New Experiment.... Nitrate Dosing with Spectracide Stump Remover

roadrashpaul · Oct 28, 2015

P is holding between .04-.08
N is right at 1 ppm

I dosed 10ml yesterday morning really early before I left. I wasn't here to dose any this morning and it's still holding at 1ppm. I just dosed 10ml and will check it tomorrow. I am thinking 10ml a day is going to be my dose for now. I want it to hold around 2ppm.

You guys that have been doing this for awhile, where do you keep N? Did there seem to be a sweet spot?

.AcroKiller. · Oct 28, 2015

I ask Randy the same question in this thread.
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Potassium-nitrate.219296/

roadrashpaul · Oct 28, 2015

Thanks Luis. I asked him about my cyano.

.AcroKiller. · Oct 29, 2015

After 48 hours without dosing I'm at .75 from 2 ppm

roadrashpaul · Nov 2, 2015

Will update with some numbers later. Overall everything looks great. Colors have slightly improved and I can tell there is some SPS growth. My skimmer is really pulling some dark nasty stuff now as well. Going to upgrade it soon. Cleaned my ATS and going to see if I can grow algae better on it now. It never would grow very well. I have pretty much weaned off the vinegar and GFO. I have some cyano but nothing major. I got another conch over the weekend to help keep the sand stirred up some.

roadrashpaul · Nov 4, 2015

Sorry for the delay. I have been crazy busy with work and life in general. I have not been able to test my N & P as much as I needed to and I am a little out of whack. Numbers are below. I have been dosing 10ml a day since last week.

N 4-5ppm
P holding steady at .04ppm

It seems that my 10ml dosing has been WAY to much after the initial uptake from the depletion. I am not going to dose for 2 days and test to see how much it drops. Some of my zoas are not opening all the way and my kenya tree is shrunk completely. Not sure if this is the cause but these have never done that before.

I am still having some cyano but it does seem to be getting a little better. My P is holding at .04ppm and I just can't seem to get it to drop any further. I did completely clean off my ATS of the weekend. It has a light brown dusting as of tonight but nothing major. I have to clean my glass 1-2 times a week and it is just a light dusting so the cyano is the only real issue.

Some of the SPS colors have slightly improved and I can tell everything is growing now. Actually the amount of growth on a couple of them is amazing. My purple stag has encrusted onto the plug at least a 1/4" where it wasn't encrusted at all when I started this. Same for my green slimer. It is taking off.

Will report back in a couple of days with new numbers and visual findings.

Luis how are you doing with it?

Mattrg02 · Nov 4, 2015

roadrashpaul said:
Will update with some numbers later. Overall everything looks great. Colors have slightly improved and I can tell there is some SPS growth. My skimmer is really pulling some dark nasty stuff now as well. Going to upgrade it soon. Cleaned my ATS and going to see if I can grow algae better on it now. It never would grow very well. I have pretty much weaned off the vinegar and GFO. I have some cyano but nothing major. I got another conch over the weekend to help keep the sand stirred up some.

I noticed this as well with the skimmer. It takes much longer to fill but it's very dark green and nasty looking.

roadrashpaul · Nov 4, 2015

One other thing is my ALK really jumped up without me adjusting my dosing pump at all. This could also be the reason some of my zoas aren't open. It was right at 10 yesterday. I pulled out the tube and didn't dose yesterday. It dropped down to 9. I want it to fall to around 8-8.5

bct15 · Nov 4, 2015

I have not read your whole thread, just your last comment.

Your alk jumped up without changing your dosing because your coral growth has slowed down. The alk uptake of your coral has lowered, this can be a sign of an upcoming SPS crash.

roadrashpaul · Nov 10, 2015

No SPS crash as of yet...

Nitrates are holding around 2ppm with little to no dosing and P is holding at .04-.08. Just going to leave it be for awhile. My ALK seems to have leveled off again also so now it is the waiting game and acquiring more frags

l8_apex_it · Nov 26, 2015

Any updates?
How are the corals doing overall? Zoas, and LPS opening nicely?

I just picked up Spectracide Stump Killer tonight. I have started dosing Seachem Flourish Nitrogen for the last few days. I too noticed a jump in ALK and had to back way off in order to get the ALK to start dropping.

.AcroKiller. · Nov 26, 2015

My tank is doing great I only have to dose 10 ml of my mix every 3 to 4 days.

roadrashpaul · Nov 26, 2015

l8_apex_it said:
Any updates?
How are the corals doing overall? Zoas, and LPS opening nicely?

I just picked up Spectracide Stump Killer tonight. I have started dosing Seachem Flourish Nitrogen for the last few days. I too noticed a jump in ALK and had to back way off in order to get the ALK to start dropping.

My salinity got WAY high a week or so ago and finally have it back down. Somethings didn't notice and others got mad. Trying to get everything back happy after that. I lost one SPS and nothing else. I think it was from this event but not sure.

I am only having to dose about 10ml a week to keep it up around 2ppm now. Colors look better but still am not getting the growth I want. Researching and coming up with new ideas for that.

Mike220 · Feb 17, 2017

tcoyle said:
I use Spectracide Stump remover.

Where do you buy. And how much you dose it
How many types spectracide stump or only one. I'm scare to make mistake

Ashish Patel · Jul 3, 2017

Wow, I just read the entire thread as I am now trying to increase nutrients by reducing skimmer usage, fuge light schedule and overfeeding.
Are there any updates on the long term benefits or effects of using this stump remover? This thread is old but I feel it should be re-visited.

.AcroKiller. · Jul 3, 2017

Ashish Patel said:
Wow, I just read the entire thread as I am now trying to increase nutrients by reducing skimmer usage, fuge light schedule and overfeeding.
Are there any updates on the long term benefits or effects of using this stump remover? This thread is old but I feel it should be re-visited.

Stump remover works great but you have to dose phosphates too because you will get Cyano if you don't due to nutrient imbalance.

rosshamsandwich · Feb 9, 2018

just feed more if you need phosphates..but dose nitrates. I'm looking at potassium nitrate and or sodium nitrate

Ashish Patel · Feb 9, 2018

I started dosing nitrates since it was always at .2PPM. I used flourish nitrogen sparingly for 10 days and it eventually reached 5PPM. Then I stopped dosing and now 2 weeks later I can't get my nitrates down from 5PPM.

I don't recommend dosing nitrates until you bio diversity is established since I tried dosing it at 3 months and had some major issues such as algae and some corals reacting badly. Now at 10 months the tank took the nitrates without any visible algae issues.

rosshamsandwich · Feb 9, 2018

Ashish Patel said:
I started dosing nitrates since it was always at .2PPM. I used flourish nitrogen sparingly for 10 days and it eventually reached 5PPM. Then I stopped dosing and now 2 weeks later I can't get my nitrates down from 5PPM. I don't recommend dosing nitrates until you bio diversity is established since I tried dosing it at 3 months and had some major issues such as algae and some corals reacting badly. Now at 10 months the tank took the nitrates without any visible algae issues.

5 ppm is nothing......