Trying Ammonium Bicarb dosing for the first time

[ReefRookies]

Hey, I really appreciate @Randy Holmes-Farley instructions on doing this. It would be great if someone could check my math before I venture down this road. My 2+ year old tank has been a nightmare tank. In 25 years I've never had a tank this difficult to get stabilized. I've had ALL the problems with this tank, currently fighting Lyngbya(I think). Long story short, its nutrient limited right now and has had declining Nitrates and Phosphates for a while resulting in Ostreopsis and Amphidinium dinos showing up confirmed with microscopy. I'm installing a UV this week. Todays tests were 2ppm Nitrates and 0.01(ish) Phosphates on Salifert kits a further drop from 5ppm N and 0.03 P last week.

Full disclosure I did dose the tank with Vibrant 7 days ago as I am at my wits end with this Lyngbya, if that is indeed what this is, seems to have weakened it. Idk if that has an effect on the plan or not.

So, I would like to target 15ppm Nitrates in the end as this tank looked its best around that range. Tank is 300gallons total volume. Therefore:
5 teaspoons (23g) food grade Amm. Bicarb in 800ml of RODI (my dosing container size) should net a solution that would result in 15.89 Nitrates if all things are equal. This would be 4.95ppm ammonium according to theplantedtank calculator. I anticipate some consumption so the final number will likely be lower. I'm ok with that.

According to my likely terrible math, I will need doses of 2.08ml (Ill settle for 2ml) to add 0.1ppm ammonia per dose. I have an old BRS peristaltic doser which conveniently does 2ml/min and Hydros to control it.

One thing I'm not certain on is frequency. What would be the suggested number of times per day to dose the 0.1ppm ammonia? My brain wants to say start with 12 doses over 24 hours, which should result in 0.45ppm increase in Nitrates per day roughly 3ppm increase in a week total. Slow enough to not shock anything, but enough to be measurable.

Thank for any thought's?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey, I really appreciate @Randy Holmes-Farley instructions on doing this. It would be great if someone could check my math before I venture down this road. My 2+ year old tank has been a nightmare tank. In 25 years I've never had a tank this difficult to get stabilized. I've had ALL the problems with this tank, currently fighting Lyngbya(I think). Long story short, its nutrient limited right now and has had declining Nitrates and Phosphates for a while resulting in Ostreopsis and Amphidinium dinos showing up confirmed with microscopy. I'm installing a UV this week. Todays tests were 2ppm Nitrates and 0.01(ish) Phosphates on Salifert kits a further drop from 5ppm N and 0.03 P last week.

Full disclosure I did dose the tank with Vibrant 7 days ago as I am at my wits end with this Lyngbya, if that is indeed what this is, seems to have weakened it. Idk if that has an effect on the plan or not.

So, I would like to target 15ppm Nitrates in the end as this tank looked its best around that range. Tank is 300gallons total volume. Therefore:
5 teaspoons (23g) food grade Amm. Bicarb in 800ml of RODI (my dosing container size) should net a solution that would result in 15.89 Nitrates if all things are equal. This would be 4.95ppm ammonium according to theplantedtank calculator. I anticipate some consumption so the final number will likely be lower. I'm ok with that.

According to my likely terrible math, I will need doses of 2.08ml (Ill settle for 2ml) to add 0.1ppm ammonia per dose. I have an old BRS peristaltic doser which conveniently does 2ml/min and Hydros to control it.

One thing I'm not certain on is frequency. What would be the suggested number of times per day to dose the 0.1ppm ammonia? My brain wants to say start with 12 doses over 24 hours, which should result in 0.45ppm increase in Nitrates per day roughly 3ppm increase in a week total. Slow enough to not shock anything, but enough to be measurable.

Thank for any thought's?

I would not start that high. It’s like asking how many fish you’d add at once.

I’d start by slowly ramping up the dose each day.

 

[ReefRookies]

I would not start that high. It’s like asking how many fish you’d add at once.

I’d start by slowly ramping up the dose each day.

I appreciate your reply. I kinda thought you might say that. Ill start with 2 doses 12hrs apart on day 1 and ramp from there. Thank you!

I'll update the thread with progress as I have it.

 

[luxe]

I appreciate your reply. I kinda thought you might say that. Ill start with 2 doses 12hrs apart on day 1 and ramp from there. Thank you!

I'll update the thread with progress as I have it.

Any updates? This morning (after jumping into a thread), I decided to start dosing ammonium bicarbonate so I bought some on Amazon and currently waiting for it to arrive.