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redfishsc · 04/16/2009, 07:40 PM

You can safely dose nitrate so long as you are meticulous about the way you meter it out.

I made my own homebrew of nitrate by cycling standard household ammonia (ammonium hydroxide from the cleaning aisle at Walmart) in a bucket with a sponge filter from an established tank.

You can also use potassium nitrate (saltpeter, from a pharmacy) or calcium nitrate from a lab supply (don't use agricultural grade, it has traces of phosphate).

I would only dose enough to raise the tank by 0.3ppm per day to start. Higher levels only with close observation and patience.

04/16/2009, 07:40 PM	#16
redfishsc Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 3,696	You can safely dose nitrate so long as you are meticulous about the way you meter it out. I made my own homebrew of nitrate by cycling standard household ammonia (ammonium hydroxide from the cleaning aisle at Walmart) in a bucket with a sponge filter from an established tank. You can also use potassium nitrate (saltpeter, from a pharmacy) or calcium nitrate from a lab supply (don't use agricultural grade, it has traces of phosphate). I would only dose enough to raise the tank by 0.3ppm per day to start. Higher levels only with close observation and patience. __________________ "The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation." Corrie Ten Boom “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins” -- Søren Kierkegaard Current Tank Info: ghetto grad school reef.....11g rimless tank, 36X9X9, lit by Cree and Rebels scobbled together. Stocked mostly with free stuff I got from panhandling my fellow reefers.