Question about Spectracide Stump Remover dosing

[Devonjevon]

This is harmless in your tank but lets not tip off the feds for what cool things this can do

Order to much online and you will get red alerted when trying to get on a flight. Use to make bottle rockets outta this stuff in the Boy Scouts.

 

[Pete polyp]

I see LFS's going to home depot and putting it in clear containers for $20 on their shelves.

Companies and lfs have been doing this with several products. Ice melt + baking soda turns into 2 part dosing and sells for $20 a bottle too.

 

[TheSaint216]

Dosed 38 ML's yesterday afternoon figuring 75 gallons and tested at 2 ppm nitrate last night and this morning. Color wasn't as vibrant on the kit this morning as it was yesterday. Gonna test daily for the next week to see how it moves.

 

[twilliard]

The first week of dosing for me was hectic!
The tank at it up like candy
Now it has settled down

 

[sfg]

is it "normal" for a tank to consume 2ppm of Nitrate in 2 days? I dosed and registered 2ppm on Friday. I checked here Sunday night and my tank was showing 0ppm. Sound right?

I did notice that my LPS were more inflated and seemed happier.. hammers and frogspawns were fully extended.. haven't seen them that way in forever..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

is it "normal" for a tank to consume 2ppm of Nitrate in 2 days? I dosed and registered 2ppm on Friday. I checked here Sunday night and my tank was showing 0ppm. Sound right?

I did notice that my LPS were more inflated and seemed happier.. hammers and frogspawns were fully extended.. haven't seen them that way in forever..

That's not unreasonable for a tank with a lot of active photosynthetic creatures (algae, corals, etc.) and maybe even a backlog of organic matter waiting to be metabolized.

 

[sfg]

Thanks Randy

 

[veselym]

I started dosing on Saturday and my 55g has eaten 3ppm in 2 days...I mixed 2 tablespoons with 2 cups of RODI and 4ML of that only got me to about .75 NO3

I tested again this morning and 0 Nitrates so I will dose until I see Nitrates in the morning

what should I shoot for as an end point? maybe 1ppm or higher than that?

 

[carloriv]

I have the same problem of 0 nitrates and phosphate i put the same question in a local forum, im from Puerto Rico btw. And they tell me to turn off my skimmer and dose 5ml of amino acids.this was on friday , today i test it again and the results was a pinch change in color in my phosphate and about .1 in nitrates, i will continue with this method for a couple of day to see the result i have if it dont work i will try the method you are using i already see the product in home depot so let see.

 

[Pete polyp]

In my case I had no skimmer, overfed (6-8 times daily ) and was way overstocked. This didn't have any effect on nitrate. The only thing I could do was dose nitrate. As for an end point I shot for detectable. I didn't have any specific number in mind. Going from 0ppm to 0.5ppm was a huge difference in color and growth of my sps.

 

[veselym]

I think this would also be a great supplement for when a tank is fallow for unforeseen problems

I will shoot for detectable N03...at least above .50

I do notice better PE as soon as trates are detectable

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I started dosing on Saturday and my 55g has eaten 3ppm in 2 days...I mixed 2 tablespoons with 2 cups of RODI and 4ML of that only got me to about .75 NO3

I tested again this morning and 0 Nitrates so I will dose until I see Nitrates in the morning

what should I shoot for as an end point? maybe 1ppm or higher than that?

I'm not sure there's any magic number, and it will, of course, drop steadily between doses. IMO, anything around 0.5, 1, 2 ppm is probably fine.

 

[TheSaint216]

Mine did the same thing the last two days. Dropped to what I would call 0. I added the same amount when lights came on. Ive seen the same thing as Veselym, better PE as soon as the Nitrate supp is in the water. I'm figuring my Macro algae is helping consume the nitrate also.

