HELP! MY SPS ARE PALING AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO
- Thread starter Russ265
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LakeCityReefs
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Be sure to have a good test kit! =)
Although im eager to see how well this works, i will be patience.
I have read the whole thread and i have paid careful attention to all the details. So far, i have turned skimmer and gfo off line. I increased the feeding some and will cut back on WC some. Not sure yet but i think that just with those subtle changes NO3 is starting to register after testing with Salifert test kit. Its too early to say for sure. Once i start dosing No3, i will test every day. Twice if needed.
I will try to provide before/after photos, if the results are good.
Thank you!
I have read the whole thread and i have paid careful attention to all the details. So far, i have turned skimmer and gfo off line. I increased the feeding some and will cut back on WC some. Not sure yet but i think that just with those subtle changes NO3 is starting to register after testing with Salifert test kit. Its too early to say for sure. Once i start dosing No3, i will test every day. Twice if needed.
I will try to provide before/after photos, if the results are good.
Thank you!
LakeCityReefs
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Im currently running 20 ppm N03 and .08 ppm P04. I've never seen my sps look better. I'm not going to say that they can't look better with a little bit lower levels, but for me this is the best I have been able to keep visually so far.
Lonny
Well-Known Member
I dosed potassium nitrate twice. 10ml each time. The first time it went up to 3 then went to zero. The second time it went up to five and stayed there. I to took my skimmer and reactor of line. I had a bit of a cyano outbreak took care of that and all is well now with the skimmer and reactor running. And yes my sps have more color. I'm now working on trace elements. Best part of this hobby is, I see no end to trying to figure stuff out our make it better!
Oh and my tank is a 150gl
Oh and my tank is a 150gl
CJBuckeyes
Active Member
Amazing thread @Russ265 ! Went through all 39 pages last night..
Three huge learnings for me have been:
1. Algae growth on the glass doesn't mean nutrients are okay, it means there are some phosphates. This misbelief has had me keeping my NO3 too low.
2. High alk + low nutrients = tip burn. The extreme end of paling SPS. Totally made sense to me right after I read it.
3. The "nutrient sponge" effect when trying to raise N04/PO4 from ULN is real. I've been struggling to slowly raise NO3, but continually bouncing off zero.
I increased my NaNO3 dosing big time and was able to get up to 5ppm. I did have one new frag brown out, start to stn at the tip and grow some algae. Alk is pretty stable at 9dkh (checked daily), but I've been ramping up my lights slowly. Any tips? Should I do nothing and see if it recovers now that there is NO3? Iodine dip? Super glue over the tip? Thanks!
Three huge learnings for me have been:
1. Algae growth on the glass doesn't mean nutrients are okay, it means there are some phosphates. This misbelief has had me keeping my NO3 too low.
2. High alk + low nutrients = tip burn. The extreme end of paling SPS. Totally made sense to me right after I read it.
3. The "nutrient sponge" effect when trying to raise N04/PO4 from ULN is real. I've been struggling to slowly raise NO3, but continually bouncing off zero.
I increased my NaNO3 dosing big time and was able to get up to 5ppm. I did have one new frag brown out, start to stn at the tip and grow some algae. Alk is pretty stable at 9dkh (checked daily), but I've been ramping up my lights slowly. Any tips? Should I do nothing and see if it recovers now that there is NO3? Iodine dip? Super glue over the tip? Thanks!
LakeCityReefs
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If you're getting tip burn and your alk is steady, I would stall the lights a bit and maybe even turn them down.
If your other corals look good then maybe try moving that one coral a little lower in the tank.
If your other corals look good then maybe try moving that one coral a little lower in the tank.
Lonny
Well-Known Member
I haven't read through this thread fully, but in case no one else has chimed in about this... You all need to be very careful with dosing nitrogen sources and driving PO4 too low. PO4 being too low will result in things far worse than some pale corals.
Syntax1235
Valuable Member
What a thread! A nice morning read accompanied by three cups of coffee.
Someone posted that dosing nitrate may be fighting some of the types of nitrate filtering that is going on in our tank: Skimming, Chaeto, ATS etc. I must say that I'm not quite understanding why people are adding nitrate without first limiting these other kinds of filtration? Reducing skimming seems like an easy way to "possibly" decrease nitrate reduction in our tanks (if you are using one, of course).
