Is this considered low nutrient levels ?

[Eddie7144]

Did a test of my levels today, my sps are growing at a steady pace, color is not vivid but isnt bad either. I'm almost 98% gha free, one area that just wont die. I have to bleaching or STN/RTN. The only coral doing bad is my aussie gold torch. Lost 1/2 of a head.
Phosphate- .04
Alk. 8.6
Nitrate. 0
Ammonia. 0
Calcium. 480
Mag. 1500
Any opinions or insight is appreciated.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Nitrate. 0

You want a reading . what test kit are you using?

 

[Eddie7144]

Nitrate. 0

You want a reading . what test kit are you using?

I'm testing with salifert and hannah checker for the phosphate

 

[Flippers4pups]

@Eddie7144, how old is your system?

As @Scrubber_steve, stated, 0 N03, needs to be around 5 ppm.

Torch loosing heads, could be BJD. brown jelly disease. Anything looking "jelly" coming off of them?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I'm testing with salifert and hannah checker for the phosphate

salifert isn't good for low range. Compare your test solution against a vial containing tank water & see if the test solution has a pink tint at all.

Red Sea Pro test kit is good for low range.

 

[Eddie7144]

@Eddie7144, how old is your system?

As @Scrubber_steve, stated, 0 N03, needs to be around 5 ppm.

Torch loosing heads, could be BJD. brown jelly disease. Anything looking "jelly" coming off of them?

Ok that's for the nitrate level advice.
No , no sign of brown jelly or anything. The tentacles shortened up by half on all three heads, I lost tissue on 1/2 of one of the heads. I dipped it and its holding on, not improving bit not getting worse either.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

As @Scrubber_steve, stated, 0 N03, needs to be around 5 ppm.

I didn't actually I believe you just need a constant reading above zero. Even 0.5ppm is fine.

 

[Eddie7144]

I didn't actually I believe you just need a constant reading above zero. Even 0.5ppm is fine.

Tha is for the advice, will work on upping the nitrate levels, this tank is about 5 years old, been keeping saltwater tanks/ reefs for 20 years now

 

[Saltyreef]

Please be careful. My reef ran great with 0 nitrate and slightly elevated p04 like yours. As soon as i rose nitrate and kept phosphate the same, a lot of stuff in my tank went south.
Youll want to raise your phosphate as well to keep this from happening. Nitrate should only be anywhere from 5 to 10 times higher than your phosphate level to negate any issues with your coral.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I mis quoted you, sorry.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I didn't actually I believe you just need a constant reading above zero. Even 0.5ppm is fine.

I mis quoted you, sorry.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Youll want to raise your phosphate as well to keep this from happening. Nitrate should only be anywhere from 5 to 10 times higher than your phosphate level to negate any issues with your coral.

Oh dear. I know who you've been reading.
As long as your PO4 is above a the threshold (0.03ppm) this low N/P ratio thing (5-10:1) is rubbish.

Glennf is just one good example. His target is a ratio of 50:1 & check out his corals.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I mis quoted you, sorry.

Cool, not a problem, unintentional.

 

[Saltyreef]

Oh dear. I know who you've been reading.
As long as your PO4 is above a the threshold (0.03ppm) this low N/P ratio thing (5-10:1) is rubbish.

Glennf is just one good example. His target is a ratio of 50:1 & check out his corals.

Even at 50 to 1....thats a lot better than where we are at. Im currently at 500x nitrate to phosphate....as i said before my reef ran great with no nitrate and slightly elevated .02-.04ppm phosphate so ive never needed a ratio so to speak.

I honestly havent been reading much other than a few reef2reef posts outlining the principle, so you can roll your eyes elsewhere lol.

Im just repeating my personal experience.
Any problems?
Isnt there more ways to run a reef? Is his tank the only way it has to be to be successful?
I was just cautioning against going too high with nitrate in relation to phosphate as my personal experiences with no other changes but raising nitrates to 10ppm with my po4 at .04, I lost thousands of dollars worth of zoas and sps.
Some other things do ok but you can tell there is a problem with everything.

So again....be careful.

 

[jda]

I have to send out ICP to get any kind of a nitrate reading... about .1. I get between 1 and 3 ppb on Hannah Ultra Low. All of my acropora do not mind at all. If you have stuff that is growing, then you are not building block limited by either.

IMO, people worry too much about absolute numbers and forget what is important... 1). throughput - export to match the import where there is always building blocks available in the tank (and ammonia/ammonium), 2). N and P are not food and more of a surplus is still just a surplus (these do not "feed" corals) and 3). biodiversity and microfauna is the engine that makes all of this work.