 

[twilliard]

Macros eat it right up

 

[Pete polyp]

Once you get to a low level of phosphate the macroalgae will stop pulling so much of it out

 

[sfg]

Day 4 Update:

I have to say im pretty stoked at the moment.. My tank has been up since Dec of last year. My first attempt at an SPS tank. Prior to this I've had mixed reefs but not with the focal point being SPS. This time around I started from the beginning with the idea of a low nutrient tank. GFO, carbon, good skimmer, diligent with water changes, healthy fuge, proper cycling, dosers.. the whole nine yards. I've collected a good bit of SPS since then.. way more than I should actually. I also have a fascination with euphyllias. All total I have about 18 different hammers, frogspawn, and torches mixed in. They have never thrived in my tank in the sense that when I obtained them they would slowly decline in regards to how vibrant and extended they were when I found them locally through trades or at an LFS. They wouldn't die, but just half done it. I could take some of them and put them in my nano which is a dirtier tank and see an immediate (day or so) change towards the better.. Here in the last few months I've noticed a stall in growth and fading with coloring on some of my SPS. I had a Garf Bonsai that started off good, a turquoise stag that doubled in size within a month, then things started to stall. What really caught my eye was the bonsai... went from a nice rich dark purple to a faded almost pink coloring.

I started doing some reading and ended up trying to feed my tank more, added some more fish, scaled back on the GFO.. nothing seemed to get Nitrates to register.

Here, 4 days later from the start of my nitrate dosing I can see a REAL difference with my LPS. All of my euphyllias are fully extended, a flowerpot I had has never been this extended from day 1, coloring even seems to pop a little more. But what I really noticed that makes me happy is my bonsai is getting its color back. Its not as dark as it was but I can 100% for sure tell a difference. I have a tricolor acro and the tips on this guy have never been as vivid as they are now, much darker and richer blue coloring. I have a purple na na and the tips on this guy are also starting to get their dark coloring back. I look forward to the weeks coming to see how much more progress will be made.

I'm also going to see if I can find some older pictures so I can provide a comparison because we all know pictures speak a thousand words.

Just thought I would share my experience so far with this.. updates to come.

 

[twilliard]

Day 4 Update:

I have to say im pretty stoked at the moment.. My tank has been up since Dec of last year. My first attempt at an SPS tank. Prior to this I've had mixed reefs but not with the focal point being SPS. This time around I started from the beginning with the idea of a low nutrient tank. GFO, carbon, good skimmer, diligent with water changes, healthy fuge, proper cycling, dosers.. the whole nine yards. I've collected a good bit of SPS since then.. way more than I should actually. I also have a fascination with euphyllias. All total I have about 18 different hammers, frogspawn, and torches mixed in. They have never thrived in my tank in the sense that when I obtained them they would slowly decline in regards to how vibrant and extended they were when I found them locally through trades or at an LFS. They wouldn't die, but just half done it. I could take some of them and put them in my nano which is a dirtier tank and see an immediate (day or so) change towards the better.. Here in the last few months I've noticed a stall in growth and fading with coloring on some of my SPS. I had a Garf Bonsai that started off good, a turquoise stag that doubled in size within a month, then things started to stall. What really caught my eye was the bonsai... went from a nice rich dark purple to a faded almost pink coloring.

I started doing some reading and ended up trying to feed my tank more, added some more fish, scaled back on the GFO.. nothing seemed to get Nitrates to register.

Here, 4 days later from the start of my nitrate dosing I can see a REAL difference with my LPS. All of my euphyllias are fully extended, a flowerpot I had has never been this extended from day 1, coloring even seems to pop a little more. But what I really noticed that makes me happy is my bonsai is getting its color back. Its not as dark as it was but I can 100% for sure tell a difference. I have a tricolor acro and the tips on this guy have never been as vivid as they are now, much darker and richer blue coloring. I have a purple na na and the tips on this guy are also starting to get their dark coloring back. I look forward to the weeks coming to see how much more progress will be made.

I'm also going to see if I can find some older pictures so I can provide a comparison because we all know pictures speak a thousand words.

Just thought I would share my experience so far with this.. updates to come.

I am a firm believer in no3
Great to see that there are changes in your tank!

 

[veselym]

I have chaeto in my sump so I know that it is consuming the N03 but am impressed with what I see and will continue to dose/test daily until I have a steady reading of nutrients.

I would like to have .50 for at least 3-6 weeks to see what happens

 

[carloriv]

So first dose today let circulate for an hour or so and then i test it.

 

[veselym]

@carloriv , you can test minutes after...it will register

what test kit are you using?