# Nitrates are low should I dose back to back?



## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

I just dosed my 2 big tanks yesterday and they are still pretty low <5ppm. I'm useing greg watson's dry stuff. I resently had it way to high dosing before I got my nitrates down enough. Anyway I dose 1 1/2 teaspoons of pot. nitrate and 1/2 teaspoon mono pot. phos. I dose that on both my 92 and 75 as the sumps make it come to around 125 total gallons. On my 29 I dose 1/2 nitrates and 1/8 mono pot. phos. Should I just dose macros today as usual and up the dose tomorrow? Or dose macro and ferts today.

On a side note I tested my 29 which is kicking but for plants but is now up around a little under 100ppm. I'm thinking 1/2 teaspoon is to much nitrate, should I back down to a 1/4?


----------



## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

Ok my phosphates are high as well >5ppm. Can somebody give the correct teaspoon measurements I should be doseing?


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Here's a link to some EI information. Midway down the page there is a section in Bold type titled "A Typical Dosing Routine" that gives you some info for dosing: http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1

To sum it up the article for you, the recommendations for a densely planted 20g tank are:

1/4 tsp KNO3 3-4x a week (every other day)
1/16th-1/32nd tsp KH2PO4 3-4x a week (every other day)
5ml of traces on days opposite the KNO3 and KH2PO4
SeaChem Equilibrium 1/8 teaspoon after water change.

With our fairly hard water here, I skip the Equilibrium addition. Up here in Dayton, we have a decent amount of Ca and Mg in our water supply so I don't think it is necessary. The extra K and Fe in Equilibrium may or may not help help but I've never tried so can't say for sure 

Based on a 100g volume for your 2 tanks with sumps, I would add 1 level teaspoon of KNO3 3x a week and a level 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of KH2PO4 3x a week and add 20 ml of trace solution on days opposite the KNO3 and KH2PO4 additions. Quit testing the tanks (except for CO2 levels) for a week or two and give it a week or two to "grow in".

I would follow the 20g dosing advice in the EI article for your 29g tank also. I think you are definately overdosing the PO4 on the 29g. Make sure your CO2 levels are good also. We seem to have some issues with phosphate buffers being added in the amount of 6-8ppm in the Dayton area. That PO4 addition makes us think our CO2 is higher than it actually is


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

There is a sticky in the SWOAPE forum called Aquatic Calculators. In it you will find a downloadable version of Chuck's Planted Aquaria Calculator. This will be extremely helpful for you in determining how much a tsp of each fert will add to your tank. I can give you a hand with the calculator if you need it. 

There are a few other claculators that may be helpful also so take a look at it


----------



## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

You want me to dose less nitrates in the 2 bigger tanks even the nitrates are low? I've got my rare plants in the 75 and I don't want them to melt away from lack of nitrates. I'm also have a small bloom of brush algae one some things that have me worried that the plants are growing enough or getting enough nutrients.


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

What type of test kits are you using and have you calibrated them against a know solution? If not, then I wouldn't rely on them very much. If you are happy with the 1.25 tsp of KNO3 and 1/4 tsp of PO4 then don't change it but please don't rely on your test kits unless you have calibrated them 

P. stellatus or L. aromatica are good indicators of low NO3. They will turn a pinkish red if your NO3 levels are 5ppm as your test kit indicates. IF they are nice and green your NO3 may be higher than you think 

1 tsp of KNO3 should give you ~10ppm of NO3 based on 100g of water in the tank considering substrate displacement. The BBA is more than lilkely due to low CO2 than low NO3 or PO4. 

I would definately cut back on the dosing for the 29g though...


----------



## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19475;category_id=3087

That is what I'm useing. How do I calibrate it? My co2 is up to 13ppm in my bigger tanks and I turned it up again so it should be closer today.


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You have very high light levels in those tanks, so nitrate and phosphate will be used up pretty fast. Just as an alternative idea, you might try dosing NO3 every day, at about half of what you now dose every other day. With that high a light level you really need to make sure you have 30 ppm or so of CO2 consistently, every day. I suggest you check it by looking for a drop of 1.0 in the PH from a degassed sample of tank water (let a small sample of tank water sit out overnight to outgas) to the in-tank water about an hour or two after the CO2 comes on in the morning. BBA starts up pretty quickly when the CO2 level drops too low.


----------



## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

So what your saying is I should have 30ppm of co2 with in 2 hours of the co2 kicking on? If thats the case won't it be extreamly high by the time it kicks off 10 hours later? I tested at 7pm last night on my co2 and my 29 was at 33 and the 2 big tanks where at 13 with 3 hours to go before it kicks off. Hopefully my 2 big tanks will be closer to that today.


----------

