More Feeding = Less Nutrients??

[Brandon McHenry]

I recently had a pretty large die off of my SPS I believe from a bacterial bloom in my tank which lowered my pH to 7.4-7.6. This was my first major catastrophe and I am still very upset, however I have solved most of the issue, bringing parameters back to normal. I had been running a low nutrient system (2ppm NO3 and 0.03ppm PO4) and after the incident I thought it might be beneficial to increase my feedings slightly to help the recovery process. I increased my fish feedings from two frozen cubes to 3 a day plus a sheet of algae. In addition, I began feeding a powdered coral food and started dosing amino acids since many of my corals became pale in the process. After a week of doing this I have noticed a slight increase in color and PE but my nutrients have actually dropped! My NO3 is not 0.5ppm and my PO4 isnt even registering on my Hanna ULR Phosphorus meter (0ppb). Does this make sense to anyone and am I on the right track to help my corals recover?

 

[Big E]

If your corals have recovered and are now growing they're likely sucking up the nutrients. People don't realize how much of this is taken up by the acros when healthy and growing. This is going to me more so in your case as the corals are trying to build up their zoo population.

This could be short term, hard to tell................it's likely you'll have to wait a few months for things settle in before I'd make any real conclusions of your nutrient levels.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

If your corals have recovered and are now growing they're likely sucking up the nutrients. People don't realize how much of this is taken up by the acros when healthy and growing. This is going to me more so in your case as the corals are trying to build up their zoo population.

This could be short term, hard to tell................it's likely you'll have to wait a few months for things settle in before I'd make any real conclusions of your nutrient levels.

So you think this could be a direct result of requiring more energy to recover? And if so then am I on the right track, or is there something more that I could be doing?

 

[rovster]

If your parameters are within normal limits and things are looking good just let it ride. Depending on your coral load they can take up a good amount of nutrients when growing. I do find it odd following your negative event, but depending on the time frame it's plausible. Are you growing macros by any chance? If so what do they look like?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

If your parameters are within normal limits and things are looking good just let it ride. Depending on your coral load they can take up a good amount of nutrients when growing. I do find it odd following your negative event, but depending on the time frame it's plausible. Are you growing macros by any chance? If so what do they look like?

Things are looking okay considering the amount of die off I experienced. I am just trying to make them all healthy again. It is very odd but it has been about 3 weeks since I figured out the issue. Yes I am growing a clump of chaeto which has never been a fast grower but it is healthy. I do have some remaining caulerpa from the last time I pruned but not much.