Nitrate dosing long term log

[Toby_Kourtney]

I know this subject has been beat to death, but I haven't found a long term log on dosing Kno3 in a reef tank. Long term as in years all the threads I've seen go for a couple months then either go off topic or the thread goes into several pages of debates with no long term proof. A little back ground on my tank. It's 125 gallon mixed reef with a foxface, 1 clown who refuses to allow another clown in the tank, 2 engineer gobies,and a snowflake blenny. I like the look of an aquarium with a few fish and is more focused on coral. I set up the tank 18 months ago but 6 months into having the tank I deployed for 6 months. I ran into several issues with the reef while I was gone including a forest of gha, my fault for not curing my base rock long enough. Since I got back I had the mentality that my nitrates and phosphates needed to be undetectable. After all my coral started to turn pale over time I decided to research nitrate dosing to increase nutrients in my tank to an acceptable level. I will continue to update this thread periodically with parameters and tanks condition after nitrate dosing throughout an extended period of time.

[Toby_Kourtney]

I dosed 2 ppm nitrates to my tank yesterday morning around 0600. Just checked nitrates again at 0100 today and they are back at zero. Today I will increase the dose to 3 ppm and go from there.
Other parameter are
Calcium 450
Alk 8.5
Magnesium 1350
Phosphates .02

[bertoni]

It'll be interesting to see how your tank shapes up!

[Toby_Kourtney]

Some before shots of what everything looks like to use for reference down the road. All these corals have been growin since I got them between 6 months to a year ago. It's just growth has been extremely slow and they are all pretty pale.

[Toby_Kourtney]

Just an example here's what the pic of the third coral looked like when I first bought it 6 months ago. I had one head to start with and has grown to 15 heads, but the color is completely gone.

[JonezNReef]

Following along. I have thought and debated this subject for a while now and have never seen anyone document long term use outside on GlennF. Cant wait to see long term results. Keep us updated

[Toby_Kourtney]

I may have overshot the nitrates a bit. I'm currently at 8 ppm. Lps look much more inflated and zoanthids seem a lot happier. Sps seem like they may have a bit more polyp extension but that may be just in my head.

[FullBoreReefer]

IMO 8ppm isn't bad. Id let it ride until your next water change, then retest.

Then maybe shoot for 2-5ppm and maintain.

[Jwheld]

My tank uses about 1ppm nitrate a day. I dose sodium nitrate and haven't noticed any major changes. I need to start measuring and dosing regularly.

Tagging along out of curiosity!

[FullBoreReefer]

Originally Posted by Jwheld

My tank uses about 1ppm nitrate a day. I dose sodium nitrate and haven't noticed any major changes. I need to start measuring and dosing regularly.

Tagging along out of curiosity!

I too use sodium nitrate

[Toby_Kourtney]

I did a 30 gallon what change and now my nitrates are holding strong at 4 ppm.

[Toby_Kourtney]

So I've kept my nitrates around 4 ppm and everything is looking great. The only issue I have is my phosphates are slowly rising first to .08 now they are around .2. Im debating on dosing vinegar to slightly lower phosphates while attempting to maintain nitrates around 4 ppm. Does anyone have any experience in this department.

[cpllongjk]

I just started dosing Nitrate a few weeks ago. I have been dialing in my nitrate dosing schedule and currently my tank consumes 1ppm nitrates every day. I am slowly increasing my nitrates from 0.0 to 2ppm over the course of the next week or so.

[Toby_Kourtney]

Originally Posted by cpllongjk

I just started dosing Nitrate a few weeks ago. I have been dialing in my nitrate dosing schedule and currently my tank consumes 1ppm nitrates every day. I am slowly increasing my nitrates from 0.0 to 2ppm over the course of the next week or so.

My tank at this point is consuming .5 ppm a day.

[tmz]

I use sodium nitrate sproadically and never go over 1ppm. Intersted in your results.

[greg683x]

Originally Posted by Toby_Kourtney

So I've kept my nitrates around 4 ppm and everything is looking great. The only issue I have is my phosphates are slowly rising first to .08 now they are around .2. Im debating on dosing vinegar to slightly lower phosphates while attempting to maintain nitrates around 4 ppm. Does anyone have any experience in this department.

Doesn't carbon dosing (vodka) lower nitrates and not phosphates? Have you tried running GFO instead to reduce the phosphates?

[Toby_Kourtney]

Originally Posted by greg683x

Doesn't carbon dosing (vodka) lower nitrates and not phosphates? Have you tried running GFO instead to reduce the phosphates?

It does lower nitrates and phosphates at a 16:1 ratio. So in theory if you dose nitrates while carbon dosing it should lower your phosphates.

[bertoni]

Dosing carbon can lower both nitrate and phosphate levels, although I wouldn't count on any specific ratio of consumption.

[greg683x]

The vodka will consume nitrates at a much higher clip like you mentioned, so if you're goal is to maintain the nitrates at 4 and slightly lower phosphates wouldn't dosing vodka be counter productive? Seems like a phosphate consuming media would be a much better choice

[Toby_Kourtney]

Originally Posted by greg683x

The vodka will consume nitrates at a much higher clip like you mentioned, so if you're goal is to maintain the nitrates at 4 and slightly lower phosphates wouldn't dosing vodka be counter productive? Seems like a phosphate consuming media would be a much better choice

From a cost point I think if I can get to a stable point where I know how much potassium nitrate and vinegar to add to maintain nitrates at 4 pmm while slowly lowering phosphates I'll be much better off. Maybe it's just me but gfo is expensive and if I can do the same thing for practically nothing then why not.

[tmz]

IME, organic carbon dosing reduces orthophosphate and nitrogen inlcuding some nitrate. Wouln't count on the "redfield" 16:1 ratio though as it's an enmasse measure and the organisms in play may vary significantly from it.

[Toby_Kourtney]

So if anyone is curious on how fast carbon dosing in conjunction with nitrate dosing lowers phosphates. It took around 7 days of dosing 15 ml of carbon with .5 ppm of potassium nitrate to lower my phosphates from .1 to 0.00. I really don't see this as a viable solution since it seems to hold phosphates at 0 because I think phosphate becomes the limiting factor but if you need to lower massive amount of phosphates I think this would be a cheaper option then gfo and less controversial then lanthanum chloride.

[bertoni]

That's very fast. I thought it usually took longer. Thanks for the data point!

[Toby_Kourtney]

Everything is coloring up nicely w/nitrates at 4 ppm and phosphates undetectable.

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[bertoni]

Looks like some nice animals. I'm glad that you are making progress.