Dosing potassium nitrate or coral foods?

ycnibrc · Mar 19, 2018

Labridaedicted said:
I do both and still can't get my nitrates to stay up :-/

Using a food will give many nutrients, whereas KNO3 will only give you K and NO3. Nitrates are rarely an issue as they should be incredibly low anyways and feeding usually introduces those. I do find feeding coral food increases polyp extension, but there is one huge downside to coral foods.... vermetids..... they love that size of partical and if they stay well fed, your tank will be covered in snot webs that will actually irritate your corals.

I think if your issue is low nitrates, I would go the KNO3 route just because it's cleaner and more accurate dosing from a chemistry standpoint. (Make your solution to a concentration that will raise your nitrates by .25 per 5 mL or so and you'll have great control.)

Also, I would use lab grade KNO3 if you do it. I know a lot of people use the spectracide stump remover, but purity goes a long ways in this hobby and lab grade compounds have regulations. Stump remover has much less strict purity requirements. (Although this part is a personal preference and largely a peace of mind thing. I prefer to be confident I'm not adding anything unwanted to the system. Plus even the lab grade stuff is pretty cheap, so why chance it.)

Turn your skimmer down only let it make bubble but not skimming that way its still add oxygen but not skimming. After 2 weeks u will see a rise of nitrate n phosphate in your tank.

MTBake · Mar 19, 2018

Marlon2024 said:
What are people dosing as far as p04 and n03

I use Brightwell Aquatics Neophos for phosphates. Spectricide stump remover(potassium nitrate) and sodium nitrate sold by Shor from Amazon is my nitrate additives.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 19, 2018

Docdiggy said:
This is good info. I was on reefcentral asking about dosing nitrate. Somebody recommended brightwell. Has anyone used their nitrate additive?

It may be fine, but I can’t see any reason to pick anything other than food grade sodium or potassium nitrate from a place like amazon or Etsy. [emoji3]

MTBake · Mar 19, 2018

Here's what I used in my last nitrate mix, I still haven't used it but its mixed and ready;

Sodium nitrate

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

Potassium nitrate

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06X...bp_QL65&keywords=potassium+nitrate+food+grade

Scott.h · Mar 19, 2018

NY_Caveman said:
Food offers more variety, but control is a valid concern as well. Maybe split the difference and feed a little more while dosing a small amount of Nitrate to be sure it registers. How is your Phosphate level? I ask because it seems Nitrate may be more of a limiting factor in a lot of tanks. Foods tend to add a lot of Phosphate.

For whatever reason, I've found when adding kno3 that that in itself will lower p04. Shortly after adding one I had to add the other. This holds true for two completely separate systems of mine.

Scott.h · Mar 19, 2018

Docdiggy said:
This is good info. I was on reefcentral asking about dosing nitrate. Somebody recommended brightwell. Has anyone used their nitrate additive?

I use food grade. If I were doing water changes I'd probably use stump remover, but not worth the risk as I'm not sure of the impurities. This is the cheapest I've found, and what I use:

https://www.sciencecompany.com/NSearch.aspx?keywords=potassium+nitrate

jsker · Mar 19, 2018

I chose the natural way by feeding and the fish doing the rest.

MTBake · Mar 19, 2018

I'm going to finish my stump remover mix, then try my new mix with the sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate. I do think the system has finally reached a balance, as it's not using up nitrates and phosphates as quickly as it was two weeks ago.

reeferfoxx · Mar 19, 2018

Would KNO3 be the right kind of lazy? @R.ichard.Ross

imustbenuts · Mar 20, 2018

I have been dosing Red Sea A & B in SPS only tank. Polyp ext was very good, even watched some tissue necrosis heal after I started. I thought that would be good but still watched the colors fade over time. It’s a fishless system so I started dosing sea chem flourish nitrogen and have a noticeable color change in the first week. They have a long way to go for full recovery but I like what I see so far. I am planning to switch to a sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate blend in the future. Simply based on cost of product.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 20, 2018

Scott.h said:
For whatever reason, I've found when adding kno3 that that in itself will lower p04. Shortly after adding one I had to add the other. This holds true for two completely separate systems of mine.

The reason that sometimes happens is clear and simple, but it is not always true.

If sources of nitrogen are low enough that lack of nitrogen is limiting the growth of some organism (algae, macroalgae, corals, etc.) then those organisms will grow faster when you dose nitrate, and when growing, they consume many things, including more phosphate, so phosphate can decline.

stevieduk · Mar 20, 2018

hybridazn said:
To keep corals happy and healthy they need nutrients, so that brings me to this question. Which one do you think is better? Dosing the potassium nitrate or a coral food (oyster feast, reef energy, etc)? Do corals need a solid type of food to be happy or is the liquid diet better of dosing nitrates, Or both?

potassium nitrate is an explosive isnt it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 20, 2018

stevieduk said:
potassium nitrate is an explosive isnt it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, it doesn't explode.

Nitrate can be part of explosive mixture, but we won't go into those details.

Fourstars · Mar 20, 2018

I sure don't want to have the FBI to show up at my door concerning my recent order. It was also used the keep the troops labido under control during WWl

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 20, 2018

Fourstars said:
I sure don't want to have the FBI show up at my door concerning my recent order. It was also used the keep the troops labido under control during WWl

Just make sure your wife doesn't find it. She might slip it into your food.

reefwiser · Mar 20, 2018

I like dosing as I can better control the input into system and I can automate it so that it is done on a regular basis. Using feeding can work but you don't hae as much control over the input of nitrate and phosphate into the system. One can fine tune the input to give just what your corals are needing.