Nart
Member
HI All,
In this thread I'll be documenting a low nutrient system and dosing NO3 (Nitrates) to help corals grow during it's photosynthesis (zooxanthellae) process.
I've been thinking about it a lot and told grantm91 and stella1979 about it... so I'm finally going to try it out. Very hesitant and nervous for sure, especially with lots of money spent and hard work on my reef tank.
I'll write more as I progress but I want to document the process and whoever wants to follow long to see if it works or if I crash and burn... whomp whomp.
Before dosing parameters:
Alk: 11.5
Nitrates: 3-4ppm (less than 5ppm)
Phos: couldn't register any, so it's between 0.02 - 0.001 at least
Mag: 1440
Calcium: 470
KNO3 of my choice is Spectracide Stump Remover (granules). That's right. That is a tree stump removal formula, essentially it has 100% potassium nitrate.
The theory is I have high Alk and low nutrients, which in my system isn't too bad, but if it's a SPS dominant tank, apparently I would run into lots of issue with coral tissue recession etc...
I'm going to start dosing potassium nitrates in my tank to get the Nitrate readings around 8PPM. The challenge is that my fast growing corals will eat up the nitrates like candy whereas my LPS and SPS corals will consume to very little. This is the challenge with mixed reef tanks, doing enough to keep everything balanced, thriving, and happy. So in my tank, if the theory of dosing KNO3 holds true per my Alkalinity, lighting, Nitrates, and Phosphates... my faster growing corals (like zoas/gsp) will take off with noticeable growth, LPS corals will show some signs of growth, and my SPS corals will show slower growth.
I dosed 3 ml of my KNO3 mixture... I'll test in a few hours to see if my Nitrates went up at all. I also took before pictures which I will post soon.
Why am I doing this?
My tank consistently tests Nitrates @ >2PPM and Phos @ > 0.02PPM. In the articles and threads I have found through my research is that corals require nitrates (nutrients) and adequate lighting to promote growth, color, and health of the corals. So I have identified my tank being in the low nutrient range and have definitely seen some of my corals not as bright as before when I bought them from the store as well as o-kay growth. So the theory is to bump up my nitrates and keep my ratio of Nitrates/Phosphates I think either 16:1 or 10:1 and see by the end of this experiment if dosing KN03 works or not.
For now... fingers crossed
In this thread I'll be documenting a low nutrient system and dosing NO3 (Nitrates) to help corals grow during it's photosynthesis (zooxanthellae) process.
I've been thinking about it a lot and told grantm91 and stella1979 about it... so I'm finally going to try it out. Very hesitant and nervous for sure, especially with lots of money spent and hard work on my reef tank.
I'll write more as I progress but I want to document the process and whoever wants to follow long to see if it works or if I crash and burn... whomp whomp.
Before dosing parameters:
Alk: 11.5
Nitrates: 3-4ppm (less than 5ppm)
Phos: couldn't register any, so it's between 0.02 - 0.001 at least
Mag: 1440
Calcium: 470
KNO3 of my choice is Spectracide Stump Remover (granules). That's right. That is a tree stump removal formula, essentially it has 100% potassium nitrate.
The theory is I have high Alk and low nutrients, which in my system isn't too bad, but if it's a SPS dominant tank, apparently I would run into lots of issue with coral tissue recession etc...
I'm going to start dosing potassium nitrates in my tank to get the Nitrate readings around 8PPM. The challenge is that my fast growing corals will eat up the nitrates like candy whereas my LPS and SPS corals will consume to very little. This is the challenge with mixed reef tanks, doing enough to keep everything balanced, thriving, and happy. So in my tank, if the theory of dosing KNO3 holds true per my Alkalinity, lighting, Nitrates, and Phosphates... my faster growing corals (like zoas/gsp) will take off with noticeable growth, LPS corals will show some signs of growth, and my SPS corals will show slower growth.
I dosed 3 ml of my KNO3 mixture... I'll test in a few hours to see if my Nitrates went up at all. I also took before pictures which I will post soon.
Why am I doing this?
My tank consistently tests Nitrates @ >2PPM and Phos @ > 0.02PPM. In the articles and threads I have found through my research is that corals require nitrates (nutrients) and adequate lighting to promote growth, color, and health of the corals. So I have identified my tank being in the low nutrient range and have definitely seen some of my corals not as bright as before when I bought them from the store as well as o-kay growth. So the theory is to bump up my nitrates and keep my ratio of Nitrates/Phosphates I think either 16:1 or 10:1 and see by the end of this experiment if dosing KN03 works or not.
For now... fingers crossed