Brightwell Neo Nito Dosing

MHG · 01/09/2018, 06:49 PM

So while not wanting to derail my thread with too much historical information, I have decided to start dosing nitrates. My system has always been low nutrient and I have had the best growth when I changed to the "Keep your fish fat and happy and your corals will love you for it" approach. But I had an ich out-break from a new addition and lost half my fish (thats another story). I dont want to just dump food in the tank. Soooo.....

I have had a mild case of Dino in this tank that I can not beat. The tank is 8 years old and has had dino 3 times. The first two times I beat it. This time it is kicking my butt. I definitely see an increase with the water changes so I decided to try nitrate dosing to "possibly" help with the dino and so I can lower my food input.

Brightwells instructions are conflicting. They state it is for ULNS systems and tell you to dose as directed and test 24 hours later. But state if the nitrate and phosphates dont go down you are carbon limited. Hold on a second...DOWN? ULNS system.... I am dosing the product to slightly raise the nitrate. So if I am dosing the recommended 1ml per gallon to raise it to 5ppm

If there was a brightwell section on this forum I would have posted this there. Possibly someone knows about this sorcery...

mcgyvr · 01/10/2018, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MHG

Brightwells instructions are conflicting. They state it is for ULNS systems and tell you to dose as directed and test 24 hours later. But state if the nitrate and phosphates dont go down you are carbon limited. Hold on a second...DOWN? ULNS system....

While I'm not brightwell (and you can contact them here http://brightwellaquatics.com/support/index.php)
I'll throw out my assumption of what you have written..

I would assume that the products intended use is to achieve a ULNS system and this product is when you seem to be nitrate limited and dose this to help "balance" nitrate/phosphate levels to decrease phosphate..
Many times with carbon dosing your nitrates or whatever seem to get "stuck" and that can be because your phosphate levels are too low so you might dose phosphates to create the balance needed to drop levels down again now that you aren't phosphate limited.. Same applies if you were nitrate limited and phosphate levels are stuck..

bertoni · 01/10/2018, 03:59 PM

When they say "carbon limited", they probably mean organic carbon. Photosynthetic organisms can obtain carbon dioxide from the air and take it up, and thus have an effectively unlimited supply of carbon available. If your tank has reached its photosynthetic limit, though, adding organic carbon will feed microbes that take up phosphate and nitrate. That might be what they're trying to communicate.

In your case, I'd dose something like 1 ppm and see how the tank responds. Measuring 24 hours later should be fine to estimating the consumption rate. Measuring short after dosing (10 minutes or so) might help ensure that the dose is doing what you want it to do.

MHG · 01/11/2018, 07:39 PM

Their recommended dose for my 70 gallon system is 1ml/gallon so to play is safe I only dosed 30ml Day 1. 24 hours later tested 0 N03.

Dosed 50ml day 2 and still tested zero

Dosed another 50ml today.

On my other system of the same size I was able to get 5ppm after the second dose.

MHG · 01/11/2018, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

While I'm not brightwell (and you can contact them here http://brightwellaquatics.com/support/index.php)
I'll throw out my assumption of what you have written..

I would assume that the products intended use is to achieve a ULNS system and this product is when you seem to be nitrate limited and dose this to help "balance" nitrate/phosphate levels to decrease phosphate..
Many times with carbon dosing your nitrates or whatever seem to get "stuck" and that can be because your phosphate levels are too low so you might dose phosphates to create the balance needed to drop levels down again now that you aren't phosphate limited.. Same applies if you were nitrate limited and phosphate levels are stuck..

as I read it the intent is to create natural p04 uptake in nitrate deficient systems.

MHG · 01/12/2018, 06:32 PM

finally bumped up to 2.5. Ill see how this goes.

bertoni · 01/12/2018, 06:53 PM

Okay, please keep us posted!

MHG · 01/18/2018, 06:18 PM

Well its amazing how a good biological filter will eat this stuff up. Bottle is gone. 50ml a day and could barely keep it above .1

Did not seem to do much for my Dino issue. I dont think buying an gallon an amazon will last all that long. Switching to peroxide I think...

01/09/2018, 06:49 PM	#1
MHG Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 2,919	Brightwell Neo Nito Dosing So while not wanting to derail my thread with too much historical information, I have decided to start dosing nitrates. My system has always been low nutrient and I have had the best growth when I changed to the "Keep your fish fat and happy and your corals will love you for it" approach. But I had an ich out-break from a new addition and lost half my fish (thats another story). I dont want to just dump food in the tank. Soooo..... I have had a mild case of Dino in this tank that I can not beat. The tank is 8 years old and has had dino 3 times. The first two times I beat it. This time it is kicking my butt. I definitely see an increase with the water changes so I decided to try nitrate dosing to "possibly" help with the dino and so I can lower my food input. Brightwells instructions are conflicting. They state it is for ULNS systems and tell you to dose as directed and test 24 hours later. But state if the nitrate and phosphates dont go down you are carbon limited. Hold on a second...DOWN? ULNS system.... I am dosing the product to slightly raise the nitrate. So if I am dosing the recommended 1ml per gallon to raise it to 5ppm If there was a brightwell section on this forum I would have posted this there. Possibly someone knows about this sorcery... __________________ MHG (LIRA Member) 60G Cube, Kessil 360's

01/10/2018, 03:59 PM	#3
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	When they say "carbon limited", they probably mean organic carbon. Photosynthetic organisms can obtain carbon dioxide from the air and take it up, and thus have an effectively unlimited supply of carbon available. If your tank has reached its photosynthetic limit, though, adding organic carbon will feed microbes that take up phosphate and nitrate. That might be what they're trying to communicate. In your case, I'd dose something like 1 ppm and see how the tank responds. Measuring 24 hours later should be fine to estimating the consumption rate. Measuring short after dosing (10 minutes or so) might help ensure that the dose is doing what you want it to do. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

01/11/2018, 07:39 PM	#4
MHG Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 2,919	Their recommended dose for my 70 gallon system is 1ml/gallon so to play is safe I only dosed 30ml Day 1. 24 hours later tested 0 N03. Dosed 50ml day 2 and still tested zero Dosed another 50ml today. On my other system of the same size I was able to get 5ppm after the second dose. __________________ MHG (LIRA Member) 60G Cube, Kessil 360's

01/12/2018, 06:32 PM	#6
MHG Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 2,919	finally bumped up to 2.5. Ill see how this goes. __________________ MHG (LIRA Member) 60G Cube, Kessil 360's

01/12/2018, 06:53 PM	#7
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Okay, please keep us posted! __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

01/18/2018, 06:18 PM	#8
MHG Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 2,919	Well its amazing how a good biological filter will eat this stuff up. Bottle is gone. 50ml a day and could barely keep it above .1 Did not seem to do much for my Dino issue. I dont think buying an gallon an amazon will last all that long. Switching to peroxide I think... __________________ MHG (LIRA Member) 60G Cube, Kessil 360's