Is nitrate dosing effective

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do ya'll have a recommended source for Calcium Nitrate? How about this one https://www.laballey.com/products/calcium-nitrate-crystal-lab?variant=7218967838779

I don’t, which is why I recommend food grade sodium nitrate that is readily available.

the linked one doesn’t give any useful purity info thst I could see. Lad grade can mean anything they want it to mean.

 

[keithIHS]

I don’t, which is why I recommend food grade sodium nitrate that is readily available.

the linked one doesn’t give any useful purity info thst I could see. Lad grade can mean anything they want it to mean.

Yeah, I worried about too. I think I've seen Loudwolf sodium nitrate mentioned here on R2R, and I just saw on Amazon that Loudwolf sells calcium nitrate also. But I'll assume you don't recomment Loudwolf. I did see this site (https://www.americanelements.com/calcium-nitrate-10124-37-5) that sells 2, 3, 4, and 5 nines purity. I shudder to think what the price will be. I asked for a quote for 500 g/year, along with info on impurities. I'll be surprised if they even respond, but I'll post their response if I get one. Thanks Randy for your help.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Loudwolf calcium nitrate may be ok, depending on how you dose it, but it has a fair amount of ammonia in if so spread the dosing outt

The item for sale is 1 Lb (16 Ounces) of Calcium Nitrate (Ca(NO3)2·4H2O). You get 2 bottles each containing 8 ounces of product. Calcium Nitrate has many uses. The total Nitrogen content is 15.50% (1% Ammonical and 14.50% Nitrate). The total Calcium content is 19%.

 

[Gatorpa]

Loudwolf calcium nitrate may be ok, depending on how you dose it, but it has a fair amount of ammonia in if so spread the dosing outt

The item for sale is 1 Lb (16 Ounces) of Calcium Nitrate (Ca(NO3)2·4H2O). You get 2 bottles each containing 8 ounces of product. Calcium Nitrate has many uses. The total Nitrogen content is 15.50% (1% Ammonical and 14.50% Nitrate). The total Calcium content is 19%.

Since Calcium nitrate could raise Ca levels, could NaNo3 raise salinity? Or is there too little Na in the NaNo3 to have much effect?

Been awhile since I did chem calculations

 

[gbroadbridge]

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Since Calcium nitrate could raise Ca levels, could NaNo3 raise salinity? Or is there too little Na in the NaNo3 to have much effect?

Been awhile since I did chem calculations

It will, but you would have to dose an awful lot to see any meaningful rise in Sodium in even a smallish tank.

I haven't done the calc either but there is a lot of sodium in normal seawater.

I'm sure Randy will whack me if I'm wrong

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Since Calcium nitrate could raise Ca levels, could NaNo3 raise salinity? Or is there too little Na in the NaNo3 to have much effect?

Been awhile since I did chem calculations

Yes, sodium nitrate will VERY slowly raise salinity. But so do foods. Lots of things have small effects in salinity thst folks don’t think about, nor should they in most situations.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sodium nitrate is 27% sodium by weight.

if you add 2 ppm nitrate daily, that means you are adding 0.74 ppm of sodium per day.

0.74 ppm is 0.00074 ppt

Thus the daily rise in salinity is

35 ppt to 35.00074 ppt

 

[Big E]

Is there a common nitrate mix formula for sodium nitrate?

 

[exnisstech]

My nitrates run low and are often around 1ppm, but I’d prefer to be in the 5-10 range. I will periodically dose my tank with a sodium nitrate solution to raise it when it’s getting close to 0. I saw where one reputable user on the forum said that dosing nitrate does not provide nitrate in a easily usable form for corals.
Is there a difference between nitrate from fish waste and nitrates that were directly dosed when it comes to coral metabolism?

Did you ever get your nitrates consistent where you want them? If so what method ended up working best for you? Thanks

 

[Gtinnel]

Did you ever get your nitrates consistent where you want them? If so what method ended up working best for you? Thanks

My nitrates have actually been running higher than I’d like recently.
I started dosing amino acids and my nitrates began to rise, so I was growing chaeto to keep them down. Eventually my chaeto melted for some reason and added a lot of nitrates back to my tank. I went a few months without checking nitrates because I had an algae problem because of the high levels of nitrates and I was honestly fed up with it. I finally checked my nitrates about a month ago after the algae cleared and I was running at about 25 so I started looking into possibly trying chaeto again or maybe carbon dosing. I also tried to stop dosing aminos and my nitrates didn’t fall, so I’m honestly not sure why I used to have low nitrates and now they run high.
I will say that my corals seem happier when the my nitrates are higher. As long as I can keep nuisance algae away and the corals are happy I’m to the point where I don’t really care what my nitrate level is.

 

[KStatefan]

Is there a common nitrate mix formula for sodium nitrate?

Just dose to what make sense to you. When I was manually dosing I had dosing set up to be in TeaSpoon/TableSpoon amounts. When I switched to dosing pumps I used ml amounts.

 

[Natedogg1978]

My nitrates run low and are often around 1ppm, but I’d prefer to be in the 5-10 range. I will periodically dose my tank with a sodium nitrate solution to raise it when it’s getting close to 0. I saw where one reputable user on the forum said that dosing nitrate does not provide nitrate in a easily usable form for corals.
Is there a difference between nitrate from fish waste and nitrates that were directly dosed when it comes to coral metabolism?

Can you tell me if I am carbon dosing NoPox, can I also dose brightwells Neonitro to increase nitrate. The NoPox keeps my phosphate where I want it, but I am noIt sure if it’s a conflict dosing the nitrate. Thanks

 

[Gtinnel]

Can you tell me if I am carbon dosing NoPox, can I also dose brightwells Neonitro to increase nitrate. The NoPox keeps my phosphate where I want it, but I am noIt sure if it’s a conflict dosing the nitrate. Thanks

I’m far from an expert but I don’t see what it would hurt. I would probably look into using gfo to control phosphates instead though.

 

[Natedogg1978]

I’m far from an expert but I don’t see what it would hurt. I would probably look into using gfo to control phosphates instead though.

Thanks for the reply

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

My nitrates run low and are often around 1ppm, but I’d prefer to be in the 5-10 range. I will periodically dose my tank with a sodium nitrate solution to raise it when it’s getting close to 0. I saw where one reputable user on the forum said that dosing nitrate does not provide nitrate in a easily usable form for corals.
Is there a difference between nitrate from fish waste and nitrates that were directly dosed when it comes to coral metabolism?

And who is this mystery member, could you quote their post so it can be interpreted.

 

[Gtinnel]

And who is this mystery member, could you quote their post so it can be interpreted.

This request is about 6 months too late for me to even remember who it was, and even if I did I probably wouldn’t call them out on it publicly. I was just trying to validate something I’d heard and not start and argument over it.

 

[KStatefan]

And who is this mystery member, could you quote their post so it can be interpreted.

The bio availability has come up in a few of the threads about dosing nutrition but I have never seen any data behind it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think the perception is based on the idea that some corals prefer (that is, preferentially uptake) ammonia to nitrate when both are available. It doesn't mean nitrate is not usable (never seen any data saying that nitrate is not usable).

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

This request is about 6 months too late for me to even remember who it was, and even if I did I probably wouldn’t call them out on it publicly. I was just trying to validate something I’d heard and not start and argument over it.

No no I know I was j.k

 

[Yanir34]

Im dosing DIY no3 and po4.
The results is amazing.
Corals have much bertter coloration , and my cheato is double in size every week.
Very happy.
My tank is only 3 months old (im on the hobby for that last 15 years).