Dosing KNO3 and KPO4

mcarroll · Oct 16, 2016

This only time we underestimate the power or significance of microbes is when we neglect to think about them.

I wish I could remember who said that....

But we're starting to think about them rather than thinking about the "nutrient problem".

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 16, 2016

mcarroll said:
This only time we underestimate the power or significance of microbes is when we neglect to think about them.

I wish I could remember who said that....

But we're starting to think about them rather than thinking about the "nutrient problem".

You sure that is the right quote? It literally means they have a significance so small as to be almost zero. Any actual thought about them is an overestimate. lol

mcarroll · Oct 16, 2016

Yeah....I may have inadvertently.....paraphrased?

The idea (however it was actually said!) was that their importance cannot be over-estimated in virtually any situation, yet they are rarely even considered.

I also think that's less true now (at least a little) than when I originally read it....microbes in the tank do seem to be on-topic much more often....that's a good thing!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2016

iiluisii said:
So just tested and got a reading of 0 phosphorous. Keep in mind that the levels were 52 last night which is .16 phosphates and by morning it was .02 phosphates so something is rapidly consuming the phosphates. On another note most of my pale acros are getting coloration on the tips so I guess I'm heading in the right direction

Yes, tanks do process a lot of phosphate every day. The numbers that remain in the water column are like the overflow from a dam, and represent only a small fraction of the daily throughput since foods bring in so much.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2016

iiluisii said:
Brown stuff is completely gone. So how can we explain this? Normally in this hobby people would recommend to run GFO or nutrient refusing media when the have the problems that I was having but 2 experience reefers recommended otherwise to add nutrients and the problems was fixed. [emoji15][emoji15] this hobby sometimes makes me think.
.

You probably drove N or some other nutrient (e.g., iron) to limiting levels by adding phosphate to a phosphate-limited tank. That's one reason why people add it.

.AcroKiller. · Oct 17, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
You probably drove N to limiting levels by adding phosphate to a phosphate-limited tank. That's one reason why people add it.

Nitrates are holding now steady if I keep phosphates up.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2016

iiluisii said:
Nitrates are holding now steady if I keep phosphates up.

At what level?

.AcroKiller. · Oct 17, 2016

.75 nitrates and I'm keeping phosphates above .05

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2016

That sounds good!

becks · Oct 17, 2016

I've been dosing nopox for close to two weeks now and my phosphates read 0 and my nitrates are about 25. Will having 0 phosphates stall the further reduction of nitrate?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2016

becks said:
I've been dosing nopox for close to two weeks now and my phosphates read 0 and my nitrates are about 25. Will having 0 phosphates stall the further reduction of nitrate?

If it is really low enough to limit denitrification, it may, yes. How are you measuring phosphate? Many kits cannot read low enough to say it is limiting.

becks · Oct 17, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If it is really low enough to limit denitrification, it may, yes. How are you measuring phosphate? Many kits cannot read low enough to say it is limiting.

I'm using salifert,

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2016

People often find it takes more than 2 weeks to drop nitrate. I'd keep at the NOPOX or other carbon dosing longer before dosing phosphate.

becks · Oct 20, 2016

just before I started dosing nopox I rearranged my aquascape which caused my nitrates to spike and cyano started to grow, I've noticed in the last few days my cyano has started to disappear and die off, I've not added anything other than nopox for carbon dosing and syphoning them once a week . I assume they will die off and release nitrates back into the water? and they are unable to compete with the bacteria my carbon dosing is feeding?

Since they started to die off my skimmer has been foaming a lot more than normal.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 20, 2016

becks said:
just before I started dosing nopox I rearranged my aquascape which caused my nitrates to spike and cyano started to grow, I've noticed in the last few days my cyano has started to disappear and die off, I've not added anything other than nopox for carbon dosing and syphoning them once a week . I assume they will die off and release nitrates back into the water? and they are unable to compete with the bacteria my carbon dosing is feeding?

Since they started to die off my skimmer has been foaming a lot more than normal.

Sometimes, cyano is increased by carbon dosing (presumably because you have species of cyano that can thrive on the organics) and sometimes not (either because the cyano cannot consume the organics dosed, or the other bacteria present are more efficient).

Highside · Nov 9, 2016

I just soaked my old live rock from an older system in water for a few months adding L. C. Every few days to remove phosphate that was leaching from the rock. It took a few months for it to stop. I think you may be under estimating how much can bind to live rock.

cancun1981 · Mar 20, 2018

Hello; @Randy Holmes-Farley

If i use a Biopellet reactor and have 0 nitrates, how can i get nitrates up. Or i need to shut down the biopellet reactor?

Can i still use the biopellet and those nitrogen flourish?

Thank you

Aldo

hatfielj · Mar 20, 2018

This is a good thread. I just started dosing Potassium Nitrate (Stump Remover) today. My nitrates had been barely detectable with a Salifert test kit (less than 0.2). I used a 10g in 1L solution and get them up to right around 1 today. I'm going to test again in the morning to see if they hold steady or decrease overnight. Interesting thing, which has been talked about in this thread, is that my phosphates are now reading "0" on my milwaukee meter. One week ago it was 0.01. I was expecting them to be higher than that because this week I've been feeding very heavily in an effort to raise NO3. I have some very fat and happy fish at the moment, lol.
Dosing nitrate is all new to me. Should I worry if my Phosphates stay down at 0? I realize they're probably not truly "zero" but some value that the meter doesn't read, such as 0.003 or something.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 21, 2018

cancun1981 said:
Hello; @Randy Holmes-Farley

If i use a Biopellet reactor and have 0 nitrates, how can i get nitrates up. Or i need to shut down the biopellet reactor?

Can i still use the biopellet and those nitrogen flourish?

Thank you

Aldo

Yes, you can use both, or reduce the pellets.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 21, 2018

hatfielj said:
Should I worry if my Phosphates stay down at 0? I realize they're probably not truly "zero" but some value that the meter doesn't read, such as 0.003 or something.

Possibly yes. If it stays undetectable, I'd consider dosing some phosphate too.