Dosing Creatine

[DiZASTiX]

If one were ridiculous enough to dose creatine monohydrate, would it raise any of the nitrogen components in water, particularly nitrate?

 

[biophilia]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm just gonna leave this here as an example of a possible repercussion.

 

[DiZASTiX]

If that happened to corals, I will have cause to upgrade the tank.

 

[Dan_P]

If one were ridiculous enough to dose creatine monohydrate, would it raise any of the nitrogen components in water, particularly nitrate?

Consider it an amino acid. Does dosing an amino acid raise nitrate levels?

Do you want to increase the nitrate level?

 

[DiZASTiX]

Consider it an amino acid. Does dosing an amino acid raise nitrate levels?

Do you want to increase the nitrate level?

No; rather, I would be trying to dose amino acids (I do already dose some of ZEOvit and AquaForest).

 

[Brendank]

I’ve been dosing creatine monohydrate powder for several years and yes, it rises nitrate levels. A tablespoon roughly rises my 110 gal by about 1ppm or so of nitrate. It does wonders on marine life causing rapid growth of sponges, feather dusters, amphipods, and promotes mass spawning in fish and crustaceans. Corals have an immediate feeding response and will have have a growth spurt.

 

[ZaneTer]

Would you mind sharing some pics?

 

[GlassMunky]

I’ve been dosing creatine monohydrate powder for several years and yes, it rises nitrate levels. A tablespoon roughly rises my 110 gal by about 1ppm or so of nitrate. It does wonders on marine life causing rapid growth of sponges, feather dusters, amphipods, and promotes mass spawning in fish and crustaceans. Corals have an immediate feeding response and will have have a growth spurt.

is there any actual documented proof of this? or is it just anecdotal like most things in this hobby?

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve been dosing creatine monohydrate powder for several years and yes, it rises nitrate levels. A tablespoon roughly rises my 110 gal by about 1ppm or so of nitrate. It does wonders on marine life causing rapid growth of sponges, feather dusters, amphipods, and promotes mass spawning in fish and crustaceans. Corals have an immediate feeding response and will have have a growth spurt.

Makes sense. Bacteria would likely metabolize this to ammonia. Maybe it acts as a slow release of ammonia to the system. Interesting.

 

[Brendank]

is there any actual documented proof of this? or is it just anecdotal like most things in this hobby?

The increase in nitrate I’ve measured and the coral growth spurts I’ve just observed. It’s unclear if the coral uptake the creatine directly or the growth spurt is a result of feeding on the mass spawning of microfauna. There is a wealth of scientific literature with regard to the prescence of creatine in marine animals. Elevated concentrations are found in the gonads and gametes of many marine invertebrates and fish. There is literature on the role of creatine in sponge metabolism. I think commercial fisheries and oyster farms might feed it to increase the yield of the farms.

 

[melanotaenia]

The increase in nitrate I’ve measured and the coral growth spurts I’ve just observed. It’s unclear if the coral uptake the creatine directly or the growth spurt is a result of feeding on the mass spawning of microfauna. There is a wealth of scientific literature with regard to the prescence of creatine in marine animals. Elevated concentrations are found in the gonads and gametes of many marine invertebrates and fish. There is literature on the role of creatine in sponge metabolism. I think commercial fisheries and oyster farms might feed it to increase the yield of the farms.

Wow, I would never have thought to dose creatine; imagine corals that are thicker/grow faster from being juiced with creatine supplements!

 

[Brendank]

Makes sense. Bacteria would likely metabolize this to ammonia. Maybe it acts as a slow release of ammonia to the system. Interesting.

I’m not sure what the exact pathway from creatine to nitrate is but it appears to be metabolic in some way. I haven’t observed any adverse effect other than maybe increasing nitrate and sponge growth which can be problematic if they are exposed to air. My tank crashed in a move last winter due to just this - sponges everywhere in and on the rock suddenly decaying after being exposed to air during the move.

 

[Brendank]

Prior to move last winter

 

[Brendank]

I have video of zebra damsels spawning in the take somewhere...

 

[Dan_P]

I’m not sure what the exact pathway from creatine to nitrate is but it appears to be metabolic in some way. I haven’t observed any adverse effect other than maybe increasing nitrate and sponge growth which can be problematic if they are exposed to air. My tank crashed in a move last winter due to just this - sponges everywhere in and on the rock suddenly decaying after being exposed to air during the move.

Creatine would not be metabolized directly to nitrate. Ammonia is likely to be produced by bacterial decomposition and that would be metabolized to nitrate. I remember reading a post about the benefits of dosing ammonium chloride. Might be a connection.

 

[Brendank]

I’m still dosing creatine monohydrate powder and see wonderful effects.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m still dosing creatine monohydrate powder and see wonderful effects.

What effect?

 

[C. Eymann]

This kinda reminds me of back in 2007 when rumors that Italian reefers were mixing in HGH with coral foods like pappones recipe and "supposedly" seeing a massive gain in coral growth rates.

hmnn

 

[Brendank]

What effect?

Other than the immediate feeding response, I see growth spurts after adding and what looks like increased microfauna, sponges, pods, and so on.

 

[Brendank]

This kinda reminds me of back in 2007 when rumors that Italian reefers were mixing in HGH with coral foods like pappones recipe and "supposedly" seeing a massive gain in coral growth rates.

hmnn

I’ve seen studies that show elevated levels of creatine in the gametes and gonads of a bunch of different sea life and I remember seeing somewhere that it’s used in commercial fisheries to enhance breeding.