SPS and Nitrate! Where do you keep it?

[HotRocks]

I know this topic will bring answers all across the board. I have only been keeping SPS for a short while and just wondering as to where you all keep your nitrate? You read some people manage ULN or undetectable and others that keep them super high. I know the maturity of the Reef is a big factor as far as if someone is looking for Color VS Growth. I am shooting for 10ppm Nitrate with my Acro dominated system. Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Does lighting come into play? If you have more intensity or run a higher par should you keep elevated nitrate?

 

[gugpuccio]

Hi, I've got a mixed reef and I think it deepends on various factors. I kept them at 15 and my corals were more brown, but I think it depended on the organic content in the water. Now I've got between 2 and 5, and the corals are colouring up very fast. I think 10 it's a good and shared value, but the most important thing is to keep the water column "clean" with low organic matter. A very clean water with decent amount of nitrates and phosphate is the way to go in my opinion.
To put it simple: if your glasses are getting brown film every couple of days you have too much organic matter. If you get green or white film you are in the good spot. and then you can keep nitrates from 2 to 20 ppm. There are some tanks with wonderful looking corals with 30 nitrates!

 

[CivicS14]

Around 10 according to salifert. I can’t seem to get it any lower even with vodka dosing. Colors are great in my tank.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

5 in my tanks

 

[KJoFan]

Hi, I've got a mixed reef and I think it deepends on various factors. I kept them at 15 and my corals were more brown, but I think it depended on the organic content in the water. Now I've got between 2 and 5, and the corals are colouring up very fast. I think 10 it's a good and shared value, but the most important thing is to keep the water column "clean" with low organic matter. A very clean water with decent amount of nitrates and phosphate is the way to go in my opinion.
To put it simple: if your glasses are getting brown film every couple of days you have too much organic matter. If you get green or white film you are in the good spot. and then you can keep nitrates from 2 to 20 ppm. There are some tanks with wonderful looking corals with 30 nitrates!

I'm curious how you would recommend keeping organics in the water column low if nitrates levels stay the same? Like, how does one tank with 10 ppm nitrates with low DOC vary from another with the same 10 ppm nitrates with high DOC? I'm just thinking generally we coorelate our filtration (fuge/skimmer etc) directly to nitrate levels, more or less. So, could you expound on that a bit?

Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee yet to think it through thoroughly.

 

[DarkSky]

10-20 ppm NO3, PO4 is currently around 0.14ppm, PAR where SPS are at is 350-500 using an ATI Powermodule 8 bulb fixture (T5/LED).

My rocks are solid purple after having light over the tank for less than 8 months, coral colors are great.

To clarify, I don't try to keep my levels at this amount. I just make sure there are some available in the system - I don't use filter socks or any physical filtration, and instead rely on a skimmer and a large refugium for my nitrate and phosphate control. I also usually do about 50 gallon / week water changes using a DOS.

 

[Ike]

I'm one of the biggest advocates of not bottoming out things like phosphate and nitrate. That said, a lot of people have started to say they're trying to maintain certain numbers for nitrates or have targets for no apparent reason those than misinformation on forums. If you know anything about a coral's nitrogen needs you'd know that it's probably not helpful to have anything above a measurable reading. As long as corals get enough nitrogen from ammonium, the most likely and easiest to use source, nitrate beyond measurable is superfluous at best. It's pointless and even dangerous to inhabitants if you dose nitrate and don't make sure you maintain sufficient PO4.

If your nitrates settles at 5, 10, 15 ppm and your tank looks good, don't sweat it, but don't chase elevated numbers! If you think you're getting too low, add some fish and feed them well!

 

[Joedubyk]

2ppm but I feed frozen foods to my anthias, HEAVY 3x a day, every day. If I can't get them to go lower, will probably have to keep dosing some aminos and reef roids . I get crazy PE and growth

 

[HotRocks]

10-20 ppm NO3, PAR where SPS are at is 350-500 using an ATI Powermodule 8 bulb fixture (T5/LED).

My rocks are solid purple after having light over the tank for less than 8 months, coral colors are great.

That is really close to where I run with par. My par is 350-450 and I run a hybrid fixture as well. 4bulb t5 with radion XR30pro4s.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I Always around 10 nitrates but I let my phosphates bottom out and they paled then died to stn before I realised my phosphate kit was wrong.

 

[ycnibrc]

5 to 10 give me the best color. Also the Coral skin look shinny. Less than 5 skin start to look dry

 

[Paul B]

My nitrates are about 40 now but they were 160 for about ten years. I can keep more SPS now and it seems that LPS doesn't care one way or the other about nitrates.

 

[HotRocks]

My nitrates are about 40 now but they were 160 for about ten years. I can keep more SPS now and it seems that LPS doesn't care one way or the other about nitrates.

Paul,
Interesting that you are able to maintain nitrate around 40ppm and have great color! I agree with you on LPS/Softies most of them could care less about an elevated N level. My tank is living proof! They do prefer disease free fish Though!

