DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[805reeftank]

Yes, that seems appropriate.

Is this suitable

Sodium Tripolyphosphate​

Amazon.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is this suitable

Amazon.com

No. That is sodium tripolyphosphate. You want either trisodium phosphate, disodium phosphate, or monosodium phosphate.


example:

Amazon.com

 

[805reeftank]

No. That is sodium tripolyphosphate. You want either trisodium phosphate, disodium phosphate, or monosodium phosphate.


example:

Amazon.com

Saw that one just takes forever to ship but I’ll just have to wait I guess

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

I ordered monosodium phosphate.

I just need Ammonia.

 

[Skep18]

Just providing an observation. I've been dosing 0.025ppm or 1/4 dose of ammonium bicarbonate to my sump twice daily. I dose in a high flow area in front of a sump powerhead, 2 chambers before my return chamber and before a skimmer (i.e. good mixing occurs).

My return manifold is configured with 4 locline return nozzles. These nozzles provide very gentle flow given their cumulative cross section area thus flow rate dilution. One such nozzle is maybe six inches away from and a couple inches above a TSA Carolina Reaper frag that's quite "fuzzy" via polyp extension under most circumstances. The return nozzle isn't directly pointed at the frag to be clear. I've noticed reliably when applying my ammonium dose this frag will retract polyps for maybe 15min that proceeds the dose.

Speculatively, I'm not sure if I should take this as a negative sign from the coral or not. I would assume the ammonium is well diluted by the time it reaches the frag but obviously not as diluted as it would be after it's cleared from the sump.

Just feedback. Would love to hear thoughts. I suspect the obvious answer is move my nozzle. But besides that, thoughts are welcomed.

 

[East1]

Just providing an observation. I've been dosing 0.025ppm or 1/4 dose of ammonium bicarbonate to my sump twice daily. I dose in a high flow area in front of a sump powerhead, 2 chambers before my return chamber and before a skimmer (i.e. good mixing occurs).

My return manifold is configured with 4 locline return nozzles. These nozzles provide very gentle flow given their cumulative cross section area thus flow rate dilution. One such nozzle is maybe six inches away from and a couple inches above a TSA Carolina Reaper frag that's quite "fuzzy" via polyp extension under most circumstances. The return nozzle isn't directly pointed at the frag to be clear. I've noticed reliably when applying my ammonium dose this frag will retract polyps for maybe 15min that proceeds the dose.

Speculatively, I'm not sure if I should take this as a negative sign from the coral or not. I would assume the ammonium is well diluted by the time it reaches the frag but obviously not as diluted as it would be after it's cleared from the sump.

Just feedback. Would love to hear thoughts. I suspect the obvious answer is move my nozzle. But besides that, thoughts are welcomed.

How long have you been dosing this? i would assume if the coral is healthy and it’s been a while that it’s a feeding response.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, I don't have an opinion aside from suggesting keeping the concentrated product away from corals till it mixes in more.

 

[patches001]

Any dosing container materials to avoid for storing these solutions? Plastic water bottles (PET) okay? Milk jugs (HDPE)? Acrylic? Glass?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Any dosing container materials to avoid for storing these solutions? Plastic water bottles (PET) okay? Milk jugs (HDPE)? Acrylic? Glass?

For the two dosing solutions in this thread, most anything should be OK for some reasonable period of time. Normal tap water in milk jugs does not last forever, IME. The jugs aren't made to last a long time (years).

 

[805reeftank]

Just making sure I’m reading this right. My system is 50gals I’ll be adding 4.6/5mls to get a 0.1 ammonia bump (0.36 nitrate). And I can up the dosage but just spread it out through the day. Meaning 3x times a day of 5mls for a total of 15mls.


To add 0.1 mg/L ammonia to an aquarium, you would need to add 2.3 mL of either stock solution to a 100 L (26 gallon) aquarium. You may need to add this amount multiply times per day to dose enough.

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just making sure I’m reading this right. My system is 50gals I’ll be adding 4.6/5mls to get a 0.1 ammonia bump (0.36 nitrate). And I can up the dosage but just spread it out through the day. Meaning 3x times a day of 5mls for a total of 15mls.


To add 0.1 mg/L ammonia to an aquarium, you would need to add 2.3 mL of either stock solution to a 100 L (26 gallon) aquarium. You may need to add this amount multiply times per day to dose enough.

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Yes, that is correct.

 

[beesnreefs]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Im currently dosing 10 mL/day (split into two, 5-mL doses) of Brightwell NeoNitro. This keeps my 225g system around 5 ppm nitrate.

I’d like to try the ammonia dosing using ammonia bicarbonate.

How would you recommend I go about the switch from nitrate dosing to ammonia dosing?

Should I cease the NeoNitro dosing entirely and start ammonia dosing? Or is it better to reduce NeoNitro dosing while I slowly ramp up ammonia dosing?

Finally, based on my current dosing amounts, do you have a recommended ammonia dosing amount I should shoot for?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Im currently dosing 10 mL/day (split into two, 5-mL doses) of Brightwell NeoNitro. This keeps my 225g system around 5 ppm nitrate.

I’d like to try the ammonia dosing using ammonia bicarbonate.

How would you recommend I go about the switch from nitrate dosing to ammonia dosing?