I'm not sure how all this works? If I reduce the time my skimmer is on then my chaeto is just going to pick up the slack? So, by dosing Nitrate in our systems aren't we just trying to "overpower" our reduction strategies so we get measurable nitrate? If that is the case, then a sizable amount of the nitrate we are dosing is being consumed by skimmer, chaete etc? That leads me back to my initial comment, reduce reduction methods may be the way to start?
Would this be a more natural and tank friendly approach to raising nitrates? Feed my fish a lot more because fish poop adds nitrates, yes? The problem with overfeeding is the introduction of P04, which a little gfo should be able to keep in check?
I think I may try this approach.... run my skimmer for 14 hours a day and feed a lot more using a little bit of gfo and see what happens...
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to understand how this works and to see if my thinking is on track.
I have a 125 gallon tank with a basketball sized clump of chaeto in my sump that grows like crazy.... I have some acros that have nice color while others look a little pale.... I have .01 P04 via Red Sea Pro and 0 NH3 via Salifert.... I believe I need to raise NH3 a little. I have been battling a little cyano, but I seem to be winning the battle.
I've also started with Aquaforest system, but I'm not sold on it yet.
-a quick comment about dosing alk and calcium. The proportion of alkalinity dosed into the tank may not be equal due to the kind of alkalinity solution being dosed.... Soda ash and baking soda are two of the primary means of dosing alkalinity; however, they both have much different potencies which will dictate how much to dose. I use BRS soda ash so I'm always dosing more calcium solution than alk, maybe if I was dosing sodium bicarbonate they would be more in line.
Someone posted that dosing nitrate may be fighting some of the types of nitrate filtering that is going on in our tank: Skimming, Chaeto, ATS etc. I must say that I'm not quite understanding why people are adding nitrate without first limiting these other kinds of filtration? Reducing skimming seems like an easy way to "possibly" decrease nitrate reduction in our tanks (if you are using one, of course).
I'm not sure how all this works? If I reduce the time my skimmer is on then my chaeto is just going to pick up the slack? So, by dosing Nitrate in our systems aren't we just trying to "overpower" our reduction strategies so we get measurable nitrate? If that is the case, then a sizable amount of the nitrate we are dosing is being consumed by skimmer, chaete etc? That leads me back to my initial comment, reduce reduction methods may be the way to start?
Would this be a more natural and tank friendly approach to raising nitrates? Feed my fish a lot more because fish poop adds nitrates, yes? The problem with overfeeding is the introduction of P04, which a little gfo should be able to keep in check?
I think I may try this approach.... run my skimmer for 14 hours a day and feed a lot more using a little bit of gfo and see what happens...
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to understand how this works and to see if my thinking is on track.
I have a 125 gallon tank with a basketball sized clump of chaeto in my sump that grows like crazy.... I have some acros that have nice color while others look a little pale.... I have .01 P04 via Red Sea Pro and 0 NH3 via Salifert.... I believe I need to raise NH3 a little. I have been battling a little cyano, but I seem to be winning the battle.
I've also started with Aquaforest system, but I'm not sold on it yet.
-a quick comment about dosing alk and calcium. The proportion of alkalinity dosed into the tank may not be equal due to the kind of alkalinity solution being dosed.... Soda ash and baking soda are two of the primary means of dosing alkalinity; however, they both have much different potencies which will dictate how much to dose. I use BRS soda ash so I'm always dosing more calcium solution than alk, maybe if I was dosing sodium bicarbonate they would be more in line.
Last edited:
Syntax1235
Valuable Member
One more question:
Fish poop introduces Nitrates into the water? Somebody wrote in an earlier post that coral food also introduces NH3 without P04? If so, which brand?
Fish poop introduces Nitrates into the water? Somebody wrote in an earlier post that coral food also introduces NH3 without P04? If so, which brand?
GoJimmy
Community Member
I have been following thus thread and have had to dose nitrates initially to get a NO3 reading, which is now stable at 2ppm without additional dosing. I'm curious; what can happen if PO4 is too low? Mine is stable at 0.03ppm and I am running a gfo reactor. I was thinking of changing the gfo this weekend but I don't want to disturb the balance I've found between NO3 and PO4.
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