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How do you dose Nitrates to a Tank?

14K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  Redknee 
#1 ·
Anyone ever had to do that? I think I need to dose some Nitrates to my tank but I'm not sure how to do that...
 
#4 ·
In a nutshell, I have BGA. I read that BGA develops in low nitrates situations, which is my case. And with twice weekly water changes, those nitrates never have a chance to go above the 5 ppm mark. So I think I've found a way to eradicate the BGA but I'd like to create an "ecosystem" that has the proper parameters to keep the BGA from reappearing after it's gone and the way to do that is apparently to keep the nitrates slightly higher than what I have. I just cannot seem to find a way to properly do it... umm...
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
WTH... I've never heard of algae developing because of a deficit of anything (unless that deficit is impeding plant growth).

According to the limiting factor rule, the limiting factor is the element (an element essential to plant growth) in the lowest availability, ie light, CO2, Nitrate, etc. So for example by the rule of limiting factors you could have all the lighting, and ferts in the world but if you arent providing enough CO2 the plants will still grow at a snails pace.

What I am getting at is that perhaps this deficiency in nitrates is limiting your plant growth which in turn is leaving an excess in other nutrients which then feeds the BGA?

In any case you can add nitrates to the tank by dosing KNO3 (potassium nitrate) which is a dry fert dosed according to the estimated index.

I recommend that you move this to the planted tank section though and give us all the stats of your setup including lighting, plants, etc. I'm sure there are simpler solutions to your BGA than adding more nitrate (which could simply bring on different algaes like GDA).
 
#8 ·
Can't you use ammonia too? Since the bacteria will break it down to nitrate anyways. Also I heard plants like ammonia for their nitrogen more than nitrates?
 
#9 ·
Well that would depend on how fast/efficiently your filter works... if there you don't have the surface area to house enough bacteria to do the job all you are doing is subjectng yourself to ammonia/nitrite spikes.

Hawkian I'm not sure what ferts you're already using or what advice you're getting on the planted tank forum but I bought a set of dry fertz (including KNO3) from aquarfloranurseries dot com. Each fert is $5 per pound (except for the micros which are $12) CND. The guy is based in abbotsford BC and shipping is $12 flat.
 
#12 ·
I dose with EasyLife Nitro and EasyLife Fosfo, 20ppm NO3 and 1.25 PO4.
Keeping a 16:1 ratio NO3-PO4 keps algae away BUT some may still survive... Still that ratio will help a lot.
http://www.easylife.nl/usa/index.html#nogo
P.S from my xp with easylife products i can really state that they have proffesional products not the usual garbage.
 
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