Does high nitrate cause browning of SPS?

[Donovan Joannes]

Elevated nitrate = coral dying
High nitrate = algae/coral browning
Zero nitrate = coral dying

High phosphate = algae/stunted coral growth/coral skeleton brittleness
Zero phosphate = coral dying

All the above make me dizzy and it only cover a fraction of nutrient levels effects on corals/reef tank ;Dead

 

[bif24701]

Hope this video helps with the flow idea?

I am upping the water changes more often

Your corals looks real good, get them to lighten up a little to really pop and it will be a stunner.

 

[DracoKat]

Elevated nitrate = coral dying
High nitrate = algae/coral browning
Zero nitrate = coral dying

High phosphate = algae/stunted coral growth/coral skeleton brittleness
Zero phosphate = coral dying

All the above make me dizzy and it only cover a fraction of nutrient levels effects on corals/reef tank ;Dead

;Nailbiting I almost feel like Indiana Jones when he's trying to get the treasure without tripping a trap.. and I also feel like if these SPS goes because of a mistake, I am going all softie, lol. Too much thinking involved!

Your corals looks real good, get them to lighten up a little to really pop and it will be a stunner.

Thank you, that makes me feel a little better! ;Happy

 

[Donovan Joannes]

;Nailbiting I almost feel like Indiana Jones when he's trying to get the treasure without tripping a trap.. and I also feel like if these SPS goes because of a mistake, I am going all softie, lol. Too much thinking involved!

I, for once told myself to stick with LPS and softies but man, can't resist seeing those sticks. Two years to learn some of the tricks in SPS keeping. Patience, a lot of it really.

 

[jda]

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.

 

[Velcro]

Have you measured PAR? 4 bulbs is pushing it IMO for SPS on an 18" tank. I know you have an sb bar too.

What are you running for powerheads?

How stable is your Alk?

There ae people out there with colorful sticks and high nutrients (Sanjay comes to mind).

 

[BigJohnny]

Look at it this way (with a caveat, too much of anything can be detrimental) the more nutrients,(NO3) more production of zooxanthellae, thus darkening of color. More and it goes brown, more and it expells its excess zooxanthellae, more still and it shuts down and tissue starts to die.

This elevated nutrients (NO3) "browning" can be offset by a couple of things, first one alkalinity. By use of higher alkalinity we can cause the coral to grow a little faster to use up the sugars produced by the zooxanthellae in the corals tissue. Second is increased par from the light source. A little higher par can slow down the zooxanthellae a little causing the color to improve. Third is increased flow.

Now all of this is in layman terms. I'm sure Dana Riddle could explain in more depth than I could.

Too much of anything above can cause corals to go south quickly, so with that said, here's a good read:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-parameters-of-some-masters.263/

I personally run higher NO3 15-20 ppm, not any higher than 20ppm and PO4 at a trace. My alkalinity I strive for 8-9. Par at 200-250.

Sanjay runs extreme NO3 and higher alkalinity with a ton of flow (Oh and a ton of light!) and gets exceptional growth and color. Me, that's a little risky for my blood!

^spot on

 

[DracoKat]

@Velcro

Alk did drop once, but I picked it back up slowly. It's mostly stable.
I can't check the PAR without help (I do have a light meter). my Clam is growing and is beautiful at the bottom of the tank- I feel light is OK?
Gyro 130 for Powerhead. I cleaned it out and now it's pumping much better.

I did random reading and got reading Vodka dosing. I am wondering if this may be the better route for me? What do you guys think?

 

[Velcro]

@Velcro

Alk did drop once, but I picked it back up slowly. It's mostly stable.
I can't check the PAR without help (I do have a light meter). my Clam is growing and is beautiful at the bottom of the tank- I feel light is OK?
Gyro 130 for Powerhead. I cleaned it out and now it's pumping much better.

I did random reading and got reading Vodka dosing. I am wondering if this may be the better route for me? What do you guys think?

Just one gyre?

 

[DracoKat]

yea. there's a video a few posts back that I've posted to show the flow. I can make it go higher if needed. it's about 50% now

 

[Velcro]

yea. there's a video a few posts back that I've posted to show the flow. I can make it go higher if needed. it's about 50% now

The thing I don't love about one gyre is the lack of random flow (from my experience using one gyre in a 75 gallon tank haha). Best to have two of them opposing each other with some randomness.

 

[DracoKat]

yea, I have one side turned slightly up for like 5 minutes with just enough flow to break the surface, and the other side turned down a bit at 7 or 8 minutes with a higher flow. they alternate.

also the return bulkhead thingy (forget what it's called, where the water exits back into the tank) is aimed right at the SPS too

 

[Scorpius]

I recently lowed my phosphates from .03ppm to .01 ppm and saw an increase in my Acropora coloration. Also saw nuisance algae take a hit as well.

 

[DracoKat]

I recently lowed my phosphates from .03ppm to .01 ppm and saw an increase in my Acropora coloration. Also saw nuisance algae take a hit as well.

It seems too low of phosphates would do that

 

[Velcro]

I recently lowed my phosphates from .03ppm to .01 ppm and saw an increase in my Acropora coloration. Also saw nuisance algae take a hit as well.

I gotta say, I would highly doubt that phosphate change is responsible for more color.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I gotta say, I would highly doubt that phosphate change is responsible for more color.

Why? In my experiences I have never had issues with nitrates being too high. I see nothing but death when they are at 0 but once I let them get to 15-20 my colors exploded and the tank literally glows under my LEDs. Po4 is another that once it hits 0 the tank looks like crap but if it gets above .1 then I start to see brown.

I'd focus on getting nitrates to around 20 and po4 under .1 and let them slowly recover. I wouldn't throw any GFO at the problem as I would imaging it would strip the nutrients so fast and shock your corals. I hate GFO; it's too drastic at nutrient removal.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Why? In my experiences I have never had issues with nitrates being too high. I see nothing but death when they are at 0 but once I let them get to 15-20 my colors exploded and the tank literally glows under my LEDs. Po4 is another that once it hits 0 the tank looks like crap but if it gets above .1 then I start to see brown.

I'd focus on getting nitrates to around 20 and po4 under .1 and let them slowly recover. I wouldn't throw any GFO at the problem as I would imaging it would strip the nutrients so fast and shock your corals. I hate GFO; it's too drastic at nutrient removal.

Maybe try smaller amounts of it for shorter time. Agreed, it can strip fast in a short amount of time. If I use it, I use 1/8 of a normal amount and measure PO4 everyday till I'm where I think I should be, which is just a trace.

 

[DracoKat]

Thanks I've decided to try to get the nitrates down first then worry about the phosphate

 

[Velcro]

Thanks I've decided to try to get the nitrates down first then worry about the phosphate

Do a few 30% water changes

 

[jda]

Why do you have nitrates? Most tanks with some sand and a good portion of real live rock have no problems keeping nitrate at zero, but it can take up to a year if you left everything alone for nature to do it's thing.

Are you bare bottom? Keep minimalistic rock scape? Is your rock man made or previous dry/dead? Have you impeded he last part of the N cycle (nitrate to N gas) with organic carbon, GFO, euro dosing regime or anything? Is your tank still pretty new?

Figuring out why you have nitrates could change your approach.

I have 2-3" of sand and a bunch of real pacific live rock. No matter how much I feed, the anoxic bacteria will keep the N about .1 or lower and there is nearly nothing that I can do to raise it including adding KNO3.