Should I cease the NeoNitro dosing entirely and start ammonia dosing? Or is it better to reduce NeoNitro dosing while I slowly ramp up ammonia dosing?

Finally, based on my current dosing amounts, do you have a recommended ammonia dosing amount I should shoot for?

Thanks in advance!

I see no reason to not just swap over cold turkey, but a slow transition is also certainly fine.

I do not know the potency of neonitro to know how much ammonia will match it in N dosed. Thus, some trial and error will be needed.

 

[tedfisher496]

besides the increase in No3, is anyone seeing any increase in growth, encrusting and colors?

 

[East1]

besides the increase in No3, is anyone seeing any increase in growth, encrusting and colors?

NO3 doesn't really increase, if anything it drops a bit when switching and dialing in a dose. I suspect this is because at lower doses the NH4 is prioritised to NO3 and the NO3 shortfall is made up from the water column, until the NH4 dosing surpasses the nitrogen demand and then starts to sequester as NO3.

Coral tissue and colour is improved but not in the traditional 'more colour' sense for fancy acros, it's more like the corals are more opalescent and the tissue thicker, which I associate with better health and growth.

I subsequently set up (9 days ago) a small tank with liverock and a bunch of acro frags, this tank wasn't cycled and immediately started dosing PO4, NH4, aminos and trace elements similar to my previous test tank. The acros adapted immediately and have already shown signs of growth and healing despite it's newness. Compared to when I tried this some years ago using the same recepie and replacing NH4 with NO3, the tank is far more stable and the corals far healthier but it's still early days.

 

[tedfisher496]

NO3 doesn't really increase, if anything it drops a bit when switching and dialing in a dose. I suspect this is because at lower doses the NH4 is prioritised to NO3 and the NO3 shortfall is made up from the water column, until the NH4 dosing surpasses the nitrogen demand and then starts to sequester as NO3.

Coral tissue and colour is improved but not in the traditional 'more colour' sense for fancy acros, it's more like the corals are more opalescent and the tissue thicker, which I associate with better health and growth.

I subsequently set up (9 days ago) a small tank with liverock and a bunch of acro frags, this tank wasn't cycled and immediately started dosing PO4, NH4, aminos and trace elements similar to my previous test tank. The acros adapted immediately and have already shown signs of growth and healing despite it's newness. Compared to when I tried this some years ago using the same recepie and replacing NH4 with NO3, the tank is far more stable and the corals far healthier but it's still early days.

what size is the small aquarium? what dosage are you currently dosing? i have a 25gal and i would like to start dosing soon. my no3 is not very stable would dosing NH4 help this?

 

[tedfisher496]

NO3 doesn't really increase, if anything it drops a bit when switching and dialing in a dose. I suspect this is because at lower doses the NH4 is prioritised to NO3 and the NO3 shortfall is made up from the water column, until the NH4 dosing surpasses the nitrogen demand and then starts to sequester as NO3.

Coral tissue and colour is improved but not in the traditional 'more colour' sense for fancy acros, it's more like the corals are more opalescent and the tissue thicker, which I associate with better health and growth.

I subsequently set up (9 days ago) a small tank with liverock and a bunch of acro frags, this tank wasn't cycled and immediately started dosing PO4, NH4, aminos and trace elements similar to my previous test tank. The acros adapted immediately and have already shown signs of growth and healing despite it's newness. Compared to when I tried this some years ago using the same recepie and replacing NH4 with NO3, the tank is far more stable and the corals far healthier but it's still early days.

can you please post a link of what i need to purchase?

 

[East1]

what size is the small aquarium? what dosage are you currently dosing? i have a 25gal and i would like to start dosing soon. my no3 is not very stable would dosing NH4 help this?

I’d check the first post on the thread for the two kinds of ammonium, i chose chloride because it lowers kH so i can dose supplementary alk solution even when there are no corals / growth.

the tank volume is 45 litres, without accounting for rock etc. perhaps 10 small acro frags at the moment and i’m dosing 3.5grams of ammonium chloride into 500ml of water as a stock solution.

i dose this 4 times a day to the display at 1ml per dose. total dose is 4ml a day.

an easy way to calibrate is to dose small and slowly increase dosage every few days till the water has a small bacterial bloom, then cut back by 20%. it happened to me on both tanks and seems to be the sweet spot where excess ammonium causes bacteria to break down dissolved organics (skimmer production increased significantly at this point).

this excess point is probably also more ammonium dosed per dose per unit time than the corals can consume hence the bloom similar to when fish are first added to a new tank without a stable bacterial filter

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

what size is the small aquarium? what dosage are you currently dosing? i have a 25gal and i would like to start dosing soon. my no3 is not very stable would dosing NH4 help this?

@9-months in my frag tanks were testing at 0-0 PO4/NO3. Fish with CUC and good feeding. I tried the PO4 and NO3 dosing this week and now show a tint of color ( Salifert ) when tested mornings before I dose. I have used my Hanna's once to double check the Salifert test kits and they did read 0-0.

I use the recommended dose that Randy suggested @3-times per day.

 

[Alazo1]

Cloudy water
Just started dosing ammonia per instructions. Added 10ml of stock solution (ammonia bicarbonate) to 135 gallons. It's been about 4 hours and water is still cloudy. Corals and fish look fine. PH is fine. Any ideas?
thanks,
Albert