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07/04/2020, 01:52 PM | #1 |
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Dosing Nitrates help?
Hello,
What is the go to product to dose nitrates? I want to dose nitrates through my doser, my current reading is zero and I want them at around 5ppm. So my questions are; 1) what product to use? 2) if mixing is required, what ratio etc? 3) how much to dose how often? Thanks
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07/04/2020, 04:42 PM | #2 |
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07/04/2020, 06:13 PM | #3 | |
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I found some food grade sodium nitrate on Amazon, at one point. Even a reagent grade should be fine, though. You could consider dosing amino acids, as well. A formula for sodium nitrate:
Quote:
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07/04/2020, 08:45 PM | #4 |
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I use Spectracide stump remover
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Spectrac...+stump%7D%3Aqu And here's the dosing calculator, pretty handy http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm |
07/05/2020, 01:24 AM | #5 | |
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Quote:
My tank is approx 200 Litres. I would like to make up a solution of potassium nitrate, and feed through my doser. How to make up a solution and how much to dose daily to bring up my nitrates? Thanks
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If in doubt ask! Last edited by fishkeeprian; 07/05/2020 at 01:46 AM. |
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07/05/2020, 04:03 AM | #6 |
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07/05/2020, 05:42 PM | #7 |
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That product should be fine. It should take about 0.31 grams to raise the nitrate level by 1 ppm. I'd probably dose by hand a few days to get some idea of the amount of nitrate the tank is going to consume. You could try a solution of 5 grams in 100 ml of water, or so. A dose of about 6 ml would be 1 ppm. I might try half that, to make sure I've done the math properly:
(.31 g / 5 g) * 100 ml = 6.2 ml What's the slowest the doser will go?
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07/06/2020, 01:25 AM | #8 | |
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Hi my doser will dose 0.3ml, I can also do one off manual doses if required. Is that a 100ml of RO water or tank water? Is it dosed daily or weekly? Thank you for your help.
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07/06/2020, 01:36 AM | #9 |
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That's 100 ml of RO water. I think the potassium nitrate all should dissolve, but let me know if you see a significant amount of undissolved solids.
As far as the dosing rate, I don't have a good way to predict how much nitrate your tank will consume in a day. Some tanks will consume that much per day. I would try dosing and testing by hand for a while.
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07/08/2020, 03:19 AM | #10 | |
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07/08/2020, 07:10 PM | #11 |
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I would test very shortly after dosing a few times, to make sure that the nitrate is hitting the expected level. A wait of a minute or two likely is enough unless the tank has a large refugium or the like. I'd probably test again just before the next dose, probably daily for a few days, much like alkalinity testing, to see what's happening.
After getting to the dose you'd like, you should be able to back off a lot, maybe once a month or less.
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07/09/2020, 02:45 PM | #12 | |
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If I don’t get a reading do I double up my next dose?
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07/09/2020, 03:14 PM | #13 |
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What filtration types are you using?
Skimmer, Algae Scrubber, fuge? Maybe your export systems are too efficient? How can you get zero nitrates? I would have expected trace results even in the best of cases. |
07/09/2020, 04:58 PM | #14 | |
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07/09/2020, 05:04 PM | #15 |
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I no longer run a light on my fugue to slow any growth. I don’t want to take my skimmer off line as is serves as an oxygenator aswell.
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07/09/2020, 06:36 PM | #16 |
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Great answers.
I now see where your going with you the dose. Thank you |
07/09/2020, 10:05 PM | #17 |
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If you don't get a reading tomorrow, you could increase the dose (maybe double it) and then measure after a couple of minutes, to see whether the supplement is working as intended.
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07/10/2020, 08:27 AM | #18 | |
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I dosed 5g in 100ml of RO = 1ppm, was that correct? or have I missed something? Thanks
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07/10/2020, 10:27 AM | #19 | |
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You must have other flow makers for gas exchange. A simple $5 buck timer Turing power of once a day say for two hours. Sorry, I am always fearful of dosing anything but 2-part, the uptake would be different in every tank. |
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07/10/2020, 05:44 PM | #20 | |
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07/11/2020, 12:31 PM | #21 | |
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