DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[Bob The Reefer]

You're welcome.

Good luck and happy reefing!

Bicarbonate arrived today €5/kg from an online baking shop.

I set it up on a doser head to deliver 15 doses of 1ml in 24hrs (which is not exactly 2x 7.36 but close enough for government work)

I'll report back.

 

[taricha]

I thought of some data we have that's relevant to a question in this thread.
Some people here have contemplated low gradual doses vs a bulk once a day.
@Dan_P provided some data a while back that is likely relevant to the question.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrifying-bacteria-where-are-you.888012/post-9914467

The takeaway is that at very low ammonia concentrations, the nitrifying community does not noticeably scale up, but the higher you go in ammonia concentration - the more the population of nitrifiers will increase in response.
The nitrifying population that Dan used in the experiment didn't really scale up or increase capacity noticeably at concentrations <0.1ppm ammonia.
It looked like at concentrations in the 0.1-0.5ppm range there was some modest ammonia processing increase, and as you go much over 0.5ppm ammonia you get into the "cycling" levels of ammonia and the population will scale up rapidly.
(@Dan_P does this jibe with your interpretation of this data?)

So low gradual doses may do a better job at keeping the nitrifiers from scaling up and starting to compete for the ammonia meant to feed corals, but a bulk dose is more likely to allow competing nitrifiers to scale up.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I thought of some data we have that's relevant to a question in this thread.
Some people here have contemplated low gradual doses vs a bulk once a day.
@Dan_P provided some data a while back that is likely relevant to the question.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrifying-bacteria-where-are-you.888012/post-9914467

The takeaway is that at very low ammonia concentrations, the nitrifying community does not noticeably scale up, but the higher you go in ammonia concentration - the more the population of nitrifiers will increase in response.
The nitrifying population that Dan used in the experiment didn't really scale up or increase capacity noticeably at concentrations <0.1ppm ammonia.
It looked like at concentrations in the 0.1-0.5ppm range there was some modest ammonia processing increase, and as you go much over 0.5ppm ammonia you get into the "cycling" levels of ammonia and the population will scale up rapidly.
(@Dan_P does this jibe with your interpretation of this data?)

So low gradual doses may do a better job at keeping the nitrifiers from scaling up and starting to compete for the ammonia meant to feed corals, but a bulk dose is more likely to allow competing nitrifiers to scale up.

Thanks for posting this. I think a lot of us were/are wondering if there is a benefit one way or the other. I guess we could start another bolus thread.