Anyone moved to low nitrate higher phosphate method?

[Miami Reef]

Corals prefer ammonia to nitrate when given both. But they can consume nitrate just fine.

Does this go for all corals? Can I trust that my acros can get nitrate if ammonia is lacking?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Does this go for all corals? Can I trust that my acros can get nitrate if ammonia is lacking?

Not very many corals have actually been tested for their ability to use nitrate or ammonia or any N source in particular.

What can be said is that I've never seen an example of a coral that was shown to not use nitrate if it is available and ammonia is lacking.

 

[Miami Reef]

Not very many corals have actually been tested for their ability to use nitrate or ammonia or any N source in particular.

What can be said is that I've never seen an example of a coral that was shown to not use nitrate if it is available and ammonia is lacking.

That’s actually makes a lot of sense. Before ammonia dosing was a thing, people would dose nitrate to get “richer” colors, implying that the corals were using it.

 

[jonone]

Not sure I'm seeing such a trend in intended target levels. It may come about in many tanks without that being specifically intended, especially those with newish dead rock and/or sand which can bind and lower phosphate.

Do you see someone posting a recommendation for low phosphate (say, below 0.03 ppm) and high nitrate (say, above 30 ppm)?

Well not quite that outrageous
But 0.05 nitrate and 0.1-0.15 phosphate yes

Some more quotes by Hans….

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well not quite that outrageous
But 0.05 nitrate and 0.1-0.15 phosphate yes

Some more quotes by Hans….

Those mostly look like higher phosphate targets, which I agree with. I posted above that my recommendation is

• Let phosphate float between about 0.06 ppm and 0.3 ppm. This range is higher than I’ve recommended in the past. I’d use gentle export in this range, such as growing macroalgae.
• Above about 0.3 ppm, I’d begin to focus more on reducing it, by turf or macroalgae, or a binder such as GFO or lanthanum (has its own risks to tangs). If a binder: GO SLOW. Turf and macroalgae will typically be slow enough.
• Below 0.06 ppm, I’d begin to dose sodium phosphate or feed more to get the level up.

There certainly are people who recommend lower nitrate, including Hans-Werner Balling. I'm not convinced that is best, and have a higher recommendation. My nitrate recommendation is not based on corals needing it in all cases, but since folks cannot really know that ammonia and other N sources are adequate, some nitrate is good insurance, and higher levels are often fine.



In any case, I do not see a trend for low nitrate recommendations.

 

[jonone]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/np-plus-phosphate-nitrate-ratio.950911/
Sorry to keep mentioning Hans but he speaks a lot about nitrates in this topic

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/np-plus-phosphate-nitrate-ratio.950911/
Sorry to keep mentioning Hans but he speaks a lot about nitrates in this topic

I don't agree with some of his nitrate assertions, and fabulous tanks with 100 ppm nitrate would seem to show it's not the devil.

 

[Miami Reef]

I don't agree with some of his nitrate assertions, and fabulous tanks with 100 ppm nitrate would seem to show it's not the devil.

I’ve been trying higher nutrients lately. I’ve always been afraid of them high because I’ve heard it causes brown and slow growing corals.

So far, I haven’t seen any browning of the colors. I feel at ease that my corals aren’t starving. Whenever I had a coral retract or look weird, I would always wonder if it was from the low nutrients — Now I can rule it out and focus on more important things.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Hi everyone. My mature tank runs about 5 ppm of nitrate and .2 ppm of phosphate, or more sometimes. I think the key word though is "Mature". I would not say that these conditions would be beneficial for young tanks.

 

[jonone]

After watching some videos I’ve started to dose tropic marins NP plus to get the phosphates up
Was going to aim for 0.1ppm and then keep it there with NP bacto balance.
I’ll probably keep a eye on nitrates though and not let them totally bottom out