softreefer
New Member
Hello all,
This is my first post. Have being reading the forums for a couple of years now but never needed to post before. But now I have an issue I need to consult about because i haven’t found much information about it. First, a short introduction. I started my first reef tank (200l soft coral only) 16 years ago. 5 month ago I upgraded to 600l system. I always had low nitrate and somewhat elevated phosphate, which I solved by feeding a lot and using GFO in a small system. Also was experimenting with sugar addition for the last 2 years. Anyway, old gfo solution is no longer practical with a new larger system, so I consider NO3 dosing and carbon (sugar) supplementation. After 5 month the NO3 was still at a solid zero (hanna test and a chemical test) and PO4 climbing to 0.21ppm (hanna test). I started to use N from elementals as a short term solution. After dosing 5 times more than recommended (20ml/day) to rase to 5ppm daily for 10 days I got to 0.5pp with no change to PO4 yet. Started adding a tiny dose of sugar (just a few crystals for now to start slowly) to try to drop the PO4 to where I want it, which is 0.1ppm. As the NO3 is going up slowly I stay at that dose for now, until around 7ppm is reached. If sugar dosing drops the NO3, as it should, i will add more N product of cause.
Problem is I am probably going to need constant N addition and that N elementals product is too expensive, and probably produces a residue. At least some of it is Ca(NO3)2 as it has lots of Ca in it, as per Ca test i did on it. also contains some ammonia. There is no information on the lable about what it is, thats a bad thing too. I strongly suspect it is a mix of Ca(NO3)2 and NH4NO3. So I am looking for the DIY alternative. I was looking for the least harmful, no residue long term option. Ca(NO3)2 could be ok but its 100% soft coral tank, and Ca will accumulate, which I don’t want. So I found NH4NO3, which should be ideal in terms of being consumable with no residue, and providing what corals realy whant to eat which is ammonia, while also giving them nitate to eat later when ammonia is gone. Of cause ammonia is toxic so i must be careful not to overdose. I also have a very high ph, at 8.7 with no drop at night. Skimmer draws in air from the outside and a large frag tank is running on the opposite timetable. I ordered 18% solution from fertilizer production industry. They claim it is pure but of cause that is likely not as pure as id like. I can also get a lab grade pure one. Its still cheap. The question is how to dose that safely. I plan to dilute it to 5%, than dose arround 4.5ml/day (after a slow dial in period of 2-3 weeks) to provide enough organic nitrogen to the system. Question is, can I dose that much of it all at once, once a day, or do I need to dilute and use a dozer or some alternative to spread the dose. I also consider adding that to the auto top off water to spread and dilute. I'd love to get an expert opinion on the matter before I do any of that. Thank u.
This is my first post. Have being reading the forums for a couple of years now but never needed to post before. But now I have an issue I need to consult about because i haven’t found much information about it. First, a short introduction. I started my first reef tank (200l soft coral only) 16 years ago. 5 month ago I upgraded to 600l system. I always had low nitrate and somewhat elevated phosphate, which I solved by feeding a lot and using GFO in a small system. Also was experimenting with sugar addition for the last 2 years. Anyway, old gfo solution is no longer practical with a new larger system, so I consider NO3 dosing and carbon (sugar) supplementation. After 5 month the NO3 was still at a solid zero (hanna test and a chemical test) and PO4 climbing to 0.21ppm (hanna test). I started to use N from elementals as a short term solution. After dosing 5 times more than recommended (20ml/day) to rase to 5ppm daily for 10 days I got to 0.5pp with no change to PO4 yet. Started adding a tiny dose of sugar (just a few crystals for now to start slowly) to try to drop the PO4 to where I want it, which is 0.1ppm. As the NO3 is going up slowly I stay at that dose for now, until around 7ppm is reached. If sugar dosing drops the NO3, as it should, i will add more N product of cause.
Problem is I am probably going to need constant N addition and that N elementals product is too expensive, and probably produces a residue. At least some of it is Ca(NO3)2 as it has lots of Ca in it, as per Ca test i did on it. also contains some ammonia. There is no information on the lable about what it is, thats a bad thing too. I strongly suspect it is a mix of Ca(NO3)2 and NH4NO3. So I am looking for the DIY alternative. I was looking for the least harmful, no residue long term option. Ca(NO3)2 could be ok but its 100% soft coral tank, and Ca will accumulate, which I don’t want. So I found NH4NO3, which should be ideal in terms of being consumable with no residue, and providing what corals realy whant to eat which is ammonia, while also giving them nitate to eat later when ammonia is gone. Of cause ammonia is toxic so i must be careful not to overdose. I also have a very high ph, at 8.7 with no drop at night. Skimmer draws in air from the outside and a large frag tank is running on the opposite timetable. I ordered 18% solution from fertilizer production industry. They claim it is pure but of cause that is likely not as pure as id like. I can also get a lab grade pure one. Its still cheap. The question is how to dose that safely. I plan to dilute it to 5%, than dose arround 4.5ml/day (after a slow dial in period of 2-3 weeks) to provide enough organic nitrogen to the system. Question is, can I dose that much of it all at once, once a day, or do I need to dilute and use a dozer or some alternative to spread the dose. I also consider adding that to the auto top off water to spread and dilute. I'd love to get an expert opinion on the matter before I do any of that. Thank u.
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