Just dosing KNO3

[SpeedEuphoria]

Hey I'm learning more about ferts and algae, concerns w/ shrimp and CO2.

Now just recently since adding more plants, my Nitrate is going down. Its ~10 now and before was always 20 or so(hard to read color chart, lol). I'm also seeing some hairs on plant leaves and even more of a spot on one in particular. I'm turning back the lights for now to see how it progresses since I relatively new to this stuff.

So I'm looking for experienced experts like ones on this forum to fill me in a little more. I'm looking for minimal dosing to get by.

Many say shrimp(RCS) do fine w/ ferts, and others say not so much. I know CSM+B has coper so kinda weary about that.

I read this page where it had some info(dosing and shrimp), it just seems that maybe this would be a recipe for algae. No kno3 or csm+b dosed.
Is it safe to dose Freshwater Planted Aquarium Fertilizers with Freshwater Shrimp? | Information on if it is safe to dose Fertilizers in a Planted Aquarium with Shrimp present

Isnt low nitrates a good breeding ground for algae?

So I have some dry ferts on order, I plan to be very minimal with the dosing, so a modified EI maybe, but will I still need large waterchanges?

Or whats the old school way of dosing? have to measure everything(parameters) and figure how much of each one to add?

 

[neilanh]

Yes, allowing any of the nutrients to drop out completely can be a cause for algae, so you have to be careful.

I don't dose my shrimp tank at all, and have high light (4WPG). I do have some hair algae, but it's surprisingly not horrible.

On my 125, I've taken to dosing with PPS-Pro theory. Opposite of EI, wherein PPS-Pro attempts to tailor to dosing daily what the tank needs, rather than overdosing to ensure nothing ever runs out.

 

[An t-iasg]

I quickly skimmed the article you linked. It appears that the author is not adding additional KNO3 since his bioload of shrimp produces enough nitrate to stay within the 10-20 ppm range. He didn't post any NO3 test results but that's what I'm guessing his NO3 range is since he says the plants are healthy.

You're right that a low level of NO3 - under 10 ppm - will likely produce an algae (cyano) outbreak. You'll need to test your NO3 levels and see how much KNO3 to add, if any, to your tank to make sure you're not harming your shrimp or inviting an algae outbreak. Since you're right about at the 10 ppm level and getting some algae, you could try adding small amounts of KNO3 to see where the right level is for your tank.

I have a 10 gallon, low-light tank (27 watts CF). I use a modified EI dose that works for my tank and the bioload. I dose macros twice a week (Saturday and Tuesday) and micros twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday). I used to dose three times a week when I had higher light, and with the lower light, I just tried the same amounts of ferts but not as often. It worked for me. You could use my dosing amounts as a starting point for you.

The amounts that I dose for my 10 gallon tanks:

KNO3 - nitrate - 1 smidgen
KH2PO4 - phosphate - slightly less than 1 nip
K2SO4 - potassium - slightly more than 1 nip

Seachem Flourish Comprehensive - 1 ml.
Iron Chelate 10 % solution - 5 drops

I got the smigden, nip set at Linens 'n Things. It is a set of four measuring spoons like a tablespoon/teaspoon set but smaller. The other spoons in the set are called pinch and dash.

 

[Purrbox]

Generally if you're going to go with minimal to no dosing for a shrimp aquarium, you'll also want to stick to a low to medium light aquarium. These types of setups require much less dosing anyway, so you're less likely to run into problems by not dosing. Between the shrimp waste and water changes the plants should get most of what they need to avoid problems, plus most shrimp are algae eaters so you actually want some algae for them to munch on.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well I'm still waiting on my dry ferts. I have cut back the lighting to ~6hrs a day and just tested and have 5ppm NitrAte. I have some hair algae I'm thinking its staghorn. I have not seen the shrimp eat this algae yet and I dont overfeed as I feed 2 tiny pieces(like 1/8 wafer total) of an algae wafer every other day