[aquaverde]

I'm wondering what else other than KNO3 anyone of you may be using for nitrate dosing, and where you obtain it. I would like to stock an alternate to the potassium salt most of us use so that I can have more leeway with potassium levels in my tanks.

 

[aquaverde]

Well, I'm not ready yet to dose high octane ammonium. If I do get to the place where I want to play with it, it will be in a tank that I don't mind experimenting with (preferably fishless). I was interested in being able to dose nitrate independently of potassium. I found a post by Paul K. where he had used calcium nitrate, but there were complications because it is hygroscopic. I have yet to hear anyone mention any other nitrate salt.

Giancarlo is probably right, and it's not going to really be an issue. Anyway, it doesn't look like there's much of anything easily available.

 

[aquaverde]

Well you likely have soft tap water in NY, so Ca(NO3)2 would work just dandy and add some MgSO4 baking soda and that would take care of a lot for you fast.

Very soft, probably rivals San Fran water.

As a relative newbie, I'd like as much flexibility as possible as I develop something of a dosing method. The K+ thing may be a wash, or more likely, may have little bearing on water like mine. I'm looking for some tools for my toolbag- see what works best for my tanks.

Calcium nitrate has been used by a few folks mainly for the Ca and the ease of getting it to dissolve vs CaCO3.

From the sound of it, it's difficult to keep the stuff out of solution. It will make its own!

This may sound a little heretical, but I like the idea of being able to adjust individual substances and maybe stretch the time between big water changes. When you add any salt, obviously you add two substances to the water when you may not want but one. Maintaining nitrate at a target over a couple of weeks without accumulating high doses of K+ or something else sounds like it has some value to me. I might just be all wet, though, as I doubt I'm going to discover over a few months something the oldtimers like yourself have been dealing with for decades. If ammonium weren't such a problem, it would be the answer to what I'm looking for. I can't hang over the tank with an eyedropper every hour, though.

Where would be some places to look for cacium nitrate?