Potassium nitrate (Spectracide stump remover) dosing steps

[morpheas]

is there a formula to correct the KNO3 solution to different water volumes? sorry if this was mentioned but I did my best to scan 28 pages

See my posts here and here. I have created a quick calculator for this.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

See my posts here and here. I have created a quick calculator for this.

that's very intense, and I dropped out of community college twice.... can you give me walk through on how to use that for KNO3

got the water volume part but the cc of solution is confusing

 

[morpheas]

Sorry, I should have put some comments in there. The solution is the one you're preparing with RODI and KNO3. So first step is to prepare your solution (KNO3 weight and RODI volume are the inputs in yellow) and then once you have that, second step is how much of that you will be dosing in the tank (water volume is the tank total water volume estimate and KNO3 solution dose is how many cc you will dose of the solution you made in the first step, again inputs in yellow). By changing the solution dosage you see the expected elevation in ppm of NO3.

EDIT: I made the calculator for three different types of additives, you obviously want the first table.

EDIT 2: For example, the numbers defaulted in there, the first step you have 10 grams of KNO3 in 500cc of water, that's the solution. You take 1 cc of that solution and dose it in 30 gallons water you elevate ~0.1ppm the NO3.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

Sorry, I should have put some comments in there. The solution is the one you're preparing with RODI and KNO3. So first step is to prepare your solution (KNO3 weight and RODI volume are the inputs in yellow) and then once you have that, second step is how much of that you will be dosing in the tank (water volume is the tank total water volume estimate and KNO3 solution dose is how many cc you will dose of the solution you made in the first step, again inputs in yellow). By changing the solution dosage you see the expected elevation in ppm of NO3.

EDIT: I made the calculator for three different types of additives, you obviously want the first table.

EDIT 2: For example, the numbers defaulted in there, the first step you have 10 grams of KNO3 in 500cc of water, that's the solution. You take 1 cc of that solution and dose it in 30 gallons water you elevate ~0.1ppm the NO3.

Thanks I really appreciate it

 

[rvlcf]

I have a reefer 450 that's running ULNS. No nitrates and anywhere from 0-5 on the Hanna Phosphorous test. I added 10ml of the solution 4 days ago and finally got a little pink color on my Salifert test. First time it's been anything but clear. Awesome, so i add 10ml more next day and get a reading around 3-5 depending on which child i ask. I'm psyched. Yesterday i come home from work and I've got a serious bacteria bloom going on. At least that's what I think it is. Biopellets have clear gooey mucus type film around them at the top of my reactor. Tank glass is hazy and rocks have small blooms of white/clear patches. Water isn't crystal as usual and filter socks are clogging in less than 24 hours.
Any one have any thoughts on this? Did adding nitrates just give my bacteria an all you can eat buffet?
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[bif24701]

Ok guys I dosed my system with stump remover last week and went from undetectable to between 5-10 PPM nitrate. should i be taking out the GFO? and what about vodka dosing? should i stop that? tested again today and again between 5-10 PPM nitrate. please advise!

Yes, I would take it out. My phosphates dropped very quickly, too much. Now I'm not sure I even have enough, I did remove it but it had dropped already. Took only days.

 

[twilliard]

I have a reefer 450 that's running ULNS. No nitrates and anywhere from 0-5 on the Hanna Phosphorous test. I added 10ml of the solution 4 days ago and finally got a little pink color on my Salifert test. First time it's been anything but clear. Awesome, so i add 10ml more next day and get a reading around 3-5 depending on which child i ask. I'm psyched. Yesterday i come home from work and I've got a serious bacteria bloom going on. At least that's what I think it is. Biopellets have clear gooey mucus type film around them at the top of my reactor. Tank glass is hazy and rocks have small blooms of white/clear patches. Water isn't crystal as usual and filter socks are clogging in less than 24 hours.
Any one have any thoughts on this? Did adding nitrates just give my bacteria an all you can eat buffet?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Yes the bacteria are all happy campers now and I suspect a quick drop in No3 coming.
I would not dose No3 while using any form of bacterial enhancer.

