The great debate on nitrates and phosphates

[ReefHomieJon]

Where do y’all stand?? I love BRStv and even met Ryan at RAP 2019 in Anaheim and even designed my system as ultra low maintenance with a focus on nitrate and phosphate removal but I’ve lately there’s been a lot of debate on this subject. Without getting into details as I’m sure this debate will get into that. Where you all stand on this debate? A lot of people have been saying that their tanks have never looked better when they got lazy and slowed up on their normal maintenance routines and ended up with higher levels of nitrates and phosphates..... is the low nitrates and phosphates standard a ploy to sell e pensive skimmers, filter wheels, chemicals and additives, and foods like reef roids when all your corals really need is a little bit of “nutrients” and an Occasional copepod? Shout out to all the copepods our there btw. The nitrates haven’t been personally higher than 2 but my phosphates registered at .34 last time I testested my water which prompted me to do my first water change ever just to dilute that number. But then again my tank is doing great soooooo what y’all think???

 

[jurgenph]

i tried the ULNS thing... didn't work for me.

J.

 

[saltyhog]

There are great looking tanks at about every nutrient level you can think of. However, I can assure you that you don't want to play the zero NO3, zero PO4 game. I sadly know from experience.

I aim for nitrates 5-10 and phospate 0.05-0.1. I will never have a ULNS again.

 

[Billldg]

I agree with above, I have seen tanks that looked great with high and low nutrients, but not 0/0 as I have also learned the hard way. Now I try to maintain my tank at roughly the same as @saltyhog.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

So then y all the ULN hype??!? It’s luke propaganda for reefers lol

 

[ReefHomieJon]

i tried the ULNS thing... didn't work for me.

J.

What’s in those bottles? Is that to add nutrients?

 

[Billldg]

I think that this hobby is forever changing as the community learns more. ULN works for many people, myself, I don't want to chase parameters to the point of madness.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

I think that this hobby is forever changing as the community learns more. ULN works for many people, myself, I don't want to chase parameters to the point of madness.

That’s what I’m shooting for. Learning everything behind the science of reef keeping and then applying it to your own tanks personal circumstances cuz every tank is definitely different. Once you find what works for your tank stick with it. When the LFS tested my water and everything was perfect but seen what they deemed hi phosphates they acted like I need to take immediate action lol and buy a reactor etc lol but my system is design to really Need that stuff and so far my happy corals are proof.

 

[Billldg]

IMO, .34 phosphate is very high and I would try and get it down, but who am I to tell a happy coral that it is wrong. Corals can and do adapt to different situations. Look at Battlecorals, he runs his salinity at 1.029 and he has some amazing corals.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

IMO, .34 phosphate is very high and I would try and get it down, but who am I to tell a happy coral that it is wrong. Corals can and do adapt to different situations. Look at Battlecorals, he runs his salinity at 1.029 and he has some amazing corals.

Lol yea. I was like dang that is pretty high so I changed about 40 gallons of water but realized after that my corals have been growing really nicely. Then while doing research I found people on YouTube who had phosphates in the .6’s with amazing tanks so I’m kinda like I’ll keep my eye on it but let the health and prosperity of my corals be the ultimate guide. Cuz my fish don’t give a

 

[jurgenph]

What’s in those bottles? Is that to add nutrients?

OH, i tried to make sure the labels were visible
it's my DIY nitrate and phosphate dosing liquid.

NaNO3 and NaPO4 solutions.


J.

 

[MentalNote]

As automatic testers get more advanced, I curious to see how the trends from a nitrate or phosphate tester will update our understanding of it.

J. - seeing those bottles reminded me of my planted tank days. I've dosed leftover KNO3/PO4 to my tank before - though never with enough consistency to see any difference.

 

[RichReef]

I had a N and P problem. Added an ATS. Went to ULNS quick. With in a few weeks.

Tried to regulate N and P. Too much work/stress. Screw that.

Started feeding corals. I use Kent A and B everyday (2 mil) and Coral Frenzy once a week on weekends.

My Zoas tell me when I need to add or reduce the CF. If they are open and well I stay at once a week. If they begin to close a little I add more CF,

Everything looks great.

 

[User]

I agree with above, I have seen tanks that looked great with high and low nutrients, but not 0/0 as I have also learned the hard way. Now I try to maintain my tank at roughly the same as @saltyhog.

make that three of us

my levels dropped to zero about six months ago, and im still dealing with a chrysophytes outbreak. ive been dosing spectracide and feeding heavy to get numbers up but my phosphate has a hard time coming up above 0.02-0.04ppm. im literally buying phosphate on amazon right now to dose.

im fed up of my snotty brown rocks. i cant even pinpoint why they bottomed out- but i think it might have been when i started chaeto in my fuge. it never really took off, but did last 10 days. i think maybe it sucked everything up, and i didnt test due to family issue so i missed the warning sign. paying for it 6 months later

 

[User]

What’s in those bottles? Is that to add nutrients?

What’s in those bottles? Is that to add nutrients?

left is sodium phosphate and right is sodium nitrate

 

[User]

OH, i tried to make sure the labels were visible
it's my DIY nitrate and phosphate dosing liquid.

NaNO3 and NaPO4 solutions.


J.

source of the sodium phosphate?

i use spectracide stump killer for the sodium nitrate

 

[ReefHomieJon]

I had a N and P problem. Added an ATS. Went to ULNS quick. With in a few weeks.

Tried to regulate N and P. Too much work/stress. Screw that.

Started feeding corals. I use Kent A and B everyday (2 mil) and Coral Frenzy once a week on weekends.

My Zoas tell me when I need to add or reduce the CF. If they are open and well I stay at once a week. If they begin to close a little I add more CF,

Everything looks great.

What’s ATS?

 

[jurgenph]

source of the sodium phosphate?

i use spectracide stump killer for the sodium nitrate

spectracide stump killer is Potassium nitrate
i have some of that to fall back on, if my triton test comes back with low K.

i use these




J.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

I had a N and P problem. Added an ATS. Went to ULNS quick. With in a few weeks.

Tried to regulate N and P. Too much work/stress. Screw that.

Started feeding corals. I use Kent A and B everyday (2 mil) and Coral Frenzy once a week on weekends.

My Zoas tell me when I need to add or reduce the CF. If they are open and well I stay at once a week. If they begin to close a little I add more CF,

Everything looks great.

My zoas are growing like crazy and I prolly feed the corals once a week too but not very much. All I got are samples of reef roids and and I think coral dust from RAP 2019

 

[User]

spectracide stump killer is Potassium nitrate
i have some of that to fall back on, if my triton test comes back with low K.

i use these




J.

Lol, G D it! I knew that- I even put it in my apex 10 minutes ago as KNO3,

Thanks for the TSP. Makes sense. I remember looking for it locally but only finding the pink cleaner TSP in HD/Lowe’s. Should have checked amazon

Got a handy dosing calculator or do I have to do it old school?

I’ll probably move to those since I’m not testing potassium, and I don’t want to shoot that too high in addition

Cheers!