Innovative Marine 30 AIO Long

[Hallowhead]

I test all parameters minus phosphate every other day as I'm tuning dosers...

Do you guys reccomend a nitrate to dose ? Fish of hex ? I watch all of his videos and thought about giving it a go. Should this be dosed via a doser or by hand is suitable ?

 

[motortrendz]

I agree. My gfo usage has definitely dropped since I started dosing nitrates, but no where close to low enough to stop usage. @motortrendz is right, all reefs are different, test test test!

Gotcha. Guess it all depends on how low his po4 is.

 

[motortrendz]

As for nitrates, I bought a bag of sodium nitrate and mixed myself. I have to look up the mixture. But I believe its 100g(a 10ml scooper is 1 gram in weight for sodium nitrate) to a liter... but let me check. Dont follow that.

Some people use potassium nitrate, but this can make tour potassium number skyrocket if you have to dose alot of nitrate to get your system stable. So that's y I like the sodium nitrate. The sodium is basically just salt. And not enough to affect your salinity. Randy holmes Farley did a whole thing on this on r2r. And I'm by no means an expert, I had to ask and got taught this by randy, I never had to dose nitrates before, but the potassium was a consern for me. I've always carbon(vodka) dosed to maintain a constant level.of nitrTes in my system and lanthanum to lower po4 if it got too high. But I was lucky and didnt have to run gfo. (Thankfully, bc I hate gfo, always robbed my acros of some color)

I test all parameters minus phosphate every other day as I'm tuning dosers...

Do you guys reccomend a nitrate to dose ? Fish of hex ? I watch all of his videos and thought about giving it a go. Should this be dosed via a doser or by hand is suitable ?

 

[motortrendz]

Ok ignore my mixture and weight in my last post... I was off. Heres the screenshot I saved.. he told me that you can mix the sodium nitrate the same way but itll be 20% stronger. Which really isnt a big deal when your trying to raise them up.

 

[Hallowhead]

Ok ignore my mixture and weight in my last post... I was off. Heres the screenshot I saved.. he told me that you can mix the sodium nitrate the same way but itll be 20% stronger. Which really isnt a big deal when your trying to raise them up.

That is what hex uses for his mix... I will make my own as DIY is life!! Just need to find a reliable seller for potassium nitrate. Amazon you think?

 

[motortrendz]

That is what hex uses for his mix... I will make my own as DIY is life!! Just need to find a reliable seller for potassium nitrate. Amazon you think?

I would use sodium, not potassium. I don't know where you live bit I have 8lbs. I would gladly give you a cup... that's more than enough to last you a long time.

 

[Hallowhead]

I would use sodium, not potassium. I don't know where you live bit I have 8lbs. I would gladly give you a cup... that's more than enough to last you a long time.

You gave me the mixture from Randy for Potassium Nitrate. Won't sodium nitrate also raise your Salinity??

I am in North Jersey - you?

 

[Hallowhead]

I'm also wondering... Maybe I need more fish? I have two clowns two Cardinals and a orchid Dottyback.

I can't understand what's exporting all my nutrients... Maybe my CUC is eating any leftover food resulting in less food to break down into the water column? I don't run anything other than chemi pure blue and a 1/4 of a marine pure block

 

[motortrendz]

You gave me the mixture from Randy for Potassium Nitrate. Won't sodium nitrate also raise your Salinity??

I am in North Jersey - you?

Lol slow down and actually read my posts. You'll answer your own questions

I'm in forked river.. Off exit 74. So yea that would be a hike for this. I just got mine off amazon. Make sure its food grade, SODIUM nitrate. Lol

 

[Hallowhead]

Lol slow down and actually read my posts. You'll answer your own questions

I'm in forked river.. Off exit 74. So yea that would be a hike for this. I just got mine off amazon. Make sure its food grade, SODIUM nitrate. Lol

Is this what you used ?
Sodium Nitrate, Reagent Grade (chemically pure) - 1 lb. bag Amazon.com: Sodium Nitrate, Reagent Grade (chemically pure) – 1 lb. bag: Industrial & Scientific

 

[motortrendz]

Yes

 

[Hallowhead]

Howdy,

Received my sodium nitrate today and begun dosing my nitrates. I will start by daily dosing per results I test - eventually I will probably bring my BRS 1.1 ml online and just manually dose it. I am just nervous that I am feeding the algae & dyno - but I guess by dosing I am trying to remove the bottom out nutrients.

 

[Hallowhead]

Through dosing 10ml a day I've gotten my nitrates up to 5ppm. I've done a successful water change to siphon out diatom and dino or whatever it was out of the tank and now we wait.

How do you suggest I find the exact rate to dose daily ? Just start at x amount and test daily till it's stable ?

 

[horseplay]

Through dosing 10ml a day I've gotten my nitrates up to 5ppm. I've done a successful water change to siphon out diatom and dino or whatever it was out of the tank and now we wait.

How do you suggest I find the exact rate to dose daily ? Just start at x amount and test daily till it's stable ?

This varies greatly as consumption of nitrate is determined by many factors, such as algae, phosphate and feeding. When I needed to do this I measure both nitrate and phosphate levels weekly and over time adjust accordingly. If you're already @5 ppm you can wait for a week and see what the consumption is like.

 

[Hallowhead]

Howdy,

I couldn't be happier with my tank progression right now. After my water change the algae / dino / cyano and having these elevated nitrates due to dosing it appears nothing is growing back. My corals are all extending again and looking great. Name of the game is now just stability. I am learning big time & very excited.

 

[Hallowhead]

My return pump did seize up tonight.. which was weird - I took it apart and thoroughly cleaned it and it is running very good again.. anyone experience something like this?

 

[motortrendz]

My return pump did seize up tonight.. which was weird - I took it apart and thoroughly cleaned it and it is running very good again.. anyone experience something like this?

Usually only if its not being maintained and cleaned. And the build up caused the impeller to drag itll stop or fail. Unless you got something sucked into the intake and It jammed up

 

[Hallowhead]

Usually only if its not being maintained and cleaned. And the build up caused the impeller to drag itll stop or fail. Unless you got something sucked into the intake and It jammed up

I'm hoping something just got clogged. I cleaned it ~ 3 months ago ? It's running great again but boy oh boy did I think a relaxing Sunday evening was gonna turn dark lol

 

[Hallowhead]

I somehow managed to let the phosphates bottom out now and dino's are everywhere

I added Nori & continue to feed pretty heavily to help get them back up however, that won't kill the dino. I see so many methods to remove them but I am just not sure which route is best for me. I just know the dino's are stringy & suffocating corals. I am basting every night to remove the growth from the corals.

I would imagine the bottom out came from turning light intensity up & somehow caused algae growth which ate all available phosphates.

Any suggestions or guidance would be great.

 

[horseplay]

Quick fix is chemiclean. Works like a charm. After that, get your nutrients dialed in.