Sodium Nitrate vs Calcium Nitrate dosing

[Makara23]

Is one better than the other to increase my nitrate? My system consistently has undetectable nitrates while phosphate is ~0.10ppm.

Would Calcium Nitrate also increase my calcium? I’m also currently dosing Calcium Chloride to keep levels consistent around 420ppm.

Any specific reef safe recommendations for Sodium Nitrate or Calcium Nitrate?

 

[bushdoc]

One of the reasons why dosing Calcium nitrate could be preferable is that you are regularly testing for Ca and not really testing for Sodium.Also Ca is utilized by many inhabitants of your tank, but Sodium not so much, so it will accumulate. Surely if you dose large amounts of Calcium nitrate, your Ca levels may increase, but you can compensate by dosing less Calcium. I am not aware of an easy way to compensate for increased Sodium other than regular water changes.

 

[Makara23]

One of the reasons why dosing Calcium nitrate could be preferable is that you are regularly testing for Ca and not really testing for Sodium.Also Ca is utilized by many inhabitants of your tank, but Sodium not so much, so it will accumulate. Surely if you dose large amounts of Calcium nitrate, your Ca levels may increase, but you can compensate by dosing less Calcium. I am not aware of an easy way to compensate for increased Sodium other than regular water changes.

Golden response, exactly what I'm looking for, thank you!

So the Ca from calcium nitrate is in a usable form for the animals and won't just precipitate out?

And if so, wouldn't that present another issue where Ca will accumulate unless frequent water changes are done? I only have a few softies and LPS, I don't imagine Ca uptake would be will be greater than the addition.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Is one better than the other to increase my nitrate? My system consistently has undetectable nitrates while phosphate is ~0.10ppm.

Would Calcium Nitrate also increase my calcium? I’m also currently dosing Calcium Chloride to keep levels consistent around 420ppm.

Any specific reef safe recommendations for Sodium Nitrate or Calcium Nitrate?

Calcium nitrate is a great way to increase Nitrate, but there are a couple of traps.

You may like to read this thread.

Calcium Nitrate

Hey everyone I've come across a deal on reagent grade calcium nitrate Ca(NO3)2 5 lbs for $15 which is about 1/2 the cost of sodium nitrate. I'm wondering if anyone has used that to boost both nitrates and calcium at the same time. It seems like a win win to me. I did some rough math and if I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Makara23]

Calcium nitrate is a great way to increase Nitrate, but there are a couple of traps.

You may like to read this thread.
[URL snipped]

I just read that thread, thanks for referencing it. Ok, so basically avoid chemicals in ebay and however they market it.

Are there any known brands that have low impurities and safe for reef usage?

 

[KStatefan]

A 1 ppm increase in NO3 will raise calcium about 0.3 ppm.

I used loudwolf Calcium Nitrate Tetrahydrate from Amazon

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Both chemicals are perfectly suitable when pure enough. The nitrate added via calcium nitrate is identical in every way to that added by sodium nitrate.

Nitrate dosing will raise alk. Calcium nitrate raises both alk and calcium in a balanced fashion, while sodium nitrate boosts only alk. That is a small advantage for calcium dosing.

Sodium accumulation is not a substantial concern, IMO. You are adding a small amount against a massive background of sodium, and maintaining salinity mitigates most of the concern.

I would use food or ACS grade sodium nitrate before less pure calcium nitrate, but if you can get food grade or ACS grade calcium nitrate, I would use that.

 

[EricR]

A 1 ppm increase in NO3 will raise calcium about 0.3 ppm.

I used loudwolf Calcium Nitrate Tetrahydrate from Amazon

I use Loudwolf Calcium Nitrate also (and Trisodium Phosphate) but bought directly from Loudwolf website since it was cheaper as they offer free shipping while Amazon does not (on that product),,, at least when I last ordered.
*just a "shopping" note

 

[Makara23]

Thank you all of recommending Loudwolf calcium nitrate, but before I pull the trigger, this part concerns me from the product description:

“The total Nitrogen content is 15.50% (1% Ammonical and 14.50% Nitrate)”

@Randy Holmes-Farley They openly state that there is ammonia in there. And if my calculations are correct, dosing just 2ppm of nitrate will also add about 0.3 ppm of total ammonia. Is this correct? I think my nitrification bacteria should be able to handle this ammonia amount daily no problem, but there may be issues if I want to raise more than 2ppm nitrate every day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you all of recommending Loudwolf calcium nitrate, but before I pull the trigger, this part concerns me from the product description:

“The total Nitrogen content is 15.50% (1% Ammonical and 14.50% Nitrate)”

@Randy Holmes-Farley They openly state that there is ammonia in there. And if my calculations are correct, dosing just 2ppm of nitrate will also add about 0.3 ppm of total ammonia. Is this correct? I think my nitrification bacteria should be able to handle this ammonia amount daily no problem, but there may be issues if I want to raise more than 2ppm nitrate every day.

It's not that bad.

If the nitrogen present is 1% ammonia and 14.5% nitrate, then the product is 1.2% by weight ammonia and 64% nitrate by weight (because nitrate weighs far more than nitrogen alone, while ammonia is mostly nitrogen by weight).

Thus, adding 2 ppm nitrate only adds 0.037 ppm ammonia, which should be fine.

 

[GiannisK]

Does anyone know how much calcium nitrate to dose per gallon?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Does anyone know how much calcium nitrate to dose per gallon?

To do what?

 

[KStatefan]

Does anyone know how much calcium nitrate to dose per gallon?

This is what I use

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You can also use the James Planted tank calculator and the entry for nitrate from potassium nitrate. Calcium nitrate is 23% more potent, which can generally be ignored and just use that as a starting dose since you will certainly adjust the dosing going forward by trial and error.

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator