Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
I stopped dosing till I get a better kit. Will resume soon.
Potassium nitrate (Spectracide stump remover) dosing steps
- Thread starter twilliard
- Start date
- Tagged users None
atp0726
Active Member
Just removed the chaeto except for a handful sized amount. I will be checking the no3 and po4 this evening. If po4 is low I may pick up some flake food tomorrow. Dosed no3 to 4 yesterday and po4 was down to .02 from .06 the day before.
Prior to dosing I had a very light brown hair algae on the rocks with a little on the sandbed. Since dosing last Friday the algae has gotten much darker in color and seems to have increased. I attribute this to more of a new system issue (2/12 to 3mths old) but the n03 has definitely darkened the hair algae and the rocks look pretty brown. Should I intervene in any way? Its a 42 gallon with only 3 fish. The snails and hermits are definitely eating it but cant seem to keep up.
I'm on the same boat as yo
I'm on the same boat as you, Brown algae forming on the sand, Tad bit on the rocks. my CUC are taking care of it, I'll be replacing my t5 tubes as well since there more then 15 months old. by the next morning the algae on the sand has lightened. this is also a good indication that if there arent any algae on the sand my nitrates has dropped lower then I would like and so I dose again, and in return I'm back with that darken brown algae again. ( then again I do have 1 mp60 2 mp40 all on 50% or more so algae may not be able to attach to the rocks )
I would say keep up with what your doing. From my experiment the last 2-3 weeks the brown algae goes away when nitrate drops.
In other news, it takes 1.5 days for my glass to get covered with the film algae. and it looks like I'm a tad bit under 1 ml a day of kn03
I'm on the same boat as you, Brown algae forming on the sand, Tad bit on the rocks. my CUC are taking care of it, I'll be replacing my t5 tubes as well since there more then 15 months old. by the next morning the algae on the sand has lightened. this is also a good indication that if there arent any algae on the sand my nitrates has dropped lower then I would like and so I dose again, and in return I'm back with that darken brown algae again. ( then again I do have 1 mp60 2 mp40 all on 50% or more so algae may not be able to attach to the rocks )
I would say keep up with what your doing. From my experiment the last 2-3 weeks the brown algae goes away when nitrate drops.
In other news, it takes 1.5 days for my glass to get covered with the film algae. and it looks like I'm a tad bit under 1 ml a day of kn03
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Tonight is night two and just checked nitrate was at or below 1 from 3 before bed and I added 75 ml total yesterday
So tonight I just added 100 ml
I'll retesting about sn hour to see where I'm at
So tonight I just added 100 ml
I'll retesting about sn hour to see where I'm at
atp0726
Active Member
Tested last night no3 looks to have only fallen by about 1ppm in 24 hrs. Best I can tell using the RS Pro. Looks like nitrates may be stabilizing and the uptake has decreased. po4 was down to .015 from .o2 the day before. Still a bit lower than I would like but at least its not zero. Hopefully, the removal of most of the chaeto will help allow the po4 to come back up.
Still have the dark brown algae on rocks and sand bed. I have to 2 mp10s a little over 50% on reefcrest anti-sync. The tank is only a 42 gallon so I think that should be plenty of flow making it harder for the algae to take hold. Algae does not seem to be getting noticeably worse as of yesterday. I am running a Radion gen 3 only at about 50% currently.
Here are parameters from last nights testing
Cal 440
Alk 8.1 (Hanna)
Nitrate 3 (RD Pro - Estimate color seemed to be in between 2 and 4 on color wheel)
Po4 .015 (Hanna ulr)
Mg 1430
Still have the dark brown algae on rocks and sand bed. I have to 2 mp10s a little over 50% on reefcrest anti-sync. The tank is only a 42 gallon so I think that should be plenty of flow making it harder for the algae to take hold. Algae does not seem to be getting noticeably worse as of yesterday. I am running a Radion gen 3 only at about 50% currently.
Here are parameters from last nights testing
Cal 440
Alk 8.1 (Hanna)
Nitrate 3 (RD Pro - Estimate color seemed to be in between 2 and 4 on color wheel)
Po4 .015 (Hanna ulr)
Mg 1430
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Night three and nitrate at 5 ppm ,I must have over dosed slightly last night so I'll wait and test tomorrow.
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Noted and very well mat be the case, I just thought it would take longer but I'm not complaining, not alot of algae considering over 200 gal estimated water volume. We will get a better idea tomorrow. Thanks for the input.
I can say that I normally love salifert but there n03 test is terrible to read and for a color blind reefer who's wife is tired of reading my tests it's time to try a different brand.
Thats so crazy, I cannot for the life of me dose 50ml of kn03. 5ml of kn03 already raises my nitrates 2ppms. and thats after 24 hours!
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
How large is your system. I followed the mixing calculations. And the dose was spot on. My systems over 200 gallons and it would help you to understand that I had my tank fallow for over 80 days due to an ich outbreak and lost all but my mandarin so I have no bioload to speak of. Also I only have about 110 lbs of live rock and two 8x8x4's marine pure blocks so in retrospect saturation so fast isn't that crazy. And I'm not sure the ratio you uses for your solution as I did use the calculator and did 1000 ml Rodi to 4 tablespoons kn03. Which should raise 180 gallons by .06 per ml so 50 ml of that should do 3 ppm no3.
Note I only have a 4-5" ball of cheato in my 30 gallon fuge as well.
My tank is roughly 140 gallons total sump and tank, with minimal rocks I would say 20-30lbs. With 2 bags of sera siporax. I do dose aquaforest np pro and pro bio s. I did 2 tablespoons 500ml rodi.
I tested my n03 yesterday and it was st 2.5 so I'm starting to dose .5 kno3 daily!
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Well I'm sure that is part of it your solution is twice as strong as mine and I'm sure their profile S&M people have a huge amount to do with it I stopped those things those before I started dosing nitrate I could not completely adhere to the aquaforest program so I just stopped altogether and I use only their Reef salt and my corals really respond to the liquid phyto food
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Pro bio s and np pro I'm using voice to text sorry
I've got the same things going on. All my fish are in QT and the display is fallow. I have a large 10" skimmer, 2 MarinePure blocks, and just pulled about 3 gallons of cheato out leaving just a small amount. My Nitrates quickly dropped and corals started to pale. I used the calculator, added 5 tablespoons to 1000ml and it increase my NO3 by exactly 1ppm. My phosphates are also low so I will have to pull my GFO. The nitrate dosing dropped PO4 like a stone too. I can feed my tank all I want but I also have a bit of aiptasia to they grow fast if I start feeding.
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Night 4 and still at ppm two highs in a row I will wait again to add
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Still at 5 two nights in a row. I really need to spell check more
NO3 4-5ppm, Red Sea Pro
PO4 0.00, Hanna ULR checker
I haven't added Potassium Nitrate in two nights so NO3 is stable but my PO4 concerns me. I've ghost feed copious amounts of food too, how concerned should I be with my PO4?
PO4 0.00, Hanna ULR checker
I haven't added Potassium Nitrate in two nights so NO3 is stable but my PO4 concerns me. I've ghost feed copious amounts of food too, how concerned should I be with my PO4?
tcarter1936
Well-Known Member
Night five, and been at 5 ppm for 2 days and tonight was 3 ish so I dosed another 25 ml
Similar threads
