ULNS & Kh Ca Mg

[Reef Jedi]

What is considered a ULNS?

At what level is Kh Ca and Mg too high for a ULNS?

My tank has been up for 2 years, i haven't seen a Nitrate reading over 5ppm since the tank cycled. For over the last year nitrates hold steady at .25 to almost completely undetectable (or the sample is very clear looking) (red sea test kit). I also haven't seen a phosphate reading on a hanna checker. I always see 0.00 every time i test. i'm not saying it's not in there but i haven't been able to detect it. So with these two mentioned, is that an ULNS system? It's my understanding that these levels are what is strived for and you don't want any higher numbers then that.

Tank:
KH: 8.5
CA: 480
MG: 1500
SG: 1.026
Temp: 78
Nitrates: .25
Phos: 0.00
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
PH: 8.0 to 8.2 day and night swing =.2

40g breeder with a 15g sump, Radion G4 PRO, Vortech mp 10 & 40, Eshopps Skimmer, Eshopps Doser w/Slave, Carbon & GFO reactor. I do NOT use filter socks. Dosing BRS 2 part, supplementing red sea AB and Aquavitro Fuel. W/C with Red sea Blue Bucket.

 

[Diesel]

ULNS is considered low when you run your system below the standards hobbyist set imo.
Now over the last three years these standards are raised with good backups and success.

 

[Reef Jedi]

ULNS is considered low when you run your system below the standards hobbyist set imo.
Now over the last three years these standards are raised with good backups and success.

so, I've seen threads and write up's about ULNS systems and keeping alk lower, but i haven't seen a number. would it be better to refer back to natural ocean values at 7kh with a ULNS? or is 8.5kh acceptable?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

in my personal experience ULNS is when nitrates and phos are absolute 0 and holding 0 (zero) all the time. in this absolute 0 some livestock/filterfeeders like clams dont survive. some SPS dont make it or look very dull in color. in ULNS you will have to dose nitrates and phos in order to bring the levels up so this alone tells you ULNS has to be 0 in order to dose and bring levels up. how up? nitrates 1-10ppm and phos 0-0.03.
I ran my system at absolute 0 with help of sulfur denitrator (nitrates 0) and lanthanum chloride (phos 0) and i ran into many problems of keeping few livestocks alive. now that i keep lower levels by dosing (sodium nitrates) and not using LC as much to keep phos up a little now i can keep anything.

Acceptable range in ULNS
alk 7-8.5
cal 420-480
mag 1200-1600

and honestly alk can be higher but there are few people that have reported burnt tips in higher alk in ULNS and not all face that.

 

[Diesel]

It been never proven that lower Alk and Cal is better for a ULNS.

I have done zeo and that is considered a ULNS but had Alk as high 9 and all looked good.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

It been never proven that lower Alk and Cal is better for a ULNS.

I have done zeo and that is considered a ULNS but had Alk as high 9 and all looked good.

very true there are a few reports from hobbyist saying they see alk burns on tips of sps when alk numbers are high in ULNS but its not the case in all tanks. Currently i have a mixed tank with more sps acros with alk as high as 9 dkh and i never saw any negative effects.

 

[Diesel]

in my personal experience ULNS is when nitrates and phos are absolute 0 and holding 0 all the time. in this absolute 0 some livestock/filterfeeders like clams dont survive. some SPS dont make it or look very dull in color. in ULNS you will have to dose nitrates and phos in order to bring the levels up so this alone tells you ULNS has to be 0 in order to dose and bring levels up. how up? nitrates 1-10ppm and phos 0-0.03.
I ran my system at absolute 0 with help of sulfur denitrator (nitrates 0) and lanthanum chloride (phos 0) and i ran into many problems of keeping few livestocks alive. now that i keep lower levels by dosing (sodium nitrates) and not using LC as much to keep phos up a little now i can keep anything.

Acceptable range in ULNS
alk 7-8.5
cal 420-480
mag 1200-1600

and honestly alk can be higher but there are few people that have reported burnt tips in higher alk in ULNS and not all face that.

What is considered 0?
Like 0 zero?

The system never will be zero, it can be undetectable for testers we using but it ain’t never 0, that’s why we call it ULNS.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

yes zero zero like everytime anytime you test you get nitrates and phos absolutely zero. ofcourse there are kits ability to not read very low ranges and tank can never be zero but when we have lits we rely on and they say zero we log it down as zero.

 

[Diesel]

very true there are a few reports from hobbyist saying they see alk burns on tips of sps when alk numbers are high in ULNS but its not the case in all tanks. Currently i have a mixed tank with more sps acros with alk as high as 9 dkh and i never saw any negative effects.

If it ain’t broken don’t fix it.

 

[Diesel]

yes zero zero like everytime anytime you test you get nitrates and phos absolutely zero.

But it isn’t.

 

[Diesel]

yes zero zero like everytime anytime you test you get nitrates and phos absolutely zero. ofcourse there are kits ability to not read very low ranges and tank can never be zero but when we have lits we rely on and they say zero we log it down as zero.

Wrong, we log it down as undetectable.
Reason why is we deal with simple hobbyist grade testers and we can’t compare with the ICP-OES analyze test as triton, ATI and others.
Undetectable

 

[cooltowncorals]

It is suggested by Zeovit and brightwell to run alk between 7-8 while running ulns system with zeolite to avoid white tips on acros. I see you are not using zeolite so your probably fine. With ideal between 7-7.5 I try to run my system at 7.5 i use the brightwell system. If you don’t have white tips on acros don’t worry about it. I have dosed lots of sodium nitrate to keep nitrates up close to 5ppm. Most reefers report success at 5-10ppm nitrates and .03-.1 levels of phosphates (that’s without algae/cyno.) In my tank (I understand all are different) everything looks it’s best when nitrates are higher 5-10 then lower .25-2 which I struggled with a lot the last 6 months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What is considered a ULNS?

At what level is Kh Ca and Mg too high for a ULNS?

My tank has been up for 2 years, i haven't seen a Nitrate reading over 5ppm since the tank cycled. For over the last year nitrates hold steady at .25 to almost completely undetectable (or the sample is very clear looking) (red sea test kit). I also haven't seen a phosphate reading on a hanna checker. I always see 0.00 every time i test. i'm not saying it's not in there but i haven't been able to detect it. So with these two mentioned, is that an ULNS system? It's my understanding that these levels are what is strived for and you don't want any higher numbers then that.

Tank:
KH: 8.5
CA: 480
MG: 1500
SG: 1.026
Temp: 78
Nitrates: .25
Phos: 0.00
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
PH: 8.0 to 8.2 day and night swing =.2

40g breeder with a 15g sump, Radion G4 PRO, Vortech mp 10 & 40, Eshopps Skimmer, Eshopps Doser w/Slave, Carbon & GFO reactor. I do NOT use filter socks. Dosing BRS 2 part, supplementing red sea AB and Aquavitro Fuel. W/C with Red sea Blue Bucket.

I personally would raise the N and P levels out of fear of getting dinos. I generally recommend 0.5 to 5 ppm nitrate and 0.01 to 0.03 ppm phosphate for mist reef tanks.