What is the safe amount to dose NeoNitro?

[Reef Of Jo]

I read Randy's article on Ammonium Chloride and Ammonium Bicarbonate, but I decided to go with NeoNitro just to safely dip my feet into dosing. My nutrients are bottomed out, with nitrate at 0.0ppm and phosphate at 0.01-0.04, depending on my human error during testing.


I have a 14gal tank, and I would like to know if I can safely raise my nitrate by 2ppm per day. I am currently planning on doing 1ppm per day.

The tank inhabitants are SPS, LPS, Soft corals. 1 Clownfish, and some inverts. I feed 1/4 Frozen cube a day.

 

[bluemon]

Honestly, at that size of a tank, I would just add one more small fish and just feed more.

Or even spot feed LPS more.

A FOURTH of a cube is ridiculous for a feeding honestly imo

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When dosing nitrate, I don’t think there’s any reason to go particularly slow, and I’ve dosed 10 ppm at a time using food grade sodium nitrate from Amazon.

 

[CHSUB]

would like to know if I can safely raise my nitrate by 2ppm per day

Why raise? Is something wrong or you just want to see a higher number for no valid reason? What method of testing are you using to get results in the tenths? 0.0 or are you just assuming zero?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Why raise? Is something wrong or you just want to see a higher number for no valid reason? What method of testing are you using to get results in the tenths? 0.0 or are you just assuming zero?

I can give the reason why I would do it, which I consider perfectly valid, but I cannot answer what his reasons might be. :)

 

[CHSUB]

I can give the reason why I would do it, which I consider perfectly valid, but I cannot answer what his reasons might be. :)

Yes , i believe there are ‘perfectly valid’ reasons to provide additional nutrients. However imo many times it’s a miss diagnosis.

 

[Reef Of Jo]

Why raise? Is something wrong or you just want to see a higher number for no valid reason? What method of testing are you using to get results in the tenths? 0.0 or are you just assuming zero?

Sorry for the late reply. I used the Hanna ULR Phosphate tester, and for the nitrate I used API and Hanna Nitrate HR. It is possible that their was nitrates, but the testing kits I have don't detect that low so it was safe to assume that their was little to no nitrates. Both Hanna kits can read into the tenths place.

My reasons are that most of my LPS and even SPS had their polyps retract and lose color (I don't wanna say bleach, just paler) , which made me conclude that the tank was not happy. To add on, I observed this issue days after a previous water change. Looking into my tank now, (see current readings below), my LPS has its polyps open instead of what used to be retracted for days at a time.

Nitrate: 6.5ppm
Phosphate: 0.06ppm
Alkalinity: 8.2 dKH

 

[CHSUB]

Sorry for the late reply. I used the Hanna ULR Phosphate tester, and for the nitrate I used API and Hanna Nitrate HR. It is possible that their was nitrates, but the testing kits I have don't detect that low so it was safe to assume that their was little to no nitrates. Both Hanna kits can read into the tenths place.

My reasons are that most of my LPS and even SPS had their polyps retract and lose color (I don't wanna say bleach, just paler) , which made me conclude that the tank was not happy. To add on, I observed this issue days after a previous water change. Looking into my tank now, (see current readings below), my LPS has its polyps open instead of what used to be retracted for days at a time.

Nitrate: 6.5ppm
Phosphate: 0.06ppm
Alkalinity: 8.2 dKH

That sounds great. To add some additional thoughts, your Hanna checker HR is not great, it is reasonable that you have adequate no3 before it ever registers a reading. Hanna writes this about they own check, “This includes saltwater aquariums that are fish-only or have corals that can tolerate elevated levels of nitrate at 30 ppm or more.”

I might try feeding your corals directly if the don’t look happy….here is a short video!

 

[Reef Of Jo]

That sounds great. To add some additional thoughts, your Hanna checker HR is not great, it is reasonable that you have adequate no3 before it ever registers a reading. Hanna writes this about they own check, “This includes saltwater aquariums that are fish-only or have corals that can tolerate elevated levels of nitrate at 30 ppm or more.”

I might try feeding your corals directly if the don’t look happy….here is a short video!

If that is your video, you have very beautiful tanks!

Do you feed anything special? I plan on feeding them frozen food, but if you have any alternative recommendations I am all ears!

 

[BryanM]

I read Randy's article on Ammonium Chloride and Ammonium Bicarbonate, but I decided to go with NeoNitro just to safely dip my feet into dosing. My nutrients are bottomed out, with nitrate at 0.0ppm and phosphate at 0.01-0.04, depending on my human error during testing.


I have a 14gal tank, and I would like to know if I can safely raise my nitrate by 2ppm per day. I am currently planning on doing 1ppm per day.

