sodium nitate dosing instructions

miggs76 · Apr 4, 2016

I am going to dose sodium nitrate to get my nitrates up to about 1ppm. With very heavy feeding I can't even get them detectable on two different tests (red sea and salifert).

Tank volume is about 65 gallons

Anyone know the dosage instructions to get the tank at about 1ppm? I have a 4 ounce bottle of 99% pure sodium nitrate. Thanks!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2016

Here's a recipe:

Dissolve 10 grams in 1 liter of fresh water. That 10 grams contains 6.14 grams of nitrate, so that solution is 6,140 ppm nitrate.

If you add 1 ml of the solution per 2 gallons of tank water volume, that will boost nitrate by 0.8 ppm nitrate.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2016

That assumes you have a scale.

miggs76 · Apr 4, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That assumes you have a scale.

miggs76 · Apr 4, 2016

Thank you very much! I do have a scale. I'll mix it the solution tonight. So I'm looking at adding about 30-35 ml of the solution since I have about 65 total gallons in the tank then.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2016

Sounds good.

Let us know how it turns out!

reefaboo · Apr 4, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Sounds good.

Let us know how it turns out!

and if we dont have a scale ? can you guide us in terms of teaspoons and table spoons

and we are talking about this yea ?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2437869742&pf_rd_i=desktop

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2016

Yes.

You can get a rough estimate by knowing the bulk density. It is just a bit over 1 g/mL typically, so 10 grams is about 10 mL of the dry powder.

jsker · Apr 4, 2016

Here is you Food fact, Sodium Nitrate is also used in cured meats as a preservation agent. I use it all the time when I cure meat, but in lower amounts for the reason that in high amounts it can be toxic and I would assume this would be the case with live stock. You can also use a ground celery, or a puree of celery for a more natural form a Sodium Nitrate. You know the bacon that says that is uncured in the store, they use celery juice and celery salt to get around saying that they are using Sodium Nitrate. One other tidbit you also have a 100 time more Sodium Nitrate in your saliva than a piece of cured bacon. So spit in the tank and you will get your nitrate up. This is all for you fun facts today.

furam28 · Apr 4, 2016

What's your phosphate level at? When I started dosing nitrate, my phosphate level went from 0 to dangerously low, and caused some loss of coloration and burnt tips in a few SPS. I would suggest monitoring both nitrate and phosphate level as you dose nitrate. As long as you have detectable level of phosphate you are good. Here's my experience: http://reef2reef.com/threads/nitrate-dosing.174396/page-3#post-2848099