 

[UCF Alum]

No3: 35ish
Po4: .1
SPS dominate 140 gal DT

I’m done chasing numbers. All you hear is low this low that then see dead SPS. I dose KZ Flatworm stop and KZ coral vitalizer daily and my colors and growth are crazy.

 

[gugpuccio]

I'm curious how you would recommend keeping organics in the water column low if nitrates levels stay the same? Like, how does one tank with 10 ppm nitrates with low DOC vary from another with the same 10 ppm nitrates with high DOC? I'm just thinking generally we coorelate our filtration (fuge/skimmer etc) directly to nitrate levels, more or less. So, could you expound on that a bit?

Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee yet to think it through thoroughly.

Organic matter is not immediately transformed in inorganic matter like no3 and po4. There's an equilibrium between DOM and POM and their inorganic derived molecules like no3 and po4. Of course they are related, but not always in a strict manner. One example could be a tank with low surface for bacteria but a lot of fishes. Probably the no3 levels will be low because of the low action of nitrifying bacteria, but DOC levels will be high due to high dosage of fish food and waste. Usually with filter socks and skimmer, at least in the US the water column is clean and this allow a lot of people to keep high level of nitrates . Here in Italy no one use filter socks and I think there is a wrong idea on the nitrates levels because often their presence (above 2 or 3 ppm) is linked to an excess in organic matter that is less easy to detect. I hope I was clear enough, and enjoy your coffee

 

[jurgenph]

my current tank is still new, and hasn't found its equilibium yet.
currently dosing nitrates to 10ppm, in case i forget about it, so they don't bottom out.

last time i checked my po4 was sitting at 0.04ppm

J.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Organic matter is not immediately transformed in inorganic matter like no3 and po4. There's an equilibrium between DOM and POM and their inorganic derived molecules like no3 and po4. Of course they are related, but not always in a strict manner. One example could be a tank with low surface for bacteria but a lot of fishes. Probably the no3 levels will be low because of the low action of nitrifying bacteria, but DOC levels will be high due to high dosage of fish food and waste. Usually with filter socks and skimmer, at least in the US the water column is clean and this allow a lot of people to keep high level of nitrates . Here in Italy no one use filter socks and I think there is a wrong idea on the nitrates levels because often their presence (above 2 or 3 ppm) is linked to an excess in organic matter that is less easy to detect. I hope I was clear enough, and enjoy your coffee

Do you mean that no one uses filter socks to keep the water dirtier or do they use other methods for waste removal. I dont have a skimmer on any of my 3 nano tanks also I dont do very frequent water changes, the only thing I use is a little filter floss in all of them in such a way that the water flows through it but can also go passed it to it doesn't catch everything.

 

[gugpuccio]

Do you mean that no one uses filter socks to keep the water dirtier or do they use other methods for waste removal. I dont have a skimmer on any of my 3 nano tanks also I dont do very frequent water changes, the only thing I use is a little filter floss in all of them in such a way that the water flows through it but can also go passed it to it doesn't catch everything.

Io
No i think it's just a problem of commercial diffusion of filter socks and sumps. Here almost every reefer rely only on skimmer and (rarely) on refugium or algae scrubber/chaeto. I think filter socks is one of the best way of trapping organic matter, before it can be skimmed or degraded by bacteria. And IMHO is one of the main reason because nitrates over 5 is often believed to be cause of the Browning of sps. I do believe it is caused by DOM and as a consequence the higher level of no3 and possibly po4. Also a lot of stuff like biopellets reactors and gfo are not used here! That said here there are a lot of beautiful reef tanks, but they are all uln or low nutrients. But probably I'm going off topic xD

 

[ReefGeezer]

If we could only manage out systems "by the numbers" everyone would have a thriving reef tank and there would be a best way to get it done. My tank seems to run differently that most in this thread. My SPS corals are growing quickly and pretty colorful but I don' have N&P levels that are much above measurable. Sometimes they are even 0. I get some hair algae so I know there is available N&P though. I feed quite a bit so POC/DOC levels are not terribly low. I use a skimmer, dose a little vinegar from time to time, and use GFO when needed. I use a filter sock every once in a while too.

 

[HotRocks]

Io
No i think it's just a problem of commercial diffusion of filter socks and sumps. Here almost every reefer rely only on skimmer and (rarely) on refugium or algae scrubber/chaeto. I think filter socks is one of the best way of trapping organic matter, before it can be skimmed or degraded by bacteria. And IMHO is one of the main reason because nitrates over 5 is often believed to be cause of the Browning of sps. I do believe it is caused by DOM and as a consequence the higher level of no3 and possibly po4. Also a lot of stuff like biopellets reactors and gfo are not used here! That said here there are a lot of beautiful reef tanks, but they are all uln or low nutrients. But probably I'm going off topic xD

I thought it was believed that nitrate over 30+ is what caused the browning of SPS, again I know it depends on who you talk to etc. Do you think the lighting intensity needs to be less if you are running ULN? or are the two related? With my tank specifically if the nitrate is barely detectable or not detectable at all my corals pale out horribly. I am just wondering if the two are mutual?