GHOSTLY
2500 Club Member
Sorry phrased that wrong. I found they appreciate it less. They usually seemed more closed to me but once I stabilized nitrate lower they opened more. Acans however seemed to really like super high nutrients water
18ppm Nitrates - advice
- Thread starter RaymondL
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Lost in the Sauce
BANGERANG!!!!
Did you ever had stabilized nitrates, higher?
The stability imo is a lot more important than the # and for lps, I'm shooting for 20+
GHOSTLY
2500 Club Member
I did. I had two tanks. One was raised nitrates around 15 and my evo was roughly around 5. I just found a lot better polyp extension in the evo. Both were set up for a similar amount of time and had fairly similar care except one I only wanted softies and lps in. How many gallon was your setup again?
Lost in the Sauce
BANGERANG!!!!
The old 200 gallon system, lps dominated reached equilibrium at about 25 ppm no3.
The new one is still in flux.
GHOSTLY
2500 Club Member
What did you keep phosphate at? People seem to love and hate it
Lost in the Sauce
BANGERANG!!!!
Now, I run two reactors with 1.5 cups of GFO, 24/7, which maintains .04-.07. I feed very heavily with a moderately heavy stocking.
In my old 120 that was only lps/mushrooms, po4 was unreadably high via Hanna and the corals were fine with that.
GHOSTLY
2500 Club Member
Did you ever have algae issues or did you have a good enough cuc
Lost in the Sauce
BANGERANG!!!!
I hardly grow soft algae at all, as in clean the glass once a month.
MrGisonni
Valuable Member
What's good for some corals may not be good for others. I don't think I'd have the present success I'm having with my nitrates that high if my tank was full of acropora for example but all of my corals seem to be the happiest when I run the higher nitrates. I'm even able to get away with a little bit lower lighting
Lost in the Sauce
BANGERANG!!!!
You'd be surprised what some coral farms for sps run " high nitrates". Mine done mind it..18 is still perfectly in line for sps,, but to each coral, their own.
GHOSTLY
2500 Club Member
Water changes, reverse cycle refugium, and cleaning the display every week. That was what gave me the best results
I’ve seen no difference between 60ppm nitrate/ 1 ppm phos, and 10ppm nitrate/ 0.15 phos. They are not key parameters of coral happiness in my experience, they are just a laziness indicator.
Katherine Corals
Active Member
I love a good discussion on Nitrates! 18 nitrate is JUST FINE.. my intended target on Nitrate is 40ppm. I have a LPS and softie coral dominant grow out and even speaking right now, my nitrates measured 80ppm lol with that said though, I do follow the red field ratio and my phosphates are 0.80
Personally, I wouldnt panic, 18 is just fine. Just ensure your phosphates are within the red field ratio range (so 0.18).
+1 on NOT carbon dosing! You'll just be chasing your tail around and never solving the problem itself. You could however consider a weekly bacteria dosing regime. I use BactoTherapy.
Have a look at my build!
Personally, I wouldnt panic, 18 is just fine. Just ensure your phosphates are within the red field ratio range (so 0.18).
+1 on NOT carbon dosing! You'll just be chasing your tail around and never solving the problem itself. You could however consider a weekly bacteria dosing regime. I use BactoTherapy.
Have a look at my build!
RaymondL
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the response! My LFS just told me to stop trying to reach the lowest number possible, and your feedback just affirms that.
I have BactoBlend.....not sure what BactoTherapy is, but will check it out.Your parameters are definitely proof that numbers don't necessary mean anything.
LPS Bum
Well-Known Member
I’ve had great success dosing a small amount (3 ml) of NoPox daily with a dosing pump. That’s a maintenance dose in a 164 gal system.
That being said, 18 ppm of nitrate in a softies tank really isn’t a problem. Unless that spikes north of 30 ppm and you get nuisance algae, or your corals stop looking good, I wouldn’t advise chasing numbers.
