Nitrate dosing consistancy question

[Muttley000]

I have about 500 gallons in my system that is a few years old and I have never measured nitrates in the system. I have had epic algae problems in the past and am mostly over them after 2 rounds of flucon and 2' square cheato ball and an ATS. I recently started dosing a solution of 113 grams of sodium nitrate in a liter of water. I found it took 42 ml of solution to bring me to 1 ppm. I have also discovered that my system requires about 53 ml per day added to maintain the 1 ppm. My question is how important is the swing I am getting from the manual dose 1 time per day? I have a spare DOS head, should I be auto dosing or is it a waste of a DOS pump? Thanks in advance for all thoughts!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I don't think there's much of a problem with dosing once a day. The big thing is you're only increasing nitrates by about 1 ppm at a time. If you were boosting nitrates by 5 ppm or more, all at once every single day, that might be an issue. But 1 ppm is not a huge increase.

Putting it on a doser might be easier just so you don't have to remember to dose. But, as long as you're okay with hand dosing, that's probably fine for your tank.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Of course at some point you will reach a saturation point and will need to test frequently to not over shoot.

What’s your P04 at?

 

[Muttley000]

Of course at some point you will reach a saturation point and will need to test frequently to not over shoot.

What’s your P04 at?

.012 via Hanna ULR checker. I'm very new to this part of the game, and I have no intention of exceeding 2ppm nitrates. I am checking every day with Red Sea pro test before I add my dose to prevent overshooting.