Can high nitrate stop coral growth

[Jonathan Troutt]

title say it all. My coral has not grown for 2-3 months now. Trying to figure o
It out. My nitrate used to low. Fuge light took a dump As well as having an episode of dinos lights out caused some cheato disintegration nitrates jumped to 50+ now nitrates are 100 or over. I’m doing a large water change tomorrow all other parameters are testing in normal ranges. I am also not seeing good polyp extension from my frags either. Thoughts.

 

[Coralreefer1]

It depends on the coral as soft corals do better with higher levels of nitrates and phosphates in water. Other factors can be responsible for polyp expansion such as light, water flow, feeding and other water parameters.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

It depends on the coral as soft corals do better with higher levels of nitrates and phosphates in water. Other factors can be responsible for polyp expansion such as light, water flow, feeding and other water parameters.

Ok so prior to just 2-3 months ago. My corals were growing. And everything looked amazing just amazingly fantastic. I loved the way my tank looked. Then a couple things happened.

What I described above.
And I also added and extra light above my tank.

Other than those two things I have not changed anything.

 

[Coralreefer1]

What kinds of corals do you have? You ya have to reposition your corals because of your new light. Also, yes after changes are the initial go to correct a problem with water quality.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I only have a few pieces currently.
Zoanthids
Bubble coral
Hammer
Mushroom
Duncan
Acan
Chalice
And and RBTA nem.

Every one of them is not what they used to be. The acan and chalices tissues are actually receding. And yes I did do some repositioning after adding second light.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Most of those corals require their own individual needs. Some like intense light like the Zoanthids, RBTA and Chalice. Some more subdued light like the mushrooms and Acans. Some like stronger flow like the Zoanthids, Hammer and Duncan and RBTA whereas the Bubble, not so much.
Is your temperature stable? Your sure that your pH, Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium are optimal?

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Most of those corals require their own individual needs. Some like intense light like the Zoanthids, RBTA and Chalice. Some more subdued light like the mushrooms and Acans. Some like stronger flow like the Zoanthids, Hammer and Duncan and RBTA whereas the Bubble, not so much.
Is your temperature stable? Your sure that your pH, Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium are optimal?

Yes I am % sure temp has been stable as well as the parameters I test for always being optimal. I am aware of the requirements for the corals I have and have them place appropriately.

The flow has not changed since about 3 months after setting up the tank.

 

[Nikita1981]

I encountered nitrate levels in the past this high and can confirm that it minimizes coral growth. At least, in my tank it did. Especially when po4 is high also. What are your po4 levels?

 

[davocean]

I would be working on getting trates down obviously, that's pretty high.

What's your filtration like?

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I would be working on getting trates down obviously, that's pretty high.

What's your filtration like?

I am doing a large water change today. I’ve atarted dosing vodka. Sometimes I run some sock filter in my sump. Other than that I got a large skimmer. Fuge filled with live rock and return to the tank runs through a 55w UV sterilizer.

I encountered nitrate levels in the past this high and can confirm that it minimizes coral growth. At least, in my tank it did. Especially when po4 is high also. What are your po4 levels?

im Showing no detectable color shift with my posphate test kit. But from what I’ve read that doesn’t matter it could still be elevated just things are using it. I have cyano growth as well as algae growth. I need to invest in some colorometers for phosphate and a couple other parameters.

 

[davocean]

Well, something is off for nitrates to be that high, usually it would be a combination of things for that number, providing your kit is accurate.

Dosing vodka, this can help if you really understand that, but it can also cause problems down the road if you don't.

Maybe post pics of setup to see if we see something not mentioned.

 

[jda]

Make sure that you have an accurate test kit.

Once you verify accuracy, then I would get them down. Nitrate is a poison at high levels, but the individual levels depend on the individual organisms. Some corals (like most softies) can take quite a bit. Coralline will slow down growth at 2 or 3 PPM, or less. Some strains of cyano cannot live over 5 ppm, or so. Nitrate is necessary as a building block of life, but once you have a surplus, then you need no more. 20 ppm of nitrate is not any more valuable than .5.

Anything that leaves behind a calcium based skeleton will be hurt by higher nitrate levels.

There are a lot of anecdotes that high nitrate and low phosphate makes for a lot of trouble. Low N and higher P is OK for a lot of folks.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Make sure that you have an accurate test kit.

Once you verify accuracy, then I would get them down. Nitrate is a poison at high levels, but the individual levels depend on the individual organisms. Some corals (like most softies) can take quite a bit. Coralline will slow down growth at 2 or 3 PPM, or less. Some strains of cyano cannot live over 5 ppm, or so. Nitrate is necessary as a building block of life, but once you have a surplus, then you need no more. 20 ppm of nitrate is not any more valuable than .5.

Anything that leaves behind a calcium based skeleton will be hurt by higher nitrate levels.

There are a lot of anecdotes that high nitrate and low phosphate makes for a lot of trouble. Low N and higher P is OK for a lot of folks.

I have verified that my testing and my results are correct. So I found that I had a lot of chaeto that had gotten separated from its main ball and settled within the rocks and underneath them on my fuge.

I removed all my rock from fuge to remove that chaeto and then also remove the other that was underneath the rocks. It was a lot. I’m thinking maybe because I’ve been without a fuge light for months now that the chaeto was breaking down and driving my nitrates up.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Well I changed out 45 gallons of water today. I have a 25 gallon sump to go along with my 40 breeder main. After the change my nitrates are reading 50ppm. So they had to be way over 100ppm.

I cleaned everything today and removed some things that I thought could be hiding detritus over time. We will see what happens over the next couple weeks

 

[davocean]

Also check overflow, those are often forgotten and can be a big collector of detritus.
No foam pads, no filter socks older than 3 days, no crushed coral substrate, bioballs....you may know all this already but just shooting in dark at nitrate contributors.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Also check overflow, those are often forgotten and can be a big collector of detritus.
No foam pads, no filter socks older than 3 days, no crushed coral substrate, bioballs....you may know all this already but just shooting in dark at nitrate contributors.

I did forget about my overflow. So thanks for that. Although I didn’t find much in there beside a bunch of sponges. I usually don’t run filter socks but when I do they get cleaned once a day.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some will be affected or lost whereas other like a little nitrate and will fare well.
You don't want zero nor do you want it high. Do not chase parameters- keep tank stable. Utilize water changes and test nitrate level of newly mixed water to assure you don't have an elevated level in new water before introduction to tank

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I started a thread to ask about sendbeds and it has morphed into one similar as this.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sandbed-in-fuge.517252/#post-5433119

If there is a mod that could combine them

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Alright so two days after a 90% water Change and nitrates have gone from 50ppm to 160+ppm.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Any ideas on how I can find what is causing this. I went through the entire tanks and sump when I changed water. Moved every piece of live rock to looked for anything dead and rotting. Really at a loss here.