Any long-term negative effects of running on high nitrate & phosphate?

[TeeJay87]

Do not have any idea where you got this from.

50 nitrate max is a limit provided by Mark Vanderwahl and Jake Adams in their reef therapy episode on Algae. Most recommendations are in the 5-15 range. The pollution comparison was made on a BRStv video (likely an episode on nitrate/phosphate/algae control). Seems sensical that if you have high nitrates, the water is polluted as how else would the nitrates get high. But low nitrates doesn’t necessarily mean unpolluted water as there are ways to reduce nitrates chemically. The comment on HLLE is a suspicion (hence the “I suspect”) from personal experience dealing with hole in head on a regal angel.

 

[bakbay]

Careful fast drops like that were what stressed out my corals.

should not be the case in 2 days though. I’m spreading this across 4-5 days…

 

[TeeJay87]

Not really...

At what nitrate level would you say a reef tank is unhealthy?

 

[Jackcarp]

My 150 has had nitrates above 75 and phosphates above .5-.7 for years and I’ve grown huge colonies of sps. Unfortunately the last year I have lost a lot of corals to stn /rtn and I’ve been checking every other explanation and I can’t figure out why I’m losing them if it is due to high nitrates and phosphates, I don’t know why all of a sudden it is causing problems.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I’ve heard 50+ nitrates is too high. Nitrates can roughly be thought of as a proxy for how polluted the water is. I suspect high nitrates can cause sensitive fish, such as angels, to develop issues over time (HLLE, hole in head, etc).

I have dealt ( successfully ) with HLLE and can say almost conclusively that it’s diet related. My emperor angel developed it once it matured and after 3 weeks of heavy nori feeding it healed and was fine. The issue was that I was feeding mostly Mysis and pellets and angel fish need to eat their veggies. Just weighing in here

 

[TeeJay87]

I have dealt ( successfully ) with HLLE and can say almost conclusively that it’s diet related. My emperor angel developed it once it matured and after 3 weeks of heavy nori feeding it healed and was fine. The issue was that I was feeding mostly Mysis and pellets and angel fish need to eat their veggies. Just weighing in here

Thanks. The hole in head is improving on my regal angel and I’ve fixed the water quality and have been improving diet (nori, selcon and aminomega). I‘ve had trouble finding specific info on hole in head as treatment recommendations are usually just assumed to be the same as HLLE.

 

[duanejon]

I try to keep my nitrates in FOWLR tank at no more than 30. As someone mentioned above the angels are very sensitive to nitrates over 20 even I usually run a water change when nitrates hit 30. Over feeding can definitely contribute as well as overcrowding in tank

 

[bakbay]

I have dealt ( successfully ) with HLLE and can say almost conclusively that it’s diet related. My emperor angel developed it once it matured and after 3 weeks of heavy nori feeding it healed and was fine. The issue was that I was feeding mostly Mysis and pellets and angel fish need to eat their veggies. Just weighing in here

Very nice Emperor! I love Angels but can never keep them in my tanks. I’ve overloaded the tanks with tangs though — they can devour nori sheets in seconds!

 

[duanejon]

HLLE has been reported from using too much activated carbon although I’ve never had a problem with it. Seaweed and garlic pellets are also very good and Angel fish love them

 

[TeeJay87]

My 150 has had nitrates above 75 and phosphates above .5-.7 for years and I’ve grown huge colonies of sps. Unfortunately the last year I have lost a lot of corals to stn /rtn and I’ve been checking every other explanation and I can’t figure out why I’m losing them if it is due to high nitrates and phosphates, I don’t know why all of a sudden it is causing problems.

This approach is probably in the trailblazing category, but if you are desperate, you may want to check it out. The thought is to treat the tank with an antibiotic in case the RTN/STN is caused by pathogenic bacteria. Here’s a link to get you started. Good luck!
https://reefbuilders.com/2023/04/10/managing-tissue-necrosis/

 

[ArtisticReef]

Too many opposing opinions. I feel dummer than when I started reading this thread.

 

[TeeJay87]

Too many opposing opinions. I feel dummer than when I started reading this thread.

*dumber

There you go; now you learned something.

 

[blstravler]

My 150 has had nitrates above 75 and phosphates above .5-.7 for years and I’ve grown huge colonies of sps. Unfortunately the last year I have lost a lot of corals to stn /rtn and I’ve been checking every other explanation and I can’t figure out why I’m losing them if it is due to high nitrates and phosphates, I don’t know why all of a sudden it is causing problems.

Ever consider doing a Biom test, could be bacterial?

 

[blstravler]

This approach is probably in the trailblazing category, but if you are desperate, you may want to check it out. The thought is to treat the tank with an antibiotic in case the RTN/STN is caused by pathogenic bacteria. Here’s a link to get you started. Good luck!
https://reefbuilders.com/2023/04/10/managing-tissue-necrosis/

Cirpo is a nasty one to put in the tank, as it will go after most bacteria. As well few mention which Cirpo they use. People are starting to use Oxolinic Acid as it goes after gram Neg bacteria and is closely related to Cipro from what I’ve read. From the feedback it seems like it’s worked in most cases.

 

[Mark Gray]

I have to chime in. Back in the day when running wet dry filter's with fish only at least the start. We never checked PO4 nitrates were always high but I never had any fish problems I had angels and a blue ribbon ell that was extremely rare back in the early 90s. In my opinion if your not having algae problems your probably ok I do keep up my ALK, Cal, and magnesium.

 

[blstravler]

I have to chime in. Back in the day when running wet dry filter's with fish only at least the start. We never checked PO4 nitrates were always high but I never had any fish problems I had angels and a blue ribbon ell that was extremely rare back in the early 90s. In my opinion if your not having algae problems your probably ok I do keep up my ALK, Cal, and magnesium.

I always wonder how high my levels were back in the day when the only tests we had were Salifert. My PO4 and Nitrates where likely massive lol.

 

[bakbay]

interesting observation on my tann

Too many opposing opinions. I feel dummer than when I started reading this thread.

i highly doubt that. Your tank is spectacular so you’re doing something right. There are multiple ways to reefing and each tank is different.

My tank is mostly on autopilot but definitely gotten high on N&P recently. I don’t want to test the limit and crash the tank, hence need to bring things down within range.

 

[apb03]

My tank is usually around 30ppm nitrate and 0.1-.0.2 phosohate and have run much higher than that for long perioda as well. No real issues, my acros look great and no algae.

After worrying about it for so long I sort of just let my nutrients be where they are. The way I look at it, it feetds my Corals and allows me to carbon dose and do any amount of water changes without worrying about it.

I say, embrace the high nutrients and never having to worry about bottoming out.

 

[CKW]

*dumber

There you go; now you learned something.

I’ve been in this “hobby” for well over 60 years and I often think that we make it much more difficult than it needs to be.