High nitrate and phosphate question

[Afreed1]

I have a question. My tank has 22 ppm Nitrates and .25 ppm phosphates and I have a decent amount of sps. I have 3 monticaps, 2 digis, 1 acropora tenuis, 2 encrusting montis, and a birdsnest. They all look very healthy and have good polyp extension only thing that doesn’t look that colorful is the acropora, but his polyps are out and extended, it just got a little dull. I thought sps corals couldn’t necessarily thrive in higher nitrates and phosphates. Forgot to mention that they also all have been growing. (Tanks a 40 gallon breeder)

 

[homer1475]

Old wives tail thats been trumpeted throughout the hobby for eons. In reality everything needs nitrates and phosphates to survive.

When I had an SPS dominant tank, I ran my nitrates and phosphates right about where you are, and everything was absolutely beautiful.

Have a look through the SPS section and see what some of the guru's run their nutrients. The numbers would surprise you.

 

[Afreed1]

Old wives tail thats been trumpeted throughout the hobby for eons. In reality everything needs nitrates and phosphates to survive.

When I had an SPS dominant tank, I ran my nitrates and phosphates right about where you are, and everything was absolutely beautiful.

Have a look through the SPS section and see what some of the guru's run their nutrients. The numbers would surprise you.

Yeah I was just wondering because if you’re new to the hobby like me and search up online what your numbers have to be its 0-10 nitrates like .03ppm phosphates. Most of those articles and stuff like that will say those are the conditions the corals need too and wont be able to thrive and live without those conditions.

 

[Afkomjorgen]

I have a question. My tank has 22 ppm Nitrates and .25 ppm phosphates and I have a decent amount of sps. I have 3 monticaps, 2 digis, 1 acropora tenuis, 2 encrusting montis, and a birdsnest. They all look very healthy and have good polyp extension only thing that doesn’t look that colorful is the acropora, but his polyps are out and extended, it just got a little dull. I thought sps corals couldn’t necessarily thrive in higher nitrates and phosphates. Forgot to mention that they also all have been growing. (Tanks a 40 gallon breeder)

Have you tried a product with amino acids?
Brughtwell has an Amino supplement, I’m a fan of all their other products.
Koralen-zuch also makes a product called Coral Booster. I’ve heard from other hobbiest that it works wonders on sps especially acropora ( helps with the coral’s natural slime coat or something I think ) or even their flatworm stop - even in the absence of flatworms - is apparently helpful as well.
I recently read that iodide will help blue acropora look more blue.
I have always run a high phosphate/high nitrate tank and everything has always been beautiful. I have not dived into acropora or birds nest yet. It’s all about stability - if the corals are happy then they’ve likely acclimated to what you’re testing. Try some other options to see if you can just ‘tune’ what you’ve already got.