The tank inhabitants are SPS, LPS, Soft corals. 1 Clownfish, and some inverts. I feed 1/4 Frozen cube a day.

There's a formula on the bottle that you have to calculate for dosing. For some reason I cannot find it online... But follow that and you should be good.

 

[CHSUB]

If that is your video, you have very beautiful tanks!

Do you feed anything special? I plan on feeding them frozen food, but if you have any alternative recommendations I am all ears!

Yes and thanks. Pictured is what I feed the corals daily. I started only feeding corals 2 times per week about a quarter what manufactures recommended. Now as corals grew over the past year I feed daily more than recommended, while maintaining low nutrients. Feeding corals is, imo, something you start doing slowly and sparingly while monitoring nutrients. If you can maintain “desirable” levels, feed more. It is a delicate balance but worth it, imo.

 

[Mike1970]

There's a formula on the bottle that you have to calculate for dosing. For some reason I cannot find it online... But follow that and you should be good.

Talk water volume x ppm increase x .1261 = xxml

 

[gbroadbridge]

I read Randy's article on Ammonium Chloride and Ammonium Bicarbonate, but I decided to go with NeoNitro just to safely dip my feet into dosing. My nutrients are bottomed out, with nitrate at 0.0ppm and phosphate at 0.01-0.04, depending on my human error during testing.


I have a 14gal tank, and I would like to know if I can safely raise my nitrate by 2ppm per day. I am currently planning on doing 1ppm per day.

The tank inhabitants are SPS, LPS, Soft corals. 1 Clownfish, and some inverts. I feed 1/4 Frozen cube a day.

I have a old established 13 gal Nano in my office and every week Nitrate is 0 and phosphate is 0.

I dose 10ppm Nitrate and 0.1ppm phosphate in one go each week to keep the coral happy.

You don't need to go slow and you may find it is consumed quite quickly.

 

[enlighten]

Honestly, at that size of a tank, I would just add one more small fish and just feed more.

Or even spot feed LPS more.

A FOURTH of a cube is ridiculous for a feeding honestly imo

Ridiculously low or high? I have a system twice this size and decided to re-cube into smaller cubes from the standard ones you buy at the store. Feed one in the AM, auto feeder does Reef Jerky at noon, and when i get home, i try and add in some pellet daily. Last one some times doesnt happen as i get home late.

I cant seem to find my balance yet, but am currently dosing ammomia bicarb and neophos daily to maintain nutrients. I also had cyano, dealing with tail end of dinos, and starting to see hair algae. Im concerned most of my nutrients are tied up in uglies and really want to reef flux the GHA.

In the meantime, added a pithos and hope my other CUC keeps things at bay. Until then, just trying to dial it in to keep my nutrients in a viable range.


My canary is the space invader pectinia. That coral gets so skinny when nitrates are low. And so puffy when they are ideal.

I would feed more but then its just doc and cuc food. I have 5 small fish and still not sure how much to feed.

 

[Reef Of Jo]

Ridiculously low or high? I have a system twice this size and decided to re-cube into smaller cubes from the standard ones you buy at the store. Feed one in the AM, auto feeder does Reef Jerky at noon, and when i get home, i try and add in some pellet daily. Last one some times doesnt happen as i get home late.

I cant seem to find my balance yet, but am currently dosing ammomia bicarb and neophos daily to maintain nutrients. I also had cyano, dealing with tail end of dinos, and starting to see hair algae. Im concerned most of my nutrients are tied up in uglies and really want to reef flux the GHA.

In the meantime, added a pithos and hope my other CUC keeps things at bay. Until then, just trying to dial it in to keep my nutrients in a viable range.


My canary is the space invader pectinia. That coral gets so skinny when nitrates are low. And so puffy when they are ideal.

I would feed more but then its just doc and cuc food. I have 5 small fish and still not sure how much to feed.

1/8 was ridiculously low, haha. It's a very good assumption that GHA is tying up your nutrients, so you should try to get on top of it. I shared this problem with you, and removing the GHA helped mitigate the problem.

I would feed more but then its just doc and cuc food. I have 5 small fish and still not sure how much to feed.

This is the exact issue I had. So I started spot feeding my corals 2x a week with ReefRoids, and 6-7x a week with Reef Energy AB+. Doing both significantly helped with my low nutrients and my colors began to thrive.

On the days when I feed Reef Roids, I actually make a slurry mix of both the Roids and the AB+, using both products and a bit of tank water. The corals respond lovely to this mix. (I spot feed the slurry, but on days where its just the AB+ I broadcast it, unless im bored).

If you begin to do what I do, it's important to monitor your nutrients and adjust the feedings as needed. I would even suggest using 1/2 of both products' recommended dosage and see how your nutrients react.