph - 8.4
DKh - 10
Ca - 450 ppm

 

[Russ265]

Should I use the stump remover or flourish nitrogen? My tank is 120 gallons with a 40 breeder sump. How much do I dose? My tank has been running since June and is barebottom with manmade rocks. I started tank by using seachem stability and every time I tested I had 0 ammonia, nitrites,and 0 nitrates. I never saw a cycle! I tested nitrates using salifert and it's still 0. I do need to mention that my tank is now fallow because in my opinion my tank could not keep up with the bioload which caused an ich/ brooklynella outbreak killing all my fish. I will probably start my own thread to give the details of my tank but for now I need to get nitrates into my tank asap. My po4 is at 0.029 according to my triton test results. I thought triton would test for alkalinity and nitrates but I didn't see it on the results. Thank you for your input. I forgot to mention my alk is 9.5 , ca is 425, mag 1380

you can use either. spectracide stump remover is cheaper in the long run. imo, seachem flourish nitrogen is more readily available.
both contain potassium nitrate.

i can advise roughly how much to dose per gallon with seachem, i believe twilliard is doing a writeup on the stump remover.

1ml per 5 gallons will net you +3ppm no3.

 

[kewadiak]

First lets start with the product.
Potassium nitrate
This is what the Spectracide stump remover consists of.
There are many sources for this if you look it up. My wife is an Amazon shopper so that is where I got mine. You can find potassium nitrate every where!


Now lets move on to mixing this stuff!
Grab yourself a set of measuring spoons. Put 2 tablespoons in a clear plastic cup



Now fill the cup to the first line with RODI

-Todd

Now would you say that your mixture is 2 tablespoons to 1 cup of rodi?

 

[Orly20]

Hi guys! Great write up! I've been dosing 1.5 ml of Potassium Nitrate in my 34 gallon for about a month and have seen color improvement in all of my sps. I have been testing no3 but haven't seen an increase in my test kits what test kits do you guys recommend for nitrate? I would like to use a low range test kit to give me a good reading of Nitrate levels
Thx

 

[twilliard]

Its 2 tablespoons to 2 cups RODI

Thanks!

 

[twilliard]

Hi guys! Great write up! I've been dosing 1.5 ml of Potassium Nitrate in my 34 gallon for about a month and have seen color improvement in all of my sps. I have been testing no3 but haven't seen an increase in my test kits what test kits do you guys recommend for nitrate? I would like to use a low range test kit to give me a good reading of Nitrate levels
Thx

Red sea algae control kit is what I use the no3 pro is perfect IMO

 

[beaslbob]

has anyone tried calcium nitrate? a bag is like $5 or so.