I know that it is easier to get a number on a test kit, but this won't get you too far. Some of these concepts are more abstract and require a higher level of hobbying, but it is a good idea to get there. In all of these tanks that people like to post, even in this thread, they have biodiversity and have a good throughput, which is why you see a big range of stuff/parameters/techniques once you have this for a foundation. IMO, the 50/1 stuff is all a way to try and put much too simple numbers to a much more complicated equation... and they don't work.

BTW - all of your levels are higher than NSW, if indeed you can see a tinge of pink on a salifert Nitrate test. Here are my pics with .005-.01P and .1N:

 

[Saltyreef]

Heres my coloration and growth with no nitrate and .04ppm phosphate.
Sadly none of these made it after nitrate dosing to 10ppm.
I dont know what i was expecting as the coloration was already very vibrant.
Some of my acros that lived now have oddly better coloration though. But the zoas are all deformed, stretched or closed.

Again just sharing my experience.

 

[Scorpius]

Please be careful. My reef ran great with 0 nitrate and slightly elevated p04 like yours. As soon as i rose nitrate and kept phosphate the same, a lot of stuff in my tank went south.
Youll want to raise your phosphate as well to keep this from happening. Nitrate should only be anywhere from 5 to 10 times higher than your phosphate level to negate any issues with your coral.

Same for my system. Dosed nitrates and crashed my old system. Never again.

 

[ScottB]

By now I have a pretty good sense of nutrient levels that keep my sticks happy. In that learning process though, I did discover that dosing nitrates lowers phosphates in both my systems. Every time.

To the point where if I am too rushed or lazy to swap out exhausted GFO (used sparingly) when I should I will just squirt 10ml of sodium nitrate in and deal with the reactor next weekend. Or the next.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Im just repeating my personal experience.
Any problems?
Isnt there more ways to run a reef? Is his tank the only way it has to be to be successful?

Yes, there is a problem Salty.
Yes, there is more (than one) ways to run a reef. And no, his tank isn't the only way it has to be to be successful.
And I didn't say that it was, or use glennf as an example of this.

In fact it is you, Salty, who is guilty of what you accuse me of. It was you who said the only way to run a tank, is Quote "Nitrate should only be anywhere from 5 to 10 times higher than your phosphate level to negate any issues with your coral."

I used glennf, just as one example, to demonstrate that what you said was incorrect, and that there are other ways to be successful.
You've contradicted yourself Salty.

I don't recommend dosing nitrate. I don't recommend 10ppm nitrate or higher. But people do this & have success.
The problems you had with your corals after dosing NO3 could have occurred from too fast an increase. You've changed from NO3 being less than PO4, to NO3 being 500 x PO4.
Or perhaps in fact your problem was from something else altogether? Who knows for sure?

I repeat, as long as your PO4 is above a the threshold (0.03ppm) this low N/P ratio only thing >> 5-10:1 & no more - is rubbish.

 

[Saltyreef]

Yes, there is a problem Salty.
Yes, there is more (than one) ways to run a reef. And no, his tank isn't the only way it has to be to be successful.
And I didn't say that it was, or use glennf as an example of this.

In fact it is you, Salty, who is guilty of what you accuse me of. It was you who said the only way to run a tank, is Quote "Nitrate should only be anywhere from 5 to 10 times higher than your phosphate level to negate any issues with your coral."

I used glennf, just as one example, to demonstrate that what you said was incorrect, and that there are other ways to be successful.
You've contradicted yourself Salty.

I don't recommend dosing nitrate. I don't recommend 10ppm nitrate or higher. But people do this & have success.
The problems you had with your corals after dosing NO3 could have occurred from too fast an increase. You've changed from NO3 being less than PO4, to NO3 being 500 x PO4.
Or perhaps in fact your problem was from something else altogether? Who knows for sure?

I repeat, as long as your PO4 is above a the threshold (0.03ppm) this low N/P ratio only thing >> 5-10:1 & no more - is rubbish.

Youre right Steve. Thanks for the grammar lesson.
Again....more than 1 way to run a tank and youre essentially arguing youre right and im wrong...

I agree it was too much too fast after running a successful reef at 0 nitrate for 10 years.
So im cautioning from my personal experience.

You obviously dont need cautioning and are just here to assert your dominance in how my comment is wrong.

Thank you once again and have a great rest of your day...