For those dosing Potassium Nitrate

[AquamanE]

I hear many on these forums are dosing Nitrates to maintain corals well “fed?”. I can’t get my Nitrates up. Corals are growing slowly but growing. Colors are reasonable. But ZERO polyp extension.

I bought some potassium nitrate (not stump remover). In another thread this calculator was recommended. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

Question is how many ppm per day/ weekly are you dosing. Or even where do you start?

 

[MTBake]

I would start slow. I started by dosing up to 1ppm. My tank used that up in 8 hrs. Dosed the same for the next couple days, morning and night. Then dosed it to 2ppm. Then to 4 or 5 ppm. Your system will use up the nitrates rapidly at first if it is nitrate limited. Haven't had to dose nitrates in 10 days or so as they are staying around 2ppm now. Too low of phosphates can also cause problems, so monitor phosphates as well.

 

[rtparty]

Dose and test. Repeat.

All of our systems are different and you'll have to find what your system needs. I started by dosing 5mL to my 60ish gallon system. Wait 24 hours and test. You'll eventually find what your system needs to stay at whatever level you are targeting.

I try to keep mine around 10ppm right now

 

[AquamanE]

Thank guys. I’m just looking for a place to start. Yes I’ll start slow, measure and repeat. I’m looking for DT reading of 5 and see how corals react.

I will start this in a week or two as I just sent testing to Triton. I don’t get the ZERO pe with my corals. Everything looks healthy otherwise. Lots of flow, lots of light, stable parameters etc.

 

[AquamanE]

Phosphates are at 0.05-0.1. That’s where I want them as long as no algae.

 

[rtparty]

Thank guys. I’m just looking for a place to start. Yes I’ll start slow, measure and repeat. I’m looking for DT reading of 5 and see how corals react.

I will start this in a week or two as I just sent testing to Triton. I don’t get the ZERO pe with my corals. Everything looks healthy otherwise. Lots of flow, lots of light, stable parameters etc.

Zero PE can signify pests. Whether that's a fish picking or red bugs or something else irritating them.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Dosing NO3 will cause your PO4 to go down. So test while dosing.

 

[AquamanE]

Zero PE can signify pests. Whether that's a fish picking or red bugs or something else irritating them.

Thanks rtparty but that’s been ruled out. Waiting on Triton before proceeding with anything.

 

[AquamanE]

Dosing NO3 will cause your PO4 to go down. So test while dosing.

Cool. If that happens I’ll feed more frozen foods.

 

[Toosalty]

I just started dosing KNO3 at 0.5ppm. My tank eats that up like nothing. I'm now at 1ppm, but still no traces left after 1 day. I need to up it some more in the upcoming days.

 

[jda]

You will just grow more and more anoxic bacteria that consume the nitrate. In the end, the corals will not have any more available to them than they did with lower water-borne concentrations and less bacteria. Absolute N "number" is not important - throughput is. Have a good amount of fish, feed them well and you will be OK.

If you have growth and color issues, then lights and mature tank go farther than nitrate and phosphate do.

 

[JMetaxas]

double post

 

[JMetaxas]

I started dosing KNO3 for two reasons. First, I'm battling a small Dino issue, and 2nd, to color up my SPS corals more. Since starting the tank, about 4 months ago, I've had undetectable Nitrates.

About a week ago I started dosing the equivalent of .8ppm Nitrate.(I bought Food grade KNO3 on Amazon.) One day I read about 1ppm in the tank, but it's since gone down.

I'm now dosing 2x that, or about 1.5ppm/day, and will test after a couple more days.

Otherwise, no noticeable effects on the tank or inhabitants.

 

[puffer420]

Dosing NO3 will cause your PO4 to go down. So test while dosing.

My phos dropped from .04 to. 02 while dozing no3 from . 75 to 5

 

[SOCOM]

Zero PE can signify pests. Whether that's a fish picking or red bugs or something else irritating them.

I also don’t think dosing your tank with nitrate is the answer. Every tank is different but I seen a lot of tanks with 0 nitrate with massive polyp extension.

 

[biophilia]

I dose once per week (by adding to the new water change water) a level that brings the tank to ~5ppm. My NO3 will typically be nearly undetectable at the next water change 7 days later. This is despite dosing aminos every other day and feeding daily so heavily that the water looks like a snowstorm and the SPS slime a bit -- so 1ppm per day seems reasonable if your tank has lots of anaerobic surface area or if you're carbon dosing.

Whether or not NO3 in itself is what is causing better color or polyp extension is anyone's guess!

 

[reeferfoxx]

I dose once per week (by adding to the new water change water) a level that brings the tank to ~5ppm. My NO3 will typically be nearly undetectable at the next water change 7 days later. This is despite dosing aminos every other day and feeding daily so heavily that the water looks like a snowstorm and the SPS slime a bit -- so 1ppm per day seems reasonable if your tank has lots of anaerobic surface area or if you're carbon dosing.

Whether or not NO3 in itself is what is causing better color or polyp extension is anyone's guess!

You have a stunning nano tank, BTW.

According to your post, very hungry corals as well.

 

[biophilia]

You have a stunning nano tank, BTW.

According to your post, very hungry corals as well.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm still experimenting with the right levels of "dosing nutrients" in the form of food/KNO3 vs. carbon dosing/water changes. My corals seem to only get happier the more I feed, but I'm sure it'll reach a tipping point eventually where things start to get eutrophic.

 

[Mattrg02]

I also don’t think dosing your tank with nitrate is the answer. Every tank is different but I seen a lot of tanks with 0 nitrate with massive polyp extension.

Truth. My LFS has awesome acroporas and has 0 nitrates and 0.1ppm phosphate. This is completely backwards but his corals tell a different tale.

I found that I was always having to dose both. I just decided to start chunking in mysis shrimp and filter feeder food and that all changed I now have a skimmer pulling junk for me that I never had before when dosing.

Edit: Fish are definitely liking this new method.

 

[Mrx]

I hear many on these forums are dosing Nitrates to maintain corals well “fed?”. I can’t get my Nitrates up. Corals are growing slowly but growing. Colors are reasonable. But ZERO polyp extension.

I bought some potassium nitrate (not stump remover). In another thread this calculator was recommended. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

Question is how many ppm per day/ weekly are you dosing. Or even where do you start?

Polyp extension is a false way of telling about SPS positives when looking for growth....look at the colors young man lol