High nitrates and phosphates in sps system

[Oshanickreef]

Hello,

I recently moved my very overstocked 90 gallon tank into a 350 gallon system. I’m an SPS lover but also love lots of LPS. It took a few weeks but i moved it all with the fish safely 30 minutes away.
Here’s the new tank:

ALK: 8
Cal: 460
Mag: 1322
Ph: 8.1-8.35 daily swing
Salinity: 1.036
Temp 77.5
Nitrates: 12-16
Phosphates: .15-.20

Background on the new system. I was manually dosing nitrate and forgot for a week, nitrates hit zero and Dino’s came in fast. After some tinkering with silica, Phyto and nitrate dosing, Dino’s dissappeared and all the corals look great. I stopped dosing silica immediately after i saw the decline in Dino’s and also i saw a slight diatom bloom so i decided i had added enough. I was dosing brightwell’s neonitro for a month or two at 25 ml per day and now my nitrates are stable around 12-16. Nitrate doser has been off for a month. My phosphate levels are around .15-.2. I’m still dosing Phyto about .5 gal per day (loving the increase in baby snail populations). I have been dosing lanthanum chloride in very small amounts to keep my phosphates from creeping up. I’m wondering if that’s even necessary…

What i would love to know is what is the sweet spot for nitrate and phosphate levels? I know every system is different but I’m not noticing much of a difference in the colors of the corals and it seems that higher nutrients is much easier to achieve than an ULNS. My last system i was always trying to keep my levels as low as possible but in turn was constantly testing and dosing nitrates and when nutrients hit zero my bigger colonies would take a negative hit. Now, my system is high in nitrates and all my corals look very happy so I’m wondering what all the stress was about running the ULNS. I have a lot of fish and feed often but some look kind of skinny so i don’t want to reduce the feeding.

Thanks

Nick

 

[bobnicaragua]

I have a sps tank that’s about 90% acropora. My acros start to brown out around .25 -.3 phosphates.

I rely on an auto feeder to keep my nutrients up.

 

[eggie]

Quick question was the Anthias and the Midas Blenny kissing for the shot. Beautiful Tank

 

[Oshanickreef]

I have a sps tank that’s about 90% acropora. My acros start to brown out around .25 -.3 phosphates.

I rely on an auto feeder to keep my nutrients up.

Haha thank you. yes they are trained to do that for pics

 

[Pod_01]

What i would love to know is what is the sweet spot for nitrate and phosphate levels?

The tank looks really good and your nitrate and phosphate are not high.
I would leave it and only do something if you have issues with corals. Or you can do something if you have the urge to experiment/ chase numbers.
Do feed your fish, corals like the poop….

 

[Garf]

Looks great. The numbers wouldn't bother me as long as your salinity measurement is a typo (1.036),lol.

 

[DanyL]

I’ve upgraded an SPS dominant tank before, I wouldn’t be worried about nutrient spikes, nor some temporary algae growth - it’s expected and will balance itself within the next few weeks.

Really good looking tank you have there, good luck!

 

[Tonycass12]

Over .5 for phosphates and over 30 for nitrates. Listen to your corals. My system just stabilized with a high nutrient load so I decided to stick with it since the corals look great. Could I see a slight improvement in colors if I lowered nutrients, probably but I'm sticking with the old if it ain't broke don't fix it method for now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello,

I recently moved my very overstocked 90 gallon tank into a 350 gallon system. I’m an SPS lover but also love lots of LPS. It took a few weeks but i moved it all with the fish safely 30 minutes away.
Here’s the new tank:

ALK: 8
Cal: 460
Mag: 1322
Ph: 8.1-8.35 daily swing
Salinity: 1.036
Temp 77.5
Nitrates: 12-16
Phosphates: .15-.20

Background on the new system. I was manually dosing nitrate and forgot for a week, nitrates hit zero and Dino’s came in fast. After some tinkering with silica, Phyto and nitrate dosing, Dino’s dissappeared and all the corals look great. I stopped dosing silica immediately after i saw the decline in Dino’s and also i saw a slight diatom bloom so i decided i had added enough. I was dosing brightwell’s neonitro for a month or two at 25 ml per day and now my nitrates are stable around 12-16. Nitrate doser has been off for a month. My phosphate levels are around .15-.2. I’m still dosing Phyto about .5 gal per day (loving the increase in baby snail populations). I have been dosing lanthanum chloride in very small amounts to keep my phosphates from creeping up. I’m wondering if that’s even necessary…

What i would love to know is what is the sweet spot for nitrate and phosphate levels? I know every system is different but I’m not noticing much of a difference in the colors of the corals and it seems that higher nutrients is much easier to achieve than an ULNS. My last system i was always trying to keep my levels as low as possible but in turn was constantly testing and dosing nitrates and when nutrients hit zero my bigger colonies would take a negative hit. Now, my system is high in nitrates and all my corals look very happy so I’m wondering what all the stress was about running the ULNS. I have a lot of fish and feed often but some look kind of skinny so i don’t want to reduce the feeding.

Thanks

Nick

Your N and P values look pretty good to me. Lowering them a little may be beneficial for some organisms, but I would not advise any great urgency.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

My nitrate levels have doubled recently. My phosphates are higher than they have ever been. I'm not noticing any major issues yet but I'm starting to take steps to slowly bring them down I have a heavy stocked sps tank. Large colonys. My nitrates were 10ppm and point one phosphates. Now they are 20 ppm nitrates and .2 phosphates. I had a bit of an alkalinity spike a couple weeks ago. I'm thinking my corals have stopped consuming nitrates and phosphates like they were. I have made some changes so it's my fault ultimately. I added a powder brown tang. And I baught a new skimmer. All this in a time span of 10 days. Then the alkalinity spike hit me shortly after. I'm thinking of adding nopox. But I hesitate. Maybe I should just leave things alone before I make it worse. Any opinions out there?

 

[Marquarium]

My nitrate levels have doubled recently. My phosphates are higher than they have ever been. I'm not noticing any major issues yet but I'm starting to take steps to slowly bring them down I have a heavy stocked sps tank. Large colonys. My nitrates were 10ppm and point one phosphates. Now they are 20 ppm nitrates and .2 phosphates. I had a bit of an alkalinity spike a couple weeks ago. I'm thinking my corals have stopped consuming nitrates and phosphates like they were. I have made some changes so it's my fault ultimately. I added a powder brown tang. And I baught a new skimmer. All this in a time span of 10 days. Then the alkalinity spike hit me shortly after. I'm thinking of adding nopox. But I hesitate. Maybe I should just leave things alone before I make it worse. Any opinions out there?

Adding 1 tang plus protein skimmer shouldn't have negative effects. I'd say post your own thread with as much info and pics as you can include.

Want to go more into it with you but id say again post your own thread and have suggestions there

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Same here my nutrients are starting to get high. After seeing so many people having great success using bacteria to bring it down and get it balanced out I have decided to give it a try, i’m going with these products from aqua forest after reading all of the customer reviews

 

[SimbaAnto]

Don't chase numbers. Everytime I tried to bring down nitrate and phosphate all ended up sps browning. I left with high nitrate / phosphate. Sps are happy thriving and encrusting. Listen to the corals. As long as they are happy it's ok. I run my system at .5 phosphate and 30 nitrate. Dose Phyto, AB+ , Nitro Fuel every day at 5ml each so my nitrate, phosphate doesn't go down. I feed a lot as well.

Just ensure your Alk is stable.