What does WWC know that you don't?

[fragit]

What are ypu guys running your Alk at with these higher levels of N? Last I check my N and P were barely readable on a Salifert kit but I have cyano in my macroalgae tank as well as a little in my main display with all corals still looking great. My Alk is at 7.8.

I've been running my Alk at 8.3dkh for a few months now. I'm slowly bringing it up to 9dkh while running higher nutrients.

Ikr, I use salifert and all I can tell is my no3 is somewhere between 10 & 20ppm. I don't see how many can get so accurate numbers with these color charts to go by. Hanna needs to come out with a nitrate checker.

I totally agree! You can't get an exact number because the color is open to interpretation. All I can say is that on my Red Sea kit my readings convert to somewhere between 16ppm and 20ppm according to the color wheel of their device.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

1000 hungry pigs (corals) needs 2 truck full of food to feed. Compare to our tank of 10 pigs, we only need 2 buckets of food. Wastage will go into the drain (algae) and man that gonna stink (bad looking tank). That is my 2 cents by the way

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure how those running higher levels of nitrate even come close to the redfield ratio. If we take the example of WWC, they aim for 10-20 nitrate and .03-.08 phosphate, which at the lowest permutation is almost 10x the redfield ratio of N to P

I can't see what the redfield ratio has to do at all with concentrations in the water. The ocean doesn't match such a ratio and there's no reason to think a reef tank should.

 

[bif24701]

I think the interesting thing about the OP's observation is that WWC doesn't have browned out corals. In fact, most hobbyists would strive to see their corals look like the ones at WWC.

They could have brown corals in their propagation tank and transfer them to another system that colors them up before sell.

 

[bif24701]

Ikr, I use salifert and all I can tell is my no3 is somewhere between 10 & 20ppm. I don't see how many can get so accurate numbers with these color charts to go by. Hanna needs to come out with a nitrate checker.

I had nothing but problems with NO3 <1ppm. Now my NO3 is 5-10ppm via Red Sea pro, it is a accurate test kit and you can modify the tank water/RODI ratio to get a better testing range for your levels for more accurate results.

I have high flow rates, 60 times rated display volume.

I also have high lighting levels. Kessil AP700s at 85% and Dual 60" ATI T5s.

I visited WWC and they have the Kessil AP700s over their acro sell display and I asked about their schedule. They said its at 100% and full blue mid schedule. This tells me they must have higher NO3 and ALK levels.

I also run higher levels of ALK 10-12 dKH. I find this is where my system like to be.

PO4 I try to keep at .03 but it's usually .04-.05

I did have a lot of algae to start but Vibrant Aquarium Reef cleaner has literally killed all algae even most of my cheato. A few spots of bryopsis remain but are receding.

 

[fragit]

I had nothing but problems with NO3 <1ppm. Now my NO3 is 5-10ppm via Red Sea pro, it is a accurate test kit and you can modify the tank water/RODI ratio to get a better testing range for your levels for more accurate results.

I have high flow rates, 60 times rated display volume.

I also have high lighting levels. Kessil AP700s at 85% and Dual 60" ATI T5s.

I visited WWC and they have the Kessil AP700s over their acro sell display and I asked about their schedule. They said its at 100% and full blue mid schedule. This tells me they must have higher NO3 and ALK levels.

I also run higher levels of ALK 10-12 dKH. I find this is where my system like to be.

PO4 I try to keep at .03 but it's usually .04-.05

I did have a lot of algae to start but Vibrant Aquarium Reef cleaner has literally killed all algae even most of my cheato. A few spots of bryopsis remain but are receding.

Nice colors on those frags! When dosing Vibrant did you follow the recommended doses? Did you see any cyano outbreaks as I have read from other folks? Did it get rid of any bubble algae?

 

[Scorpius]

This whole X person runs their tank at X amount of Nitrate and Phosphate so I gotta do this as well is silly. Everyone's tank is different which means unless you either have algae issues or very pale corals I wouldn't chase phosphate/nitrate issues. Same goes for ph issues.

I have very little detectable nitrates in my system per Salifert, but my coral colors are good and my growth is decent for my taste. So, whatever nitrates I have are quickly consumed by my coral, macro algae's, and denitrification.

