Should i try higher nutrients for lps tank?

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

Ive had an LPS dominant reef tank for a few months now and im not fully happy with my growth or appearance of my corals.
Iooled with the lights and flow but never seem to make a huge difference And my alk calc mag salinity are stable In good recommended ranges

Ive been wondering if i need more nutrients in my tank as my nitrates Are virtually zero and phosphate is pretty low (hard to get accurate reading on api)

I have a sump with filter socks, skimmer, run gfo and a have a refugium. Could removing some of these nutrient export methods help raise them and improve my coral health?

does anyone with successful lps tanks notice that higher nutrients work better for them?

design.maddie · Jul 21, 2020

How do I know how much nutrients you are currently providing the tank without numbers? My LPS dominate tank (about 5 months old now) shows good growth and health of all the inhabitants including the few SPS. My nutrients are probably higher than one would shoot for but it is working and I like the results. Phosphates 0.09-0.11ppm Nitrates 5-15ppm My only "filter" is my skimmer. No socks, no sponges, just a standard bare Red Sea Sump. I feed 1/2 teaspoon ReefRoids w/ selcon in the morning and a cube of frozen prep in the evening. I dose 10mL of All-for-reef. This is all on a 200 litre tank.

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

design.maddie said:
How do I know how much nutrients you are currently providing the tank without numbers? My LPS dominate tank (about 5 months old now) shows good growth and health of all the inhabitants including the few SPS. My nutrients are probably higher than one would shoot for but it is working and I like the results. Phosphates 0.09-0.11ppm Nitrates 5-15ppm My only "filter" is my skimmer. No socks, no sponges, just a standard bare Red Sea Sump. I feed 1/2 teaspoon ReefRoids w/ selcon in the morning and a cube of frozen prep in the evening. I dose 10mL of All-for-reef. This is all on a 200 litre tank.

my nitrate comes up as zero on api. Phosphate is a tough read and i need a better kit it’s between 0 and .25

Reef. · Jul 21, 2020

I would retest with better kits, then you’ll have something to work with as PO4 0-0.25 is a huge range.

I can recommend the Elos high resolution test kit for PO4

Reesj · Jul 21, 2020

I would say yes. For a lps dominant tank, I would say you have too much filteration. So dose reef roids daily or get your nitrates up with notisable phospates.

Reef. · Jul 21, 2020

Reesj said:
I would say yes. For a lps dominant tank, I would say you have too much filteration. So dose reef roids daily or get your nitrates up with notisable phospates.

the op thinks he has low PO4 yet says it’s either 0 or as high as .25 and is unsure of his nitrate reading but it could be 0 as his test kit is not good, not sure recommending him to add more nutrients with those facts is a good idea.

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

Reesj said:
I would say yes. For a lps dominant tank, I would say you have too much filteration. So dose reef roids daily or get your nitrates up with notisable phospates.

i think i have some phosphates what

Reesj said:
I would say yes. For a lps dominant tank, I would say you have too much filteration. So dose reef roids daily or get your nitrates up with notisable phospates.

What should i remove? I think i have some phosphates as i stated above my test kit isnt great but nitrates are zero. You think turn skimmer off to increase nitrate and leave gfo running?

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

Reef. said:
the op thinks he has low PO4 yet says it’s either 0 or as high as .25 and is unsure of his nitrate reading but it could be 0 as his test kit is not good, not sure recommending him to add more nutrients with those facts is a good idea.

thats true nitrates definitely zero shouldnt i try to raise them up?

Reef. · Jul 21, 2020

KDG730 said:
thats true nitrates definitely zero shouldnt i try to raise them up?

I would strongly recommend better tests, you have went from you think your nitrates are 0 but unsure as your kit is bad, to now being sure and sorry but there is a huge difference between a 0 PO4 reading and a PO4 of 0.25, until you know for sure your lvls I would carry on as you are doing and buy salifert for nitrate tests and Elos high resolution for PO4 then work out what you need to do.

Reesj · Jul 21, 2020

Keep either the refugium or skimmer and get rid of the rest if I were you.
Or keep both with 4-5 hour refugium and 4-5 hours of skimmer up time per day. But if your neutrients are bottoming out, I don't think you will be able to have a healthy refugium.

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

Reef. said:
I would strongly recommend better tests, you have went from you think your nitrates are 0 but unsure as your kit is bad, to now being sure and sorry but there is a huge difference between a 0 PO4 reading and a PO4 of 0.25, until you know for sure your lvls I would carry on as you are doing and buy salifert for nitrate tests and Elos high resolution for PO4 then work out what you need to do.

Nitrates are a clear zero that i am sure of. Phosphate is the one i am unsure of the exact number. Would corals suffer without sufficient nitrates to feed off of? Just looking for something i can try to be more successful

Reesj · Jul 21, 2020

Reef. said:
the op thinks he has low PO4 yet says it’s either 0 or as high as .25 and is unsure of his nitrate reading but it could be 0 as his test kit is not good, not sure recommending him to add more nutrients with those facts is a good idea.

Still 0 or close to nitrates is bad for a LPS tank .
Also having filter socks, skimmer, gfo and a refugium is way over kill..

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

Reesj said:
Still 0 or close to nitrates is bad for a LPS tank .
Also having filter socks, skimmer, gfo and a refugium is way over kill..

Ok thank you thats what i was wondering. I’ll need to pick up a better test kit for the phosphate and work on maybe removing a few to see how it goes

Any idea what would be proper nitrate/phosphate levels to shoot for?

Reef. · Jul 21, 2020

Reesj said:
Still 0 or close to nitrates is bad for a LPS tank .
Also having filter socks, skimmer, gfo and a have a refugium is way over kill..

if I have all that going on I would know exactly my parameters but here he was unsure, his PO4 could be .25! so something is off, I think getting to the bottom of where the tank is at would be a better step forward than adding nutrients at this point.

he could retest and the lvls could be near enough 0 but they may not be.

KDG730 · Jul 21, 2020

Reef. said:
if I have all that going on I would know exactly my parameters but here his PO4 could be .25! so something is off, I think getting to the bottom of where the tank is at would be a better step forward than adding nutrients at this point.

he could retest and the lvls could be near enough 0 but they may not be

I agree i will try to pick up a better phosphate kit. The nitrate level on api is much clearer to read as yellow=0ppm and next level is 5ppm which is a much different color.

Reef. · Jul 21, 2020

KDG730 said:
I agree i will try to pick up a better phosphate kit. The nitrate level on api is much clearer to read as yellow=0ppm and next level is 5ppm which is a much different color.

Good, PO4 is something you need to keep a close eye on, if it’s as high as you think it could be, the last thing you need to be doing is adding nutrients at this point, we are only talking a couple of days wait whilst you buy a good test kit, then you will be working with full information not a best guess.