DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

interesting, my tank nitrate level is not low, but not high either (below like 3-5ppm), but i need to feed a lot to maintain that level of nitrate. So i assume that it’s fine to dose ammonia and reduce feeding. My pH level is from 8.0 (low at night) - 8.3 (peak at day). My question is: Will dosing with amonium bicarbonate (recipe 2) increase my pH level and keep it stable?

Yes, that’s a fine plan.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It’s not… I’ve been playing this ammonia the last 2 weeks.. the further I drive my dose up the more my phosphates drop! I’m having to dose phosphate now to keep it detectable on top of my nitrates dropping from a steady 7-10 to 3 with 60ml daily of ammonia bicarbonate lol..

Interesting.

 

[Troylee]

Interesting! I checked phosphate this morning and it was 0.08. Perfect! It has been running around 0.06 but got a new fish and I have been feeding heavy. I was was glad to see it come up a little. Nitrate was around 8 ppm, slightly higher than usual, again heavy feeding the last few days.

I dosed a little ammonium today and fed the fish as usual. I checked tonight and phosphate was 0.05, that’s my lower limit….so guess what? Corals get fed some Benepets and reef roids tonight and they’ll love it.

I have not been struggling with zero nitrate recently so I’m not using the ammonium to boost nitrate at the moment. I am just doing a little as an experiment. All other things being equal, it does seem to push the phosphate down.

It without a doubt drops phosphate! The only thing I can wrap my head around is the accelerated coral growth is consuming both the phosphate and nitrates at a faster rate as they grow. Obviously no scientifical data to back this just observation and experience but I talked to a couple of the big dogs in the sps farming business and this has been their experience also with phosphates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It without a doubt drops phosphate! The only thing I can wrap my head around is the accelerated coral growth is consuming both the phosphate and nitrates at a faster rate as they grow. Obviously no scientifical data to back this just observation and experience but I talked to a couple of the big dogs in the sps farming business and this has been their experience also with phosphates.

Thanks for the info!

 

[rishma]

It without a doubt drops phosphate! The only thing I can wrap my head around is the accelerated coral growth is consuming both the phosphate and nitrates at a faster rate as they grow. Obviously no scientifical data to back this just observation and experience but I talked to a couple of the big dogs in the sps farming business and this has been their experience also with phosphates.

I thought it might be bacteria using the ammonia and consuming phosphate, but either way I think the availability of ammonia is having an interesting effect.

 

[Troylee]

I thought it might be bacteria using the ammonia and consuming phosphate, but either way I think the availability of ammonia is having an interesting effect.

Could be???? Idk haha! All I know is ammonia makes the tank phosphate limited.. kinda crazy..

 

[rishma]

Could be???? Idk haha! All I know is ammonia makes the tank phosphate limited.. kinda crazy..

It would be good if others share their observations on this. If consistently observed, it could be pretty useful. It’s certainly something people should watch out for. Unknowingly driving phosphate to zero is bad news. Given we are on page 53 and think we are the first ones to notice makes me wonder how common it is.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I thought it might be bacteria using the ammonia and consuming phosphate, but either way I think the availability of ammonia is having an interesting effect.

Impact on alk demand might help clarify what is using it.

 

[Troylee]

It would be good if others share their observations on this. If consistently observed, it could be pretty useful. It’s certainly something people should watch out for. Unknowingly driving phosphate to zero is bad news. Given we are on page 53 and think we are the first ones to notice makes me wonder how common it is.

After 2 weeks.

 

[Troylee]

Impact on alk demand might help clarify what is using it.

My alk dropped 1dkh over the 2 weeks then I had a kalk over dose that precipitated it and it dropped to 4.8 I’ve gotten it back up to 9 currently so I can’t help much there.. I will see what happens over the next 2 weeks and go from there

 

[rishma]

Impact on alk demand might help clarify what is using it.

Great point. I am not seeing alkalinity demand change, at least not enough to notice. I am team bacteria

 

[rishma]

Just for fun…

Here is my phosphate data since starting daily ammonium bicarbonate dosing. All the peaks are in the morning, all the troughs are in the evening. I did not always measure 2x per day. Ammonia dosing happens after the morning test.

There could be numerous explanations for the pattern but what is interesting about this pattern is it’s exactly opposite what it was before dosing ammonia. In the past, the morning reading was the trough and the evening reading was the peak. The only change is addition of a small amount of daily ammonia plus heavier feeding due to a new fish addition.

Any one or all of these readings have potential error but the pattern is pretty interesting. I think an explanation could be the ammonia addition results in consumption of phosphate, but it’s a small dose so not having a huge impact.

Nitrate has been 5-10 ppm during this period.

 

[BR260354]

I'm having to dose phosphates as well. Doing around 6ml a day and I have PO4 at 0.05 with NO3 at 22. My total system is around 130g. Since my NO3 finally climbed, I backed off the AmBicarb to 12ml a day for now.

 

[Troylee]

Just for fun…

Here is my phosphate data since starting daily ammonium bicarbonate dosing. All the peaks are in the morning, all the troughs are in the evening. I did not always measure 2x per day. Ammonia dosing happens after the morning test.

There could be numerous explanations for the pattern but what is interesting about this pattern is it’s exactly opposite what it was before dosing ammonia. In the past, the morning reading was the trough and the evening reading was the peak. The only change is addition of a small amount of daily ammonia plus heavier feeding due to a new fish addition.

Any one or all of these readings have potential error but the pattern is pretty interesting. I think an explanation could be the ammonia addition results in consumption of phosphate, but it’s a small dose so not having a huge impact.

Nitrate has been 5-10 ppm during this period.

From my experience thus far and talking to a couple people who have been using ammonia for awhile now it’s almost a 1:1 ratio with dosing phosphate and ammonia or really close to that. I’m about half now and still have p04 on the low end of .02.. once I get more phosphate in the mail” I ordered some food grade off of one of Randy’s recipes” I will up my dose to 1:1 and see where my phosphates end up.

 

[rishma]

I think today I’ll skip the ammonia dose and check phosphate tonight to see if it went down or up. If it goes down, that would not support my theory.

 

[WvAquatics]

I'm glad I have been following along. Put 2ppm ammonia carbonate to start the cycle on my aquarium. Planning to dose ammonia from the start and seeing your trial and errors helps a lot.

 

[BriDroid]

I can't answer if it makes my phosphates drop or not, I have to add them daily. I bottom out to 0ppm everyday. I'm dosing 0.2ppm ammonium bicarbonate and 0.1ppm trisodium phosphate daily. When I test I'm 3-5ppm nitrates and 0-0.003ppm phosphate. Did add 0.2ppm trisodium phosphate for about a week, and it made no difference, I would still drop to 0ppm. My tank is newer, so the rocks and sand are still binding PO4.

 

[rishma]

I'm glad I have been following along. Put 2ppm ammonia carbonate to start the cycle on my aquarium. Planning to dose ammonia from the start and seeing your trial and errors helps a lot.

errors!?!? How dare you