Potassium nitrate dosing...

[Peter Eichler]

So I just dosed 5 grams of of potassium nitrate to about 1000l of water. By my most likely very poor calculations I just increased my nitrate by about .7 ppm and potassium by almost 2 ppm. Are my numbers about right?,

If I do the same 5 gram dose of sodium nitrate I'm looking at 3.65 ppm nitrate to 1000l?

Thanks in adavnce for someone coorrcting my numbers that I'm sure are wrong :p

Also, is there a way to figure out urea and what 5 grams of that would ultimately add to nitrogen levels?

[blanden.adam]

5 g potassium nitrate in 1000 L: 1.9 ppm K+, 3 ppm NO3-

5 g sodium nitrate in 10000 L: 1.4 ppm Na+, 3.6 ppm NO3-

Nitrate test kits are typically not very precise, so that's probably just due to measurement error, potassium number is about right.

I don't understand your question about Urea. What do you mean when you ask if you can "figure it out"

[Peter Eichler]

5 g potassium nitrate in 1000 L: 1.9 ppm K+, 3 ppm NO3-

5 g sodium nitrate in 10000 L: 1.4 ppm Na+, 3.6 ppm NO3-

Nitrate test kits are typically not very precise, so that's probably just due to measurement error, potassium number is about right.

I don't understand your question about Urea. What do you mean when you ask if you can "figure it out"

Sorry, what I meant was, assuming urea is broken down into nitrate and not utilized in another manner, how much nitrate would it contribute to a system using 5 grams per 1000l?

Why was I so off with the NO3 in potassium nitrate? I used 13.9% as the percentage of nitrate.

[blanden.adam]

Ahh, interesting question. BUT, the issue is urea can be used as is (see this source for confirmation: http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/nutrition-6/amino-acids), and it doesn't break down into nitrate per se, but rather ammonia and cyanate (albeit pretty slowly). The ammonia can also be used as is, so only a fraction of it will end up as nitrate, and the cyanate is rather reactive. I wouldn't recommend dosing it.

[pakirri]

if you dont mind me asking, where did you got the potassium nitrate?

[Peter Eichler]

amazon

[lakereef]

Did you guys come to a consensus on how much nitrates are added with the potasium nitrate?

I'd like to try this and want to make sure my numbers are right.

[blanden.adam]

Potassium nitrate is 61% nitrate by mass for the anhydrous salt. Although I'd recommend sodium nitrate to avoid messing with potassium levels.

[lakereef]

I think I got it using this calculator

http://www.theaquatools.com/fertilization-calculator

I mixed 11.2g into a 400ml solution. I have 100g(378l) in my tank and thus, everytime I dose 10 ml of solution, I should be increasing the nitrates by .5ppm and potasium by .3ppm

[blanden.adam]

those numbers are just about right. good luck!