SPS and Nitrate! Where do you keep it?

[HotRocks]

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.

Sure I get that all tanks are different. I just think its very interesting that 1 person like yourself can run super low nutrients and produce results, then someone else can run high nutrients and deliver similar results. SO ultimately you have the find the sweet spot for your own tank and go with it. I just find it to be the most intriguing part of keeping SPS. I also think that is what makes it challenging.

Just curious since you run lower nutrients do you also try to maintain other parameters that are similar to NSW?

 

[Flippers4pups]

30-40ppm N03 here. Going through a explosive growth spurt currently.

 

[HotRocks]

30-40ppm N03 here. Going through a explosive growth spurt currently.

Hey Don thanks for the insight! I know you run blackboxes but do you know where your par is? Just curious.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Hey Don thanks for the insight! I know you run blackboxes but do you know where your par is? Just curious.

At 250-300 at the top of my rocks. Anecdotally, I did add 395 nm Uv to each box. Can't say if it's been the missing link or not, but color and growth have jumped since.

 

[reefwreak]

I've been running 25-35ppm recently, and my corals are still all colored up. I think the coloring up has more to do with alkalinity (or general parameter) stability than directly nitrate levels. That being said, for all of the hurrah of moderate nitrates with SPS these days, my old biocube had excellent color and growth under DIY LEDs with 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate with an oversized skimmer and no algae growth. I really think the key is stability, then altitude of levels.

I think the earlier italian poster discussing inorganic vs. organic circulating nutrients brought up a great point that they're two different things, show up differently on test kits, and should probably be thought of differently, though I don't think the organic molecules are as well understood since we test for the inorganic after-effects of the organic molecules. At least that's how I (pretend to) understand it.

 

[GoVols]

I'm in-between 7 - 10ppm, but I don't chase nitrates. 15 - 20 would be just fine.

Very mature reef, with "no" carbon dosing.

lol
Will never run an ULNS / NSW system again.

Went looking for greener grass... ;Wideyed in early 2015, and all I got was dinos, with 2 years worth of acro grow, gone...

 

[Crabs McJones]

2.5ppm currently. Trying to raise it slightly.

 

[Hemmdog]

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!

+1!!!! Why do people literally think/say high nitrate is “extra coral food”.

I run 2 NO3 and my corals are happy as heck. 0.01 PO4

 

[HotRocks]

I'm in-between 7 - 10ppm, but I don't chase nitrates. 15 - 20 would be just fine.

Very mature reef, with "no" carbon dosing.

lol
Will never run an ULNS / NSW system again.

Went looking for greener grass... ;Wideyed in early 2015, and all I got was dinos, with 2 years worth of acro grow, gone...

So are you saying you had previously ran in the 7-10 range and then tried lowering nutrients and ended up with losses?

 

[HotRocks]

2.5ppm currently. Trying to raise it slightly.

You had previously ran un-detectable levels of nitrate though right? Still had great color!

 

[HotRocks]

+1!!!! Why do people literally think/say high nitrate is “extra coral food”.

I run 2 NO3 and my corals are happy as heck. 0.01 PO4

What is considered "High Nitrate" though? Anything over a detectable level or 100ppm?

I run high nitrate in my softie/lps tank and none of the corals give a rip. Its just an overstocked tank that I don't know if I will ever be able to get the level low enough to maintain SPS in the tank.

 

[SeaDweller]

Just checked today with salifert. NO3 1.0 ppm and PO4 0.10+ ppm

 

[Crabs McJones]

You had previously ran un-detectable levels of nitrate though right? Still had great color!

I ran undetectable. But my colors didnt really spruce up until they were detectable.

 

[motortrendz]

Nitrates 8, po4 0.15, alk 10dkh, cal 450, mag 1400...

 

[Hemmdog]

What is considered "High Nitrate" though? Anything over a detectable level or 100ppm?

I run high nitrate in my softie/lps tank and none of the corals give a rip. Its just an overstocked tank that I don't know if I will ever be able to get the level low enough to maintain SPS in the tank.

Good point. Well looking at NSW levels anything over 1 would be high. In aquaria I feel there’s ill effects(browning corals, algae growth) when it’s higher than 10.
My smaller system has higher nutrients(40, 0.1) and things are noticeably much more brown and don’t look as healthy as my lower nutrient 90. My husbandry is identical and both tanks are ran on kessils with similar spectrums.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

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

Thanks for that there are lots of ways to run reefs, all different levels of no3 and po4 that's what makes this all work as 10 of nitrates in my tank may make corals bright and yours brown.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I actually use natural sea water in my tank. I dont do water changes very often 10% maybe 6-8 weeks on a 24 us gallon tank so not alot. I had an issue of cyano and now a little dino. I went from a mixed reef that was colourful as my video to pale digitata that died and now I just have lps and trying to feed more and get phosphates up that way. I'm seeing growth on the so called dead sps polyps that i didnt scrape off and this isafter 3 months of issues.now I have this

and this is the new growth of my dead digitata.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I take a page from Sanjay's reef tank, high nutrient levels, tons of flow, plenty of PAR and correct spectrum and higher than most in alkalinity around 10 DKH. I do weekly water changes of only 10 gallons on 180 gallon system for the elements in the salt. (IO) No GFO, rarely any GAC, skimmer and a refugium with chaetomorpha. Kalkwasser in my ATO reservoir. No dosing.

Mature system.

There is many ways to keep a reef tank. What I do, may not work for you.

 

[GoVols]

So are you saying you had previously ran in the 7-10 range and then tried lowering nutrients and ended up with losses?

Yeah, Kyle
My reef was great, but looked for greener pastures by going ULNS with NSW parameters.

Ultra low phos. and nitrates

Had those pastel looking acros for an while.

But,
Could not hold that thin of an line for the long haul, and went into dinos. Then I did the wrong thing and made more water changes. Was like adding gas on a fire.

Live and learn, big time feeder now...

I can't find it, but I will always remember those two Reef Masters articles.
All were some of the finest reefers in the world.

Some ran low nitrates some 40ppm.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"


Great thread!!

 

[Matt1997]

I don’t test nitrates or phosphates. I imagine they are pretty high as I feed a lot. My SPS all look great though. Good color and good extension.