High nutrient tank parameters...

[Grigs]

After having some pretty slow growth for the last year (tank born Nov 2018) I decided to let nutrients creep up a bit and see how things do. Nearly every surface is covered in coralline, so algae growth isn't much of a concern. Over the course of a couple of weeks PO4 has been running at 0.07 to 0.1. My corals are happy. Really happy. I have color and fullness in my lobo's that have been missing for a long time. My few pieces of SPS look really happy. I have great PE on my acro, birdsnest, psammies, and my Cheap Date is going to town like never before. Is it possible that I have been starving my tank this whole time while trying to maintain PO4 around 0.03? Who else runs higher nutrient tanks? Is this going to backfire after a little while?

Params:

PO4. 0.07 - 0.1
NO3 16 - 20
Alk 9.3
CA 425
Ph 8.0 - 8.1
Temp 78f

Lighting is AP700's very blue (7 o'clock setting - 2nd bluest) 70% for 6 hrs

One other change that I recently made was I stopped spot feeding Reef Frenzy and started broadcast feeding Reef Blizzard about a week ago.

I hate that there are multiple variables here, but I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

 

[Miller535]

I would say that you probably were starving them before. Nitrates are maybe a little high. But many people like Mark levenson (melevesreef) run around that level and have beautiful tanks. I would say just monitor and try not to let it get any higher. Just my 2 cents

 

[Grigs]

I would say that you probably were starving them before. Nitrates are maybe a little high. But many people like Mark levenson (melevesreef) run around that level and have beautiful tanks. I would say just monitor and try not to let it get any higher. Just my 2 cents

Appreciate the feedback. NO3 was measured using Red Sea UL kit through dilution method, so not likely very accurate. It's a 15:1 RODI:Tank water test... I'll get something more appropriate to measure. They were previously in the 4ppm range, so this is either WAY high or WAY inaccurate... lol

 

[Nano sapiens]

Each tank will behave differently to different nutrient loads. Your current levels of NO3 and PO4 seem to work for you and as long as you don't have an algae bloom, then I'd say you're golden

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

After having some pretty slow growth for the last year (tank born Nov 2018) I decided to let nutrients creep up a bit and see how things do. Nearly every surface is covered in coralline, so algae growth isn't much of a concern. Over the course of a couple of weeks PO4 has been running at 0.07 to 0.1. My corals are happy. Really happy. I have color and fullness in my lobo's that have been missing for a long time. My few pieces of SPS look really happy. I have great PE on my acro, birdsnest, psammies, and my Cheap Date is going to town like never before. Is it possible that I have been starving my tank this whole time while trying to maintain PO4 around 0.03? Who else runs higher nutrient tanks? Is this going to backfire after a little while?

Params:

PO4. 0.07 - 0.1
NO3 16 - 20
Alk 9.3
CA 425
Ph 8.0 - 8.1
Temp 78f

Lighting is AP700's very blue (7 o'clock setting - 2nd bluest) 70% for 6 hrs

One other change that I recently made was I stopped spot feeding Reef Frenzy and started broadcast feeding Reef Blizzard about a week ago.

I hate that there are multiple variables here, but I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

What did you do to "let nutrients creep up"?

You may have altered other things besides N and P.

 

[PatW]

I think you could reduce nitrates to between 5 and 10 ppm and maybe reduce the phosphates to.05.

My acros don’t seem to like it if I hit 0 ppm for phosphates even for a day. So I try to run no lower than .02 ppm at the minimum and dose daily so it fluctuates between about .02 and .05.

My nitrates run between 1.5 and 2 ppm and don’t fluctuate much.

But I am beginning to wonder if each system has its own sweet spot. So I am a bit hesitant to advise abrupt action.

 

[Grigs]

What did you do to "let nutrients creep up"?

You may have altered other things besides N and P.

I reduced flow through GFO to let it come up and slowly raised it to stabilize. I'm staying around 0.06 in the afternoons. When I take readings first thing this morning before feeding fish I was at .03 by ULR Hanna. This afternoon it's reading .06. I adjusted the GFO flow back up a tad out of concern for the SPS, so we'll see where it hangs out. This might be a good point to stop... lol

 

[Grigs]

I think you could reduce nitrates to between 5 and 10 ppm and maybe reduce the phosphates to.05.

My acros don’t seem to like it if I hit 0 ppm for phosphates even for a day. So I try to run no lower than .02 ppm at the minimum and dose daily so it fluctuates between about .02 and .05.

My nitrates run between 1.5 and 2 ppm and don’t fluctuate much.

But I am beginning to wonder if each system has its own sweet spot. So I am a bit hesitant to advise abrupt action.

The response, particularly of my LPS has been remarkable. I run a continuous water change via DOS of 3l/day, but I may benefit from a major WC to get nitrates down. My chaeto is running from 2100 to 0800, so it SHOULD be pretty good for nutrient reduction, but I've been (what appears to be) JUST offscale high on the Low Range Red Sea Nitrate test. Will see if I can't get it back on scale