Nitrate essentially non-existent

[Faulkner’s maze]

Well i was a bit surprised to find my nitrate at .2 after testing after a couple of months.
I do believe it is accurate as there is no discernible color after adding the reagent (Hanna) at all.


Probably due to my faux algae scrubber aka all the algae in my sump. I kept this going over the summer to keep PH from dropping way too low (7.4-7.6). I kept the light in the sump going 24/7. Unfortunately due to all the travel I didn’t have time to contend with it.

With the recent addition of my kalk doser last week -I have shut down the refugium light and the algae is disappearing really quickly.

Little surprised as I do feed heavy. PO4 is at .5

Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution? I think I may have some sodium nitrate (powder) around.

TIA.

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

Well i was a bit surprised to find my nitrate at .2 after testing after a couple of months.
I do believe it is accurate as there is no discernible color after adding the reagent (Hanna) at all.


Probably due to my faux algae scrubber aka all the algae in my sump. I kept this going over the summer to keep PH from dropping way too low (7.4-7.6). I kept the light in the sump going 24/7. Unfortunately due to all the travel I didn’t have time to contend with it.

With the recent addition of my kalk doser last week -I have shut down the refugium light and the algae is disappearing really quickly.

Little surprised as I do feed heavy. PO4 is at .5

Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution? I think I may have some sodium nitrate (powder) around.

TIA.

Oh my nitrates used to be 12-20

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

if the tank has corals in it, I’d dose ammonium bicarbonate until nitrate rises a bit.

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

if the tank has corals in it, I’d dose ammonium bicarbonate until nitrate rises a bit.

Tank has a lot of corals.
Will this impact alk at all and where do I get this and what dosage?
I am not familiar with this. Thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tank has a lot of corals.
Will this impact alk at all and where do I get this and what dosage?
I am not familiar with this. Thanks.

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

Thanks I will read up on this.

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

Give it a shot. Do I need to be concerned about toxicity to fish?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Not if you dose at the rates stated there. Ammonia is less toxic than most people think.

 

[exnisstech]

I just use food grade sodium nitrate from Amazon when NO3 is at or close to zero. I have no doubt Randy's recommendation for ammonia dosing is more benificial for coral but I like the simplicity of using the sodium nitrate and being able to raise NO3 3-5 safely all at once. I've not seen any negatives but I'm also not trying to get stellar coral growth, I'm happy with average since I don't frag to sell.

EDIT : I only posted because the OP already has the product

"Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution? I think I may have some sodium nitrate (powder) around."

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

Not if you dose at the rates stated there. Ammonia is less toxic than most people think.

Duly noted. Thank you again.

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

I just use food grade sodium nitrate from Amazon when NO3 is at or close to zero. I have no doubt Randy's recommendation for ammonia dosing is more benificial for coral but I like the simplicity of using the sodium nitrate and being able to raise NO3 3-5 safely all at once. I've not seen any negatives but I'm also not trying to get stellar coral growth, I'm happy with average since I don't frag to sell.

EDIT : I only posted because the OP already has the product

"Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution? I think I may have some sodium nitrate (powder) around."

Fair enough point. I am intrigued though by the ammonium approach though.
Remains
To be seen if the NO3 remains depleted & need supplemental assistance or will rise on its own accord again. First time in 5 yrs of reefing that I have encountered this issue…

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just use food grade sodium nitrate from Amazon when NO3 is at or close to zero. I have no doubt Randy's recommendation for ammonia dosing is more benificial for coral but I like the simplicity of using the sodium nitrate and being able to raise NO3 3-5 safely all at once. I've not seen any negatives but I'm also not trying to get stellar coral growth, I'm happy with average since I don't frag to sell.

EDIT : I only posted because the OP already has the product

"Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution? I think I may have some sodium nitrate (powder) around."

That is certainly a/ fine plan, and is easier to implement since once a day manual dosing (or pump dosing) works fine for nitrate.

 

[FindingNem0]

I had the same issue where my nirate was dropping bit by bit weekly, just before it bottomed out. I started dosing nitrate. Was doing manual dosing, so 5 drops which equaled to about 0.1 nitrate, after about a weeks worth it was around 0.5. Slowly got it back to 1ppm

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
Just so my math is clear -based on the formulas (either one) I would start dosing
5.6 ml (2.3 x 2.4 for a 244 L system) at a minimum.
potentially dosing ~11-15 ml 2 to 3x a day.

Is there a max that I should be concerned about.

Will be using a doser to put in solution into sump 2-3x a day.
Thank you again.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
Just so my math is clear -based on the formulas (either one) I would start dosing
5.6 ml (2.3 x 2.4 for a 244 L system) at a minimum.
potentially dosing ~11-15 ml 2 to 3x a day.

Is there a max that I should be concerned about.

Will be using a doser to put in solution into sump 2-3x a day.
Thank you again.

What solutions are you referring to? The ammonium dosing recipes?

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

What solutions are you referring to? The ammonium dosing recipes?

Yes -the ammonium ones. Sorry not being specific

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, those calculations are correct. If you get there slowly and nitrate is still not rising, I would not be worried about going to even more doses spread out.

 

[Faulkner’s maze]

Yes, those calculations are correct. If you get there slowly and nitrate is still not rising, I would not be worried about going to even more doses spread out.

Ok-sounds good. Thx

 

[CopperPotReefs]

I’ve been dosing ammonium bicarbonate and it helps me keep my nitrates pretty consistent without touching phosphate too much. It also takes one or two days to get reliable readings as the ammonium needs to be processed.

Since doing so, I’ve noticed a lot more reds coming out of my acros instead of just all greens. My PC rainbow is now more rainbow rather than a green coral.