Should I Dose Nitrates?

Brew12 · Mar 28, 2018

TexasTodd said:
So, to nitrates and phosphates do that? Raise nitrates and phosphates will drop?
I too have been out for about 5 years. My last tank was amazing and only used a very big skimmer, had a 24/7 kalkwasser drip for evaporation, skimmed very wet, and added some Mg and salt mix (to offset the wet skimming). That was it, amazing growth and color.
But, I like the idea of being able to bring phosphates down and improve colors at the same time.

It won't directly do it. The only way that would happen is if the added nitrate would cause something to grow faster that would also consume phosphates. So could it happen in your system? Absolutely. Will it happen? No idea.

TexasTodd · Mar 28, 2018

Ah, okay, thanks. I was thinking it was like the Alk / CA relationship.

Reef Jedi · Mar 28, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I would raise nutrients to target levels of about 0.02-0.03 ppm phosphate and a few ppm nitrate. :)

Thanks for the target ranges. Any way or suggestions of raising them? I have over fed but I never see a change. Is there anything I can dose to raise both levels. I’ve heard spectraside stump killer could be dosed to raise nitrates but I’m timid adding such a product with out any direction or knowledge into it. Anything you recommend?

MTBake · Mar 29, 2018

I use this to dose nitrates.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019...236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=sodium+nitrate

And Brightwell Neophos for phosphates.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 29, 2018

Reef Jedi said:
Thanks for the target ranges. Any way or suggestions of raising them? I have over fed but I never see a change. Is there anything I can dose to raise both levels. I’ve heard spectraside stump killer could be dosed to raise nitrates but I’m timid adding such a product with out any direction or knowledge into it. Anything you recommend?

Food grade or reagent grade sodium or potassium nitrate and phosphate. [emoji3]

Dr. Reef · Mar 30, 2018

FWIW i ran sulfur denitrator which brought nitrates to absolute 0. Ran Lanthanum to reduce phos to absolute 0. I never had any luck with sps corals. i had no luck with clams or nems. i ran my system like that for 2 yrs. i never saw dinos nor cyano. but then i started dosing nitrates. (sodium nitrate tech/lab grad 99%+% pure). few days later cyano, sps improved and corals got better color but now i am facing cyano.
just my experience.

Reef Jedi · Mar 30, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Food grade or reagent grade sodium or potassium nitrate and phosphate. [emoji3]

Thanks for the Info Randy! Do you have a good place to order from? I can search the web but I always like recommendations as well.

kecked · Mar 31, 2018

Home Depot sells trisodium phosphate. Works well. I tested the box stuff and it’s clean of metals and other stuff at least by icp and hplc.

I like calcium nitrate because it adds only stuff I want but it doses two for every one nitrate.

Why not run the skimmer with the cup off and let it spill back in the tank.

Reef Jedi · Apr 1, 2018

kecked said:
Home Depot sells trisodium phosphate. Works well. I tested the box stuff and it’s clean of metals and other stuff at least by icp and hplc.

I like calcium nitrate because it adds only stuff I want but it doses two for every one nitrate.

Why not run the skimmer with the cup off and let it spill back in the tank.

Thanks for that info! I’ve had the skimmer off for the last week to see if that would help. This test still looks very close to 0 still. There was no color change after the test and In person that was a very clear color. I was going to leave it off another week while I look into dosing more. Hopefully it may come up naturally.

Reef Jedi · Apr 1, 2018

Reef Jedi said:
Thanks for that info! I’ve had the skimmer off for the last week to see if that would help. This test still looks very close to 0 still. There was no color change after the test and In person that was a very clear color. I was going to leave it off another week while I look into dosing more. Hopefully it may come up naturally.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 1, 2018

Amazon turns out to be a great place to buy chemicals these days.

https://www.amazon.com/Disodium-Phosphate-FOOD-GRADE-Purity/dp/B013TQVSVQ

dragonfish · Apr 7, 2018

what is the difference between sodium and potassium nitrate ?

jasonrusso · Apr 7, 2018

dragonfish said:
what is the difference between sodium and potassium nitrate ?

I think the answer is in the name of the molecules, right?

Fwiw, I think sodium or calcium nitrate is far better than potassium. There is so much calcium and sodium anyway, you won't make a measurable difference. Potassium however can be altered enough to make an issue

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 7, 2018

dragonfish said:
what is the difference between sodium and potassium nitrate ?

both immediately separate into nitrate ion and either sodium or potassium ion in the dosing solution and in the tnak.

So one boost sodium a little and the other boosts potassium a little.

Both are OK, but if you never measure potassium and dose a lot, sodium might be a better choice.

dragonfish · Apr 8, 2018

Thanks !
Any idea how much to dose ? Or i just go with the flow and check every few days what the level is ?

dragonfish · Apr 8, 2018

How do u make them , mixing with rodi water ? And how do u know how much to dose per liter ?

Dr. Reef · Apr 8, 2018

in a 250 gal system, 25 teaspoons of potassium nitrate or 21 teaspoons of sodium nitrate mixed in 1 gal of rodi water, dose 50ml per day to get 1.28 ppm Nitrates from potassium nitrate solution or 1.08 ppm nitrates from sodium nitrate solution.