Should I dose nitrate?

[Tinnerito]

Hello! What would be yall's opinion on dosing for my future macro tank with nitrates? A current tank of mine with a few fish, a few corals, and a bit of macro is already difficult to keep nitrates in balance, so I would imagine a tank full of macroalgae would need more support. If I were to dose, then I'm thinking of going neonitro. The plan for this tank is to have a few fish, a lot of inverts, no corals, but a lot of macroalgae. ^u^

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hello! What would be yall's opinion on dosing for my future macro tank with nitrates? A current tank of mine with a few fish, a few corals, and a bit of macro is already difficult to keep nitrates in balance, so I would imagine a tank full of macroalgae would need more support. If I were to dose, then I'm thinking of going neonitro. The plan for this tank is to have a few fish, a lot of inverts, no corals, but a lot of macroalgae. ^u^

I would recommend ammonia instead of nitrate.

 

[Spare time]

Ammonium chloride, amino acids, or a more economical sodium nitrate product would be my choice

 

[Tinnerito]

I would recommend ammonia instead of nitrate.

Ammonia is at a stable level. Tests for 0.25, however nitrate always at 0 unless I feed insane amounts of food

 

[sixty_reefer]

Ammonia is at a stable level. Tests for 0.25, however nitrate always at 0 unless I feed insane amounts of food

In that case nitrate is your best choice, I was thinking you were asking as in a source of nutrient for the algae, as they will assimilate ammonia easier compared to nitrate were they have to spend energy to convert it.

 

[BriDroid]

Ammonium chloride, amino acids, or a more economical sodium nitrate product would be my choice

Do the amino acids add nitrate to the system?

 

[Spare time]

Do the amino acids add nitrate to the system?

They are basically a phosphate free food that bacteria, corals, and probably macroalgae can take up (based on a quick google search for macroalgae lol). Whatever isn't consumed will be broken down into forms of nitrogen like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. For example, I use vitachem marine, soak flakes in it, then whatever washes off or isn't used goes to my coral. I tend to prefer just feeding heavily to provide macroalgae what they need, but the nice thing about aminos is that they don't have phosphate so, if that is a concern, you don't need to worry about the additional phosphate.

 

[Spare time]

Ammonia is at a stable level. Tests for 0.25, however nitrate always at 0 unless I feed insane amounts of food

Probably just an error on the test or your part. It usually will never be that in an established reef tank.

 

[Pistondog]

Some of us think ammonia is easier for corals and macro to use, hence we dose some form like ammonium bicarbonate. If not used by the macro, it will be converted into nitrate.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello! What would be yall's opinion on dosing for my future macro tank with nitrates? A current tank of mine with a few fish, a few corals, and a bit of macro is already difficult to keep nitrates in balance, so I would imagine a tank full of macroalgae would need more support. If I were to dose, then I'm thinking of going neonitro. The plan for this tank is to have a few fish, a lot of inverts, no corals, but a lot of macroalgae. ^u^

Personally I'd be dosing some form of Ammonia rather than Nitrate.

Btw, I expect your ammonia test is incorrect if it is showing 0.25 in a cycled tank

 

[sixty_reefer]

Personally I'd be dosing some form of Ammonia rather than Nitrate.

Btw, I expect your ammonia test is incorrect if it is showing 0.25 in a cycled tank

He his using most likely an api test kit. Common error

 

[Tinnerito]

Personally I'd be dosing some form of Ammonia rather than Nitrate.

Btw, I expect your ammonia test is incorrect if it is showing 0.25 in a cycled tank

Hm, I'm not sure then. I use a liquid tester with a conversion chart, and it was sort of between 0 and 0.25, so I just assumed about 0.2ppm ish...

 

[Tinnerito]

They are basically a phosphate free food that bacteria, corals, and probably macroalgae can take up (based on a quick google search for macroalgae lol). Whatever isn't consumed will be broken down into forms of nitrogen like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. For example, I use vitachem marine, soak flakes in it, then whatever washes off or isn't used goes to my coral. I tend to prefer just feeding heavily to provide macroalgae what they need, but the nice thing about aminos is that they don't have phosphate so, if that is a concern, you don't need to worry about the additional phphosphate.

So what would make using nitrate any worse than amino acids?

 

[Subsea]

Hello! What would be yall's opinion on dosing for my future macro tank with nitrates? A current tank of mine with a few fish, a few corals, and a bit of macro is already difficult to keep nitrates in balance, so I would imagine a tank full of macroalgae would need more support. If I were to dose, then I'm thinking of going neonitro. The plan for this tank is to have a few fish, a lot of inverts, no corals, but a lot of macroalgae. ^u^

I have mixed gardens with ornamental macro and I dose ammonia. My nitrates are zero and I don’t see any problems.

 

[Tinnerito]

I have mixed gardens with ornamental macro and I dose ammonia. My nitrates are zero and I don’t see any problems.

Thats interesting. I will look into that further

 

[Subsea]

So what would make using nitrate any worse than amino acids?

Bacteria acting on proteins produce amino acids. I see little reason to dose amino acids when the microbial loop is the source of amino acids.