How much NO3 can you safely dose in a day?

[ClearRain]

I've been dosing ME coral nitrate for a little over a week. I add 2.5 ml to my 13.5 Evo, which will raise 1ppm. I've been checking it on an API test(I know.. it's what's available to me lol) and it's consistently been reading >5pmm. I've upped the dosage to 2.5 ml 2x a day to raise 2ppm daily. Still >5ppm. I have a LR Hanna checker on the way, but until then, how much NO3 can I safely dose in a day? Aiming for at least 5ppm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Assuming good purity of the product used, you can safely dose as much as it takes to attain a desirable level, such as 5 ppm.

 

[ClearRain]

Assuming good purity of the product used, you can safely dose as much as it takes to attain a desirable level, such as 5 ppm.

Pharmaceutical grade potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and calcium nitrate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Pharmaceutical grade potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and calcium nitrate.

It's a little unusual to combine all of those, but you can dose all you want to maintain nitrate where you want it.

Calcium nitrate alone is generally the best single chemical for nitrate (since it doesn't raise alk relative to calcium while the other two do), but I don't suggest it often as it is not as readily available from places like amazon where sodium nitrate is readily available.