After 4 days of dosing KNO3 I finally have a readable nitrate level in the tank. .25ppm
. I have been adding 35mls of the KNO3 solution daily (that is the equivalent of almost .8ppm of nitrate for my tank volume daily). I may be imaging things but a few of the corals appear to have a little more colour. Too early to be certain. I will continue to add the same amount of KNO3.
My calcium level has dropped 50ppm since Saturday. I have even been adding a bit more calcium in the past week because I felt 410 might be a little low. My only guess is nitrate was the limiting factor in the growth of corals and coralline algae. Once nitrates are available these processes have kicked in using more of the calcium. I will double my dose of calcium to try to get it back on track.
I had heard that dosing KNO3 raises alkalinity so I have reduced my buffer addition in half over the past 4 days and I am stable at 9dkh