Chuck's Planted Aquarium Pages
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Adding Nitrate to a planted tankFirst of all, don't consider adding any nitrate unless you've tested it, and are sure it's zero (or very low, less than 10ppm). Make sure your test kit is accurately measuring Nitrate. Many nitrate kits won't register low values. My AP Dry-tab kit doesn't show anything below 20ppm. Good results have been reported using the Red Sea nitrate test, and the Seachem nitrate test. Second, ALWAYS MAKE CHANGES SLOWLY! To add nitrate to a planted tank, most people use KNO3, Potassium Nitrate. It's available at some better garden stores, farm suppliers, and hydroponics suppliers. It's also the ONLY ingredient in "Green Light Stump Remover", sold by Ace Hardware (and some other home-improvement stores). Not all stump removers are pure KNO3. Use other brands at your own risk. Several plant enthusiasts have contacted the makers of "Green Light", and have verified with the chemist that it's pure KNO3. The desired nitrate level is 5-10ppm. For dosing, let me repeat again, make changes slowly. A nitrate level of 10ppm wouldn't hurt any fish. But if your level is zero, and you add enough in one dose to raise it to 10ppm, you will kill fish. Here are the numbers I've got for dosages. If someone out there sees an error in my numbers, please let me know. I'm not very good with chemistry. These calculations were derived from info provided at The Krib. If you mix 2 tablespoons of KNO3 into 250ml of water, each ml will add .72ppm to a 30g tank. Start off adding 1 ml each day. Over a week, this will add 5ppm of Nitrate. Test after a week. If it's still too low, increase to 2ml each day. Keep repeating this until you measure 5-10ppm. The math isn't tough, but here are the numbers for some other size tanks: (21.6 divided by your tank gallons = ppm per ml added)
So, I suggest starting with a dose that will add 5ppm over a week. Note: Many dechlorinators and aquarium plant fertilizers come in 250ml bottles. That's what I use to mix mine.
For those that want to look at how I came up with these numbers, here's a full breakdown: On TheKrib I found this page: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/dosing.html There is a chart that shows that that for Potassium Nitrate, 1/4 teaspoon in a 50g tank will add: 4.5ppm NO3- and 2.9ppm K.
So we know:
now, adjust for a 30g tank (that's what I had at the time),
Now, if we make my example solution of 2 TBS / 250ml, then each ml will contain:
Fertilizer Calculator
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