Order Placed! Trident NP coming

[obrien.david.j]

1 hour ago, obrien.david.j said:

Happy to do it.

BTW, if you're a windows user, have latest/recent Msft Excel, do you want me to come over and set the basics up for you on your tank?    You'll get to be the judge of it's value of a group conversation.

[obrien.david.j]

Got my latest Oceamo ICP-MS test back.   Trident NP is doing great for Nitrate, still reading a touch low for Phosphate.   Here's the Timeline of measurements/activities.

 

July 21:  Trident NP @ 1pm

• NO3 = 4.5
• PO4 = 0.02

July 21:  Hanna @ 5pm

• NO3 = 4.2 <- confirms trident
• PO4 = 0.043  <- double trident

July 21: Additives @ 6pm

• +100ml NeoNitro, +100ml NeoPhos

 

July 22: Trident NP @ 1pm

• NO3 =5.3  
• PO4 = 0.02 <- looks low

July 22: ICP-MS, sampled @ 6pm

• NO3 = 4.6 <- trident is clearly close enough
• PO4 = 0.05 <- confirms trident still low, Hanna is closer

 

[LavenderTi]

We haven't convinced you to dose ammonia instead of neonitro??

I'm still getting relatively steady readings on my NP. Don't be fooled by the horrible axis limits. That roller coaster represents 1 PPM of change.

[obrien.david.j]

1 hour ago, LavenderTi said:

We haven't convinced you to dose ammonia instead of neonitro??

You'll never guess what's arriving today...    I've held off switching to Ammonia dosing, waiting for a daily automated tester (Done.  Trident NP) and confirmation I can use the daily trend information to figure out if I've screwed up big time.  (I'm feeling okay on this now, for NO3).

Expect Ammonia dosing to start next week.

From Andy's post:

• mix 20g in 500ml of RO water
• Mike and Sanjay are dosing .08ml per gallon, but they worked up to this dose slowly and carefully
• Andy started dose at 7 mls per day for 200 gallon system (0.035ml/gal)
• worked up to 16 mls per day over 2 weeks (0.08ml/gal)

I'm thinking of starting even more slowly.  And stopping if I'm watching NO3 increase.   I'm a bit worried about trident not reporting PO4 crisply, and may have to manual/hanna test that more often.   To keep my N/P ratio up.

• 7ml/day - for my 350-400gal system (0.02ml/gal)
• 14ml/day - for the next week (0.04ml/gal)
• 21ml/day - for the next week (0.06ml/gal)
• 28ml/day - 0.08ml/gal

 

[Krux]

My nitrates are elevated, if it is helpful I can bring you 40 gallons when I do my water change today 🤣

[obrien.david.j]

2 hours ago, Krux said:

My nitrates are elevated, if it is helpful I can bring you 40 gallons when I do my water change today 🤣

Soo generous.   Appreciate the offer.

[obrien.david.j]

Status as of Day 3 of Ammonia Dosing.   Observations:

• No negative effects seen
• Also, no magic "OMG the tank looks different"
• Trident NP Nitrate says Nitrates continue to be consumed on a daily basis (same as before)
  • I believe this is as expected, the challenge of ammonia dosing is figuring out what actual amount is not being consumed.    @Lexinverts - Do I have this right?

My notes, for this activity;

• 8/4/2024    My stock soln is stronger than R2R article, (20g in 500ml, vs 20g in 1L) 
  • https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/
• 8/4/2024    Ammonia solution:  20g ammonium Bicarbonate in 500g RO water.   Work up to 0.08ml/gal
• 8/4/2024    planned schedule: Week1: 7ml/day (0.02ml/gal) --> Week2: 14ml/day (0.04ml/gal) --> Week3: 21ml/day (0.06ml/gal) --> Week4: 28ml/day (0.08ml/gal)
• 8/4/2024    FIRST DAY - Ammonia Dosing.   start with 7ml / day to begin with ... should be 0.02ml/gallon (on 350gallon tank)

Currently here -->             

• 8/11/2024    SECOND WEEK - Ammonia Dosing.   Increase to 14ml/ day (was 7ml)  ... should be 0.04ml/gallon
• 8/18/2024    THIRD WEEK - Ammonia Dosing.   Increase to 21ml/ day (was 14ml)  ... should be 0.06ml/gallon 
• 8/21/2024    FOURTH WEEK - Ammonia Dosing.   Increase to 28ml/ day (was 21ml)  ... should be 0.08ml/gallon

 

[Krux]

Are you dosing all at once, or are you spreading it out over a longer period of time?  What hours are you making the adjustment?

[Colbymac92]

why ammonia dosing?

[obrien.david.j]

44 minutes ago, Krux said:

Are you dosing all at once, or are you spreading it out over a longer period of time?  What hours are you making the adjustment?

Everything at once.  (okay, my pipet is 2.5ml/squirt - so it's spread out across the time it takes me to do three squirts)

And right now, daily chems are added manually - between 4-6pm-ish.   One after the other.

Currently daily chems are:  Iron, Manganese, Chrom, Cobalt, Iodine, Selenium, Copper, Tropic Marin NP bacto balance (carbon dosing)... and now Ammonium Bicarbonate

 

16 minutes ago, Colbymac92 said:

why ammonia dosing?

Due to large coral biomass in my system, I feel I need more Nitrogen than currently provided.  I've been dosing Brightwell NeoNitro to keep my measurable NO3 in the 5-10 range.   But it sounds like Ammonia can provide nitrogen in a more consumable form.

@Lexinverts shared his experiences

• https://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/53523-ammonia-dosing-in-my-reef-tank

 

Recent discussion

• https://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/54880-diy-ammonia-and-alk

 

I been interested since last year, but really wanted to do this while able to track NO3 and PO4 more actively.  Thus I've waited until getting the trident NP.    

• https://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/53055-anyone-dosing-ammonia

 

Some Main Reef2Reef discussions:

• https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/
• https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-is-our-friend-thoughts-needed.1066535/

Here's how my Nitrate has trended over the past week.  My last NeoNitro dose was July 25th, which raised NO3 up to ~9.   You can see it's being consumed at a steady rate.