 

[david.faik]

This whole X person runs their tank at X amount of Nitrate and Phosphate so I gotta do this as well is silly. Everyone's tank is different which means unless you either have algae issues or very pale corals I wouldn't chase phosphate/nitrate issues. Same goes for ph issues.

I have very little detectable nitrates in my system per Salifert, but my coral colors are good and my growth is decent for my taste. So, whatever nitrates I have are quickly consumed by my coral, macro algae's, and denitrification.

On my softies tank (mostly zoanths etc) I have a leafy brown-red macro algae in the display. I know when it starts growing a bit too vigorously that my phosphate and to a lesser extent nitrate needs reigning in. This happens before the test kits pick it up. Basically your point is very valid, we're trying to keep the phosphates and nitrates in the water column right (quite low), taking into account that our tanks are consuming these at different rates according to what we have in there. So I couldn't agree with you more!

 

[Anirban]

In case I am late to the party. But I did check their water couple of times when my frags came in. I always read 0 ppm PO4 by Hanna meter and No3 over 60 to 80 ppm by Redsea. I run an ulns system so I generally check the water to get an idea from what conditions the frags came from.

 

[Falcon53]

It seems that we as hobbyists are mostly guessing as it relates to parameters outside of salinity, temp, alk, calc, and mag.

When I think about how much knowledge has been gained in this hobby over the last 10 years, it is tremendous. I am really excited to see what the next 10 brings in terms of knowledge gains and husbandry techniques.

We might get to a day when we can test trace elements in our homes inexpensively and accurately, and actually have the knowledge of what needs to be done to turn that into actionable information. We might also have a better understanding of how the hundreds of other variables interact with each other, and get closer to tank utopia!

 

[bif24701]

Nice colors on those frags! When dosing Vibrant did you follow the recommended doses? Did you see any cyano outbreaks as I have read from other folks? Did it get rid of any bubble algae?

Thanks! My color and growth have both improved 1000% since increasing NO3 via potassium nitrate. Bubble hasn't done anything yet.... no new bubble for sure. I have just some small patches. Vibrant does a great job and I highly recommend you try it.

 

[mucky1957]

Interesting thread. I have a 240lt tank and keep my nitrate stable at 5 using nopox daily. A friend of mine has a smaller 100lt tank with about 16 clowns in it and a lot of softies and his nitrate level is nearly off the charts. I use Salifert kits and my reading of his tank is showing a level of about 100....and his tank is BOOMING...the colours and growth are amazing. The fish look fantastic. If your tank looks fine and the fidh are fine does it really matter what the nitrate level is?

 

[A+Aquatics]

Interesting conversation.
Doesn't it all honestly come down to the facts of presentable or probable science?
It would be nice to have an informative scientific article that broke it down into relevant meticulous and usable knowledge for all of us.
For now, millions of hobbyists and companies are enjoying success merely by surface information and cold hard experience. Incredible really!

 

[wattson]

is No3 or Po4 more necessary for pest algae to grow ?
i keep mainly (90% + ) palys and zoas,,they seem to do the best when I dont feed the fish as often or as heavy,,Unfortunately I have to dose No3 to keep my levels at 10 plus..anything lower and see something is a miss,,plus I dose Iodide weekly with the stocking levels being high ,,also do bi monthly 10% water changes

 

[Vaughn17]

is No3 or Po4 more necessary for pest algae to grow ?
i keep mainly (90% + ) palys and zoas,,they seem to do the best when I dont feed the fish as often or as heavy,,Unfortunately I have to dose No3 to keep my levels at 10 plus..anything lower and see something is a miss,,plus I dose Iodide weekly with the stocking levels being high ,,also do bi monthly 10% water changes

IMO, nuisance algae and bacteria seem to be PO4 driven.

 

[Vaughn17]

I just finished cycling a 180 and started adding coral yesterday. NO3 is between 50 and 100 ppm (Salifert) and PO4 is .25. I was just going to put in some gsp, xenia, and zoas, but changed my mind and also added a purple stylo frag just to see what would happen. Well this happened:

 

[Vaughn17]

So I started putting everything in, coral but no fish

.