# Seachem Nitrogen



## Ds11375 (Aug 27, 2006)

Need some input ......

My 20 Gallon has been up and running for about a month now and there are no traces of Nitrate what so ever. I have a bottle of Seachem Nitrogen that I was going to start dosing with tomorrow. I was just wondering how fast and by how much would this raise the Nitrates. I was planing on dosing twice a week at 1 ML . That sound about right?

Tks in advance.

Dan


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

are you asking as a fert nitrogen or to jumpstart the nitrogen cycle?


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## Ds11375 (Aug 27, 2006)

Well for now to give it a jump start and then depending on later readings to maintain it. My previous tank never showed any levels of Nitrate in it even when dosing with the Nitrogen.



eklikewhoa said:


> are you asking as a fert nitrogen or to jumpstart the nitrogen cycle?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

I don't think it will help much to jumpstart the tank.....but as for a establish planted tank, mine barely shows nitrates either cause the plants are sucking it up.


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## SuRje1976 (Mar 3, 2006)

Only about half of the nitrogen in Flourish Nitrogen is in the Nitrate form, and as such, a nitrate kit will only show half of the nitrogen available to the plants. The other half is in a complexed ammonium form, which will not show up on a nitrate test. 

As far as your specific dosing is concerned, 1ml will add the nitrogen equivalent of about 1ppm nitrate to your water (once you account for substrate/hardscape). If you have a light fish load, you may want to provide more nitrogen to your plants than this. If it were me, I'd probably go with closer to 5mL. In comparison to some of the dosing methods available, this is STILL quite conservative.


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## Ds11375 (Aug 27, 2006)

5 mL WOW ...... how often would you dose with that amount?



SuRje1976 said:


> Only about half of the nitrogen in Flourish Nitrogen is in the Nitrate form, and as such, a nitrate kit will only show half of the nitrogen available to the plants. The other half is in a complexed ammonium form, which will not show up on a nitrate test.
> 
> As far as your specific dosing is concerned, 1ml will add the nitrogen equivalent of about 1ppm nitrate to your water (once you account for substrate/hardscape). If you have a light fish load, you may want to provide more nitrogen to your plants than this. If it were me, I'd probably go with closer to 5mL. In comparison to some of the dosing methods available, this is STILL quite conservative.


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## SuRje1976 (Mar 3, 2006)

I personally would spread it out over a week - sorry for being vague. You could probably go a little more. How often are you doing water changes? How frequently are you willing to test your water?

I know it seems like a lot, but other dosing scenarios, EI in particular, call for this amount of nitrogen (or more) THREE TIMES per week.


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## Ds11375 (Aug 27, 2006)

Up until now I've been doing weekly WC. If its just the Nitrate test I wouldn't mind doing twice a week.



SuRje1976 said:


> I personally would spread it out over a week - sorry for being vague. You could probably go a little more.  How often are you doing water changes? How frequently are you willing to test your water?
> 
> I know it seems like a lot, but other dosing scenarios, EI in particular, call for this amount of nitrogen (or more) THREE TIMES per week.


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## Loyal to the Oil (Mar 22, 2007)

Thats why people tend to avoid using the Seachem products. They are good products by when dosing 5 mL 3 times a week that can get expensive. Google Greg Watson and consider buying dry ferts. Just a suggestion.

James


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Ds11375 said:


> Need some input ......
> 
> My 20 Gallon has been up and running for about a month now and there are no traces of Nitrate what so ever. I have a bottle of Seachem Nitrogen that I was going to start dosing with tomorrow. I was just wondering how fast and by how much would this raise the Nitrates. I was planing on dosing twice a week at 1 ML . That sound about right?
> 
> ...


That's about what I get.

I have Seachem's recommended dosing chart in Microsoft Excel format. I put the numbers in it. I used 17 gallons as the volume of water in your tank (20 gallons X 85%). According to the calculator, it says to dose F. Nitrogen twice a week with 1.1 ml doses.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

I've been loosely following Seachem's chart on 2 tanks for quite a while now. I find that their recommendations are geared toward a light to moderately planted tank. In my 1 tank that is heavily planted I dose nearly double what the Seachem chart recommends.


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