Shake/Mix Nitrate Before Dosing

[Clownfishy]

Hi,

Possible a silly question. Do you need to shake up the bottle containing your DIY Nitrate Potassium before dosing it to the reef aquarium? I have been having low Nitrate issues for a while now and have just started to dose Brightwell NeoNitro which has starting to increase my levels. On the bottle, it says to shake the bottle well before dosing. If I make my own from food grade Nitrate potassium, do people shake the bottle before dosing or just mix it up and then dose it without shaking the bottle up again?

Many thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not recommend dosing potassium nitrate. It risks excessive potassium.

That said, neither sodium nor potassium nitrate need shaking before dosing. In fact, no clear solution ever need shaking before dosing. Dissolved chemicals cannot settle from solution.

 

[Clownfishy]

Thank you @Randy Holmes-Farley. I did read a previous post of yours suggesting to use Sodium Nitrate but I seem to be struggling to find a source to purchase food grade Sodium or Calcium Nitrate in the UK. I assume it is related to its explosive nature???

If I find a source for Calcium Nitrate, I assume this will raise the Calcium in my reef tank but that is a little easier to control by reducing the calcium addition in my two part?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you @Randy Holmes-Farley. I did read a previous post of yours suggesting to use Sodium Nitrate but I seem to be struggling to find a source to purchase food grade Sodium or Calcium Nitrate in the UK. I assume it is related to its explosive nature???

If I find a source for Calcium Nitrate, I assume this will raise the Calcium in my reef tank but that is a little easier to control by reducing the calcium addition in my two part?

Calcium nitrate is a great choice since it is a balanced calcum and alkalinity additive method (consuming the nitrate adds the alk).

Ammonium bicarbonate (baking ammonia) is another good choice for N. I dose it daily.

 

[Clownfishy]

Now Ammonium bicarbonate is very easy to get here in the UK and very cheap so I will give that a go :-)

Just found a post saying to mix 20g per 1 litre of RO is that the ratio you are using?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The detailed recipe and dosing thread is here:

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

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