Does high nitrate cause browning of SPS?

[BlennyKravitz]

Red Sea NoPox... much simpler than a GFO reactor. Works wonders

Will lower nitrates and phosphates practically overnight.

 

[imustbenuts]

Im no expert with SPS. However, I've noticed a correlation in my tank to lighting and color. I have the same coral in a 350 par area with good color and one in 200 par area that is much darker in color. I would say phosphateRX would knock the phosphate down in short order too.

 

[kontras]

Phosphate and nitrate are high.

 

[Hockeypunk1]

In my opinion your corals look great! To get that little extra pop I would go very slow. I would take a water sample to my lfs to be 100% sure the test kits are spot on. If the tests are indeed accurate I would simply do a series of large 30% or more water changes using water that matched my parameters. Patience is key! In my experience gfo can be brutal and it can pull trace elements from the water. I would hate to see all those beautiful sticks start ripping flesh away and melting before your eyes. So be very careful with gfo start with 1/8 the recommended dose if you go that route. Personally I would put a marine pure block in the sump and add another power head for more erratic flow along with the large water changes.. try to keep it simple... good luck

 

[DracoKat]

I finally got to testing my pico tank at work. Nitrates is also high there. I am wondering if my test kit is faulty now (one of the solutions does smell a bit). I am going to take a sample of water to be tested to my LFS to see if its my kit or not.

 

[Jizu Puentes]

Why do you only run your skimmer at night? Running it 24/7 will also reduce nutrients without more additives. Also if your macros grow then die off, the die off is releasing nitrates back.

 

[zsuzsu]

Imo and in my ime, highish nitrate not really a problem, I run at about 7-10. Keep using t5s, I run 8 bulbs ...5 blue plus, 2 actinic 1 aqua blue special, not a fan of coral plus or purple plus bulbs. I think its just to red/white for me. By adding the single aqua blue special brightens the tank and kills the "to much blue look" in the tank and brings out the reds a bit. , and the blue plus are what sps want. Btw my photoperiod is 10 hrs with 6 bulbs on for 5 hrs (aqua blue special in the 5hr period) and I also run a radion (just the blue channels) as supplement and dusk/dawn to the t5s. And flow is king for sps. One more thing... if your still awake, I don't run softies with sps in a smaller reef, if I did I would run and change out a lot of carbon. Good luck n stuff.... zsu
sps

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Red Sea NoPox... much simpler than a GFO reactor. Works wonders

Will lower nitrates and phosphates practically overnight.

I'd have to disagree. Organic carbon dosing can be used to reduce nutrients, especially nitrate, but often cannot be used to lower phosphate as much as needed, since it is an unbalanced export method, exporting much more N than P. It is also usually a slow process, although that isn't undesirable.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

good thought, but I don't think so. I don't see any algae in the tank, at least none that's worrysome.

I presume he means zooxanthellae inside the coral. They are golden brown and when nutrients high their populations may expand, browning up the coral.

 

[DracoKat]

per this thread I created earlier
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/quick-testing-questions.325599/

I am now 95% sure my test is faulty. I tested with a fresh batch per Randy's suggestion and it still shows high nitrates.
I will be purchasing a new kit this afternoon and will retest tonight.

i thought it was strange at how high it was, considering my tank was ULNS. @Jizu Puentes - I had my skimmer running nights only to up the nutrients at the time. It was ULNS.

 

[DracoKat]

I presume he means zooxanthellae inside the coral. They are golden brown and when nutrients high their populations may expand, browning up the coral.

ah! Nope, don't see those either. The flesh and polyps looks clean and healthy. Just dull in color.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

ah! Nope, don't see those either. The flesh and polyps looks clean and healthy. Just dull in color.

You can't see them without a microscope. They are in every photosynthetic coral. It's just a matter of how many are present. :

 

[bif24701]

I noticed my acros going a little pale so checked all my numbers. NO3 is .05ppm, entirely too low for a high light, high flow, ~10dKH system like mine.
So I had to mix a fresh batch of RO/DI and PNO3 then bumped my NO3 to ~10ppm.

 

[CindyKz]

Make sure to dose less than what the pkg says on the GFO. I killed several sps colonies with GFO

Is this due to dropping the PO4 too fast? I added GFO and everything is fine except a green skin with pink polyp birdnest (I think the same as the OP) - it browned out also. Also some zoas are melting (odd combo). My PO4 dropped from 0.17 to 0.00 in about a week ...didn't mean to do that....I added less than the BRS calculator said to my reactor but obviously still too much. Luckily everything else is ok, including several other SPS.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is this due to dropping the PO4 too fast?

Reduces the chance of overshooting too.

 

[CindyKz]

Reduces the chance of overshooting too.

Thank you ! Do SPS brown and/or die from the fast drop, or is it something inherent to the GFO?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

They wouldn't brown as that's usually from excess zooxanthellae.

I do not know that all corals (or even most corals) suffer from a fast drop to levels that would normally be OK if stable, but some may. In that case, they may suffer from the same thing as if phosphate is to low, when it is dropped too fast without allowing them time to to ramp up their ability to take up phosphate adequately to supply their needs. That might be pale colors, burnt tips, or other problems that might normally be associated with excessively low phosphate.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Red Sea NoPox... much simpler than a GFO reactor. Works wonders

Will lower nitrates and phosphates practically overnight.

Reducing nitrates and phosphates rapidly would scare me!

Also, I agree with the others on GFO...use MUCH less than what's recommended. Like if it says 1 cup, use a fourth and work your way up. I use the BRS calculators as a baseline of what my max is...if it says I need to use 1 cup of GFO then i'm going in with 1/4 cup and testing every week to see if I need more or less.

 

[Anxur]

Unless you are doing organic carbon very aggressively, you will always have nitrate and phosphate... don't worry about then going to zero.

Your lights are fine.

Nobody has mentioned, but high phosphates will inhibit calcification and corals will stop growing. P needs to be below .1 and below .05 if at all possible. N below 5 is good, but below 2 is fine too. If you want coraline to grow like crazy, then you are going to need to be near NSW parameters... but coraline growing like crazy is not as much fun as people think...

FWIW - Ocean is .05-.1N and .005P with all the light that it can get and stuff thrives in there.

the same sps with 5 nitrate is colored like if nitrate is 1-2?

There's an concrete difference for you in coloration from 1 and 5 No3?