 

[rvlcf]

Yes the bacteria are all happy campers now and I suspect a quick drop in No3 coming.
I would not dose No3 while using any form of bacterial enhancer.

I'm not really following what you're saying. I'm trying to raise nitrates. Are you saying i should get rid of the biopellets?

 

[twilliard]

I'm not really following what you're saying. I'm trying to raise nitrates. Are you saying i should get rid of the biopellets?

The biopellets are a source for denitrifying bacteria. Defeating the purpose of adding No3. When you have a bacterial source as such you are feeding the bacteria when dosing No3 creating bacterial reproduction.

 

[rvlcf]

Ok. I know the biopellets are keeping the nitrates at zero which is why I was adding the stump remover solution. I'm trying to raise the nitrates a bit because a couple of my sps have browned out. I get that the addition of the stump solution has created a bacterial bloom. Should I take the biopellets offline? I have a 4x8 Marine pure block in the sump also. What's the course of action to keep nitrates at 2-4?

 

[twilliard]

Ok. I know the biopellets are keeping the nitrates at zero which is why I was adding the stump remover solution. I'm trying to raise the nitrates a bit because a couple of my sps have browned out. I get that the addition of the stump solution has created a bacterial bloom. Should I take the biopellets offline? I have a 4x8 Marine pure block in the sump also. What's the course of action to keep nitrates at 2-4?

You are in a tricky situation where the balance of bacteria comes into play. If you remove the pellets all at once you may have a bacteria crash. If your decision is to pull the pellets do it slowly.
To keep No3 stable it comes to the balance of bacteria.
I run just a skimmer to balance the No3

 

[rvlcf]

Ok. I will slowly ween the pellets away, monitor the nitrate level, and see if I maintain a low nitrate lever without any biopellets running. If nitrates remain at zero after removal of nitrate pellets I will slowly raise nitrates with the stump remover solution. I am also running an oversized skimmer and GFO.

 

[cracker]

Thank You Twilliard. Your post #341 said it all ! I spent 2 nights wading thru a bunch of well, info I didn't need nor understand.
I plan to follow thru the "straight forward " steps and see what happens . Thanks !

 

[Rick.45cal]

I bet your biopellets get eaten real quick!

 

[bowen1022]

Ok I know this has probably been covered previously but I just got stump remover today. If following this recipe (2cups RODI mixed with 2tbsp Spectracide) how much will 1ml raise nitrate in 1g of water?

 

[bowen1022]

Just joking I found the dosing calculator that was posted here. Now my question is about how many Tbsp is 10 grams?

 

[cracker]

I had a bad No3/Po4 problem in my last tank. The corals looked fine but algae was so bad it was starting to choke them . I went to bio pellets. After a period of time it stripped the tank of just about all algae but the corals looked terrible . I over did it . Next setup I was very careful to avoid too much No3& Po4. Same result,bleached corals! I "will" find that sweet spot !

 

[tcarter1936]

Been almost three weeks and corals have far less transparent look and a bit more coloration.
One thing to note is at consistent 3-5 ppm nitrate my small patches of green hair algae are falling off and I'm getting my coraline algae back, so far I'm pretty happy with the gradual comback.

 

[bif24701]

My PO4 finally has a reading after three weeks from removing my GFO. Nitrates still hover around 2-4ppm I'm sure this will bring back my colors and growth. Removing all fish and letting the display go fallow isn't good for corals, FYI.

 

[atp0726]

Been dosing for a month and finally feel like I have figured out my issue with paling, slowly dying sps. I use the RS coral pro to manage the No3 levels however, since it only goes to 4ppm (where I try to keep my levels) I am not sure where I am if above 4pm. I use an API Nitrate just to make sure I am not overshooting to much but, its not to confidence inspiring. Any recommendations for a test for the >4 - 10ppm range?