Dosing Potassium Nitrate

[CastAway]

That is great Jeff! Color and growth, have you had any problems with algae?

Knock wood, not yet. I plan to stay on top of my GFO, to keep it fresh. Hope to take advantage of the club deal on GFO and ROX! Also planning on supplementing my CUC.

 

[PSXerholic]

Knock wood, not yet. I plan to stay on top of my GFO, to keep it fresh. Hope to take advantage of the club deal on GFO and ROX! Also planning on supplementing my CUC.

Hey castaway, @Mark75 ,
Funny, i was searching for a related Subjekt and saw this conversation.

Well, I need to check with @Randy Holmes-Farley .
My experience with potassium Nitrate is that it likeky causes enhanced Alge growth if potassium Level in the tank exceeds 410-430 ppm already. I used to dose VSV to maintain at least no3 not less than 0.25
But sometimes it drops to zero and results in pale corals within a few days. In that case I bandaid with the stomp remover to keep it up for a few days. Since I maintain potassium around 420, I'm at the border where the high potassium definitely causes algae even with very very low phosphates.
My theory is that the potassium nitrate dosing increases further not just nitrates, as well increases potassium, ready to take for algae and corals. So in my case the stomp remover bumps my system into high potassium levels, when I use it, causing algae.
I'm almost sure about this fact, since my potassium raises while not dosing potassium as an element at the moment, but I do dose the stomp remover again.

The awesome effect in castaways case I think is the fact that a lil bit of nitrates is necessary for the corals and as well he doses by default potassium, which is greatly color enhancing and in most tanks in the lower limits anyways if not dosed as an element separately.

Would like to hear @Randy Holmes-Farley on this matter, since I'm not a chemist.

 

[CastAway]

I am seeing some increase in algae. :mad:

Nothing I'm panicking over, but it is there.

 

[PSXerholic]

I am seeing some increase in algae. :mad:

Nothing I'm panicking over, but it is there.

Lol, check potassium level please and let me know.

All I can say to the algae is, it never turned into a real issue. Just more cleaning the glass in my case.

 

[cee]

My concerns about this product all along seem to be manifesting themselves if you buy into this thread:

http://reef2reef.com/threads/spectracide-nitrate-dosing-warning-of-potential-danger.233536/

Dave

 

[cee]

I always bought into the belief that the potassium component had more to do with the coloration improvement than the nitrate but if there are copper impurities then DO NOT DOSE this product into your aquarium. There are other nitrate-containing products of laboratory grade available inexpensively that are much better choices IMO.

 

[BryanS4]

I always bought into the belief that the potassium component had more to do with the coloration improvement than the nitrate but if there are copper impurities then DO NOT DOSE this product into your aquarium. There are other nitrate-containing products of laboratory grade available inexpensively that are much better choices IMO.

What would you suggest that contains the potassium component that might help improve colors?

I'm dosing straight sodium nitrate now, but its only been a short time so can't speak to the results.

 

[cee]

Sodium nitrate with sodium bicarbonate (for alkalinity) and calcium chloride (for Ca) does concern me a tiny bit as the unintended ions combine to make salt and could cause the salinity to rise (probably a very small amount, though, and right now I'm in too mellow of a mood to do the calculation). Much safer than potassium nitrate, especially if the copper impurity turns out to be true. I use calcium nitrate as both of those ions are beneficial.

Dave

 

[cee]

What would you suggest that contains the potassium component that might help improve colors?

ULNS systems tend to run low potassium. I'm not sure why but low K levels have been shown to cause washed-out colors in montiporas in particular so I suspect the same could be true for other corals.

 

[CastAway]

Be it the N, or the K, I'm definitely seeing some color "improvement". Of course, what's an improvement to a human eye may not be an improvement from a corals perspective I guess.

A month ago this valida was blue and white.

Ive heard enough however to concern me with the stump remover, and stop. I have not dosed in quite some time. Nitrate seem to be holding between .5 and 1 on its own at this point anyway.

If I manufactured stump remover, I do not think I'd be too scrupulous on what was actually in it, given its intended purpose.

Maybe Triton or someone will bless us with an analysis, regarding the copper.

 

[PSXerholic]

@CastAway ,

I run the Stomp Remover only as a bandaid and not use much.
Anyways, I would love to know your Potassium levels? Do you test for that?

PSXerholic

 

[CastAway]

Didn't even know there was a test. [emoji15]

 

[PSXerholic]

@CastAway , check Red Sea combo test. Potassium, Iodine and Iron. Iron is pretty useless, but the other two are great.

For colorization you need to keep an eye on the following parameter to avoid a loss on expensive corals and to maintain vibrant colors:
CA,MG,ALK of course.....
Min No3 and Po4
Iodine
Potassium as well as Strontium

The last 2 are extremely important since part of the calcification, and greatly responsible for blue and pink/red.

Can strongly recommend to test for that at least once a month.