DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[taricha]

I don’t know. Perhaps other have tested it. @taricha

Hanna is good, but it gives the same low level performance as API, most everybody with an established stable tank will read 0.1-0.2ppm total ammonia on hanna, the same way they read a slight blush of green on API ammonia.
It's just an artifact of the test kit chemistry.

The short answer is to simply interpret 0.1-0.2ppm readings as zero baseline the same way a slight blush of green on API should be read as zero.

@Propane the advantage of hanna over API ammonia is that it will give you numbers.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I am strongly considering starting to dose this. No matter how much I feed, my nitrates will not stay detectible.

I have an unopened ammonium chloride, dr Tim's brand.

I thought I saw this specific product mentioned in greater detail in this thread a month ago, but I am not seeing it.

What should I do, to go from this bottle of liquid ammonium chloride, to a stock solution, to dosing a 75g with the stock.

I am going to take another pass through the documentation to see if I can figure this out.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am strongly considering starting to dose this. No matter how much I feed, my nitrates will not stay detectible.

I have an unopened ammonium chloride, dr Tim's brand.

I thought I saw this specific product mentioned in greater detail in this thread a month ago, but I am not seeing it.

What should I do, to go from this bottle of liquid ammonium chloride, to a stock solution, to dosing a 75g with the stock.

I am going to take another pass through the documentation to see if I can figure this out.

Going from the Dr Tim's potency claims, I'd just follow the advice in the first post and calculate how much that 0.1 ppm is:

Don't be overly afraid of dosing ammonia due to toxicity, but one cannot dose substantial amounts all at once. IMO, it is safe to add 0.1 ppm ammonia (equivalent to 0.36 ppm nitrate) at once to any reef tank, and one can likely add more, if it mixes in well. Don't dose it right onto a fish, but dosing 2-3x that amount at once is also likely OK. Of course, using a dosing pump to spread out the dosing is fine and may be preferable, but be sure to guard against dosing pumps out of control (e.g., stuck on). Stock solutions can be increased or decreased in potency to match pumping needs. The ammonia could also be put into an ato since exact daily dosing is not required.

 

[biom]

I am strongly considering starting to dose this. No matter how much I feed, my nitrates will not stay detectible.

I have an unopened ammonium chloride, dr Tim's brand.

I thought I saw this specific product mentioned in greater detail in this thread a month ago, but I am not seeing it.

What should I do, to go from this bottle of liquid ammonium chloride, to a stock solution, to dosing a 75g with the stock.

I am going to take another pass through the documentation to see if I can figure this out.

From my previous post for 75 gal tank water about 0.6 ml of Dr. Tims will be needed to raise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

Randy's - 13.5 grams of ammonium chloride to 1 L RO/DI water - 2.2ml of it in 100 L (26 gal) tank water will rise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

30 grams of ammonium chloride to 1 L RO/DI water - 1ml of it in 100 L (26 gal) tank water will rise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

113 grams (4 Ounces bottle Loudwolf) of ammonium chloride to 1 L RO/DI water - 0.26ml of it in 100 L (26 gal) tank water will rise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

113 grams (4 Ounces bottle Loudwolf) of ammonium chloride to 760 ml RO/DI water - 0.2ml of it in 100 L (26 gal) tank water will rise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride - 0.2ml of it in 100 L (26 gal) tank water will rise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

I am using 30 gr/ 1L water because for me is easier to remember 1 ml /100 L /0.1 ppm NH4/NH3

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

From my previous post for 75 gal tank water about 0.6 ml of Dr. Tims will be needed to raise NH4/NH3 with 0.1 ppm

I knew I saw this somewhere, wouldn't come up in thread search and I must have kept skimming past it. I came to the number of 11 drops so it sounds like I was close.

Sould I still make a stock to further dilute, or is 1 drop straight from the bottle into the first chamber of the sump okay?

 

[biom]

If 1 ml is 20 drops, then 11 drops is very close to .6 ml. Dosing in sump area straight from the bottle is okay, there is no need for additional dilution

 

[Red_Beard]

So far, (not very far, 4 days) dosing .1 ppm at night, i have already seen some color improvements on my hammer. Vivid green. I tried to grab one with the firefish for contrast, this was taken with no filters on the lens:

I have also noticed some growth in my digitata and seriatopora, they have been in tank just shy of a month, i know 4 days of ammonia dosing isnt likely the sole cause there but so far this has been working great! Still no measurable no3, so i may add another .1 ppm in the AM also.
Thank you again @Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Good to hear!

 

[spsick]

Gonna give this a shot on a Fishless system I have running. Will report back in a couple months.

 

[Enderg60]

Ive decided to give this a try. Not only do I have a reef with not enough fish yet and an invert and coral QT that could use some nitrogen, but it would be great for keeping my fist QT preped for the next batch of newbies!

Could someone just double check my math?

The NH4CL I got says 1 tsp is = 4.5g. So based on the OP that would be 3 tsp per Liter to make the solution.

2.3ml of this solution into 100L would raise the NH4 to 0.1 mg/L. My system is 2500L, so I would want to dose 57.5 mL of solution to raise the HN4 to 0.1 correct?

Is this a once a day dose or should this be metered slowly throughout the day?

 

[Propane]

Just an update. I’m up to 4mls total a day for 17g of water volume. 2mls am and 2mls pm. I don’t know if it’s helping but I can say so far it’s definitely not caused anything negative to happen in my tank. Getting good visible growth ( even have a photographic record of it) and my foul tempered mollies are showing no signs of stress. My nitrates are good now but I’ve been feeding more as well. When I find a consistent feeding pattern I’ll see where it sits and update.

 

[spsick]

Maybe a silly question, but is ammonia toxic to snails? If I’m adding it to a Fishless system to feed corals and they don’t take it all up (just a frag/qt tank) will I kill snails if I ramp up the dose?

 

[Red_Beard]

Maybe a silly question, but is ammonia toxic to snails? If I’m adding it to a Fishless system to feed corals and they don’t take it all up (just a frag/qt tank) will I kill snails if I ramp up the dose?

Most of this will be digested by bacteria in an established aquarium. Shouldn't hurt your snails. I have been dosing 5-10ml per day(depends how late for work i am in the AM) in my 75, no issues with the snails.

 

[Propane]

I have 5 cerith snails all are doing fine on 4 mls in 17g water volume. Cleaner shrimp also doing fine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Maybe a silly question, but is ammonia toxic to snails? If I’m adding it to a Fishless system to feed corals and they don’t take it all up (just a frag/qt tank) will I kill snails if I ramp up the dose?

Yes, ammonia is toxic is to all organisms at some concentration, but if you are adding it at a reasonable rate, that’s not a concern.

 

[ReefHunter006]

The bicarbonate route seems easier given there is no alk component to worry about. Am I missing something? I get the sense people are leaning more towards the chloride version.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd use the ammonium bicarbonate if I were to do it.

 

[ReefHunter006]

I'd use the ammonium bicarbonate if I were to do it.

Do you have a recommended product I can try?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you have a recommended product I can try?

Amazon lists several. The “unpretentious” brand looks reasonable.

 

[jackson6745]

So, is anyone dosing in an established SPS system regularly? Have you seen a boost in polyp extension or growth?