NO3, P04 and Alk

[Dan Kyle]

Hi all!

My reef is SPS dominant with only a few LPS. My nitrates are currently measuring 12 and they have done for quite some time. My phosphates have been a consistent 0.03 and I try to keep my alk in the 8-9dkh range. I read an article recently however and it stated if your system has nutrients above 5> you will want to keep your alk levels higher to prevent stunting growth. If NO3 is <5 you should aim to keep your alk at the lower end. I believe this is true because I’ve had SPS for about 6 weeks and while they are looking all good I’m yet to see any growth and I’m wondering if it’s because my alk should actually be higher?

I would appreciate your input so I can make adjustments if necessary.

 

[Blackice615]

From personal experience, my sps grew at a decent rate with alk at 12 and nitrates at 10-15. Since then, I let my all naturally fall and seems like growth slowed just a little.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Thanks. I think I’ll slowly raise mine up between 11 and 12 and see what happens.

 

[Blackice615]

Gl. You should be fine in those ranges.

 

[MTBake]

Honestly, I wouldn't mess with alk. Give the frags more time to settle in. How long have you had the tank running for?

I keep my alk between 8 and 9dkh and I'm seeing acceptable growth. No3 is 10 and po4 is .08 in my system.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Honestly, I wouldn't mess with alk. Give the frags more time to settle in. How long have you had the tank running for?

I keep my alk between 8 and 9dkh and I'm seeing acceptable growth. No3 is 10 and po4 is .08 in my system.

Hmm, I’m not sure what’s the best thing to do after reading that article but I’ve kept mine between 8-9 for a while and I’ve not had any issues. I mean I don’t see any growth although the corals have white tips. I’m curious because according the article I read states you stunt the growth with higher NO3 and lower Alk. I’ve not had any growth which in my opinion backs the article. My system is a little over 6 months old. I’ve had the frags for probably 5-6 weeks.

 

[MTBake]

I would give it more time. It takes a while for things to settle in. Chasing a number will get you into trouble in most cases. Just keep it stable and good things will start to happen.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

sometimes acros can go months with out showing growth signs in a new environment.

 

[MTBake]

sometimes acros can go months with out showing growth signs in a new environment.

I've seen some stall for over a year even.

 

[Dan Kyle]

I don’t have any Acros because I’m an SPS noob so I need to resist temptation for a while. I have montis and digis mostly. I also have a Pocillopora and a Stylophora. I’ll keep things as they are regarding my alk levels but I’ll see how things go. If for example in 8 weeks time I’m not seeing any improvement I will definitely up my alk levels.

 

[Dan Kyle]

I would give it more time. It takes a while for things to settle in. Chasing a number will get you into trouble in most cases. Just keep it stable and good things will start to happen.

This is true. It’s kinda hard to not chase numbers though when you need to keep things as stable as possible. I dread alk swings since having SPS.

 

[MTBake]

I don’t have any Acros. I have montis and digis mostly. I also have a Pocillopora and a Stylophora.

Do they get a decent amount of flow? Montis and digis like a lot, ime. Flow made the biggest difference when growth wasn't what I thought it should be.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Don’t poke it.
Fast is bad.

You’ll know when it time to play with the alk.
When you are ready and do, you’ll know it should be raised over the course of months.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Do they get a decent amount of flow? Montis and digis like a lot, ime. Flow made the biggest difference when growth wasn't what I thought it should be.

I believe they are in a high flow area. I mean I have the Red Sea Reefer 170 and I’m using 2x MP10’a both running at 60% and not synced so the flow is random.

 

[Dan I]

As stated above, keep it stable and your tank will adjust. Higher flow, nutrients, and sufficient lighting will help them grow too. Just be careful on a drop of nutrients and a case of alk burn due to high alk and low nutrients from what I have read.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

In my tank I can for certain say making changes in this nature is probably not ideal. I too was dumb enough to drink the coolaid and take my nitrates to 15-20. I kept my alk at 8 and cal at 440 every day. I ended up losing about five acros and can’t count for acans, two bubble tips and and other lps.

I then returned to where I had between 2-5 nitrates and .025 phosphates or a tad more and alk between 8-9 and cal between 440-460 and finally some are starting to recover. What I will say is svery tank is different, it’s what your corals are use to. My lfs 90 sps dominate has high alk high cal and nitrates are close to 30 and amazing colors and growth. I tried that slowly and in the process of midway back pedaled really fast.

I personally would slowly level your alk and cal to 8 and 440. At the same time slowly bring the nitrates down over time. In order for me to drop nitrates I had to rely on redsea no3 noprox. My tank is now has an addiction to it, so I monitor it’s meds closely.

 

[MTBake]

How many gallons is the 170? Sorry not familiar with the capacities.

I can say I have a 40 breeder with an Ice Cap 3k set at 50% continuous and 2 Tunze 6025s running in the tank itself.

 

[Dan Kyle]

How many gallons is the 170? Sorry not familiar with the capacities.

I can say I have a 40 breeder with an Ice Cap 3k set at 50% continuous and 2 Tunze 6025s running in the tank itself.

No need to apologise. I believe it’s 34g. Both of my MP10’s are on reef crest but sometimes I question whether them being on 60% is even enough. I still feel like in some areas of the tank you get low flow due to aqua scape.

 

[markalot]

I can't believe you'd see faster growth with Acros as a high KH. You say SPS so if you're not growing acros you can ignore this.

At a high KH you are playing with fire. If any nutrient runs too low the tips will burn (die at the ends). I see incredibly fast growth at 7KH with my acros and they can tolerate more parameter swings at a more natural level. If you run a delightfully filthy tank that's older and you don't obsess with low nutrients, PO4 especially, it may work just fine, but you're playing with fire IMO.

Acros only though, other SPS seem to not care a bit.

 

[MTBake]

Sounds like good flow to me.

Keep it stable for another month and see how it goes. Good things take time to happen