High Nitrates causing tissue recession?

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Can high Nitrates cause tissue recession? I have a lobophyllia and a couple plates who are receding and a lot of my coral is not fully stretched out. Can high nitrates cause this? My nitrates are reading at 21ppm on Hanna checker.

Parameters:
Alkalinity 9.5
Calcium 440
Magnesium 1410
PH 8.15
Phosphate 0.09
Nitrate 21 ppm
Salinity 1.025

 

[CHSUB]

Imo, maybe. Higher nutrients levels could increase bacterial activity from more waste and detritus. Your no3 level is ~50,000% higher than natural levels. Some people have perfectly beautiful tanks and corals at levels higher than yours, some don’t. My corals don’t mysteriously rtn, stn, etc… why? I don’t really know but I suspect it is because I maintain a clean aquarium with low nutrients.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No, simple as that (IMO). Many great tanks have nitrate much higher than 21 ppm.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Can high Nitrates cause tissue recession? I have a lobophyllia and a couple plates who are receding and a lot of my coral is not fully stretched out. Can high nitrates cause this? My nitrates are reading at 21ppm on Hanna checker.

Do you have photos of the coral?

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Imo, maybe. Higher nutrients levels could increase bacterial activity from more waste and detritus. Your no3 level is ~50,000% higher than natural levels. Some people have perfectly beautiful tanks and corals at levels higher than yours, some don’t. My corals don’t mysteriously rtn, stn, etc… why? I don’t really know but I suspect it is because I maintain a clean aquarium with low nutrients.

Im working on getting them down. I figured that these NO3 levels are much higher than ocean values but then again many fantastic tanks with such higher values of NO3. Would you mind looking at my parameters, I updated the post with them. Any recommendations?

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

No, simple as that (IMO). Many great tanks have nitrate much higher than 21 ppm.

Care to elaborate a bit more? I was thinking the NO3 wasnt the problem either because of other tanks with much higher values. Can you look at my parameters I updated my post. I cant think of anything else that could be causing this

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I don't see anything concerning to me in your parameters. How is lighting and flow? Are the corals receding a new thing or they just never took off? Have you added any new livestock that night be bothering the corals?

 

[CHSUB]

Im working on getting them down. I figured that these NO3 levels are much higher than ocean values but then again many fantastic tanks with such higher values of NO3. Would you mind looking at my parameters, I updated the post with them. Any recommendations?

Parameters look fine imo and as stated many great tanks with high no3. However, how and why are you getting elevated no3? I believe increased bacterial activity could affect corals? Many post about BJD on LPS corals. As a long time hobbyist, I have never experienced this ailment. Maybe it is simply a case of tank “hygiene”. WC with detritus removal and proper fish feeding naturally leads to low nutrients and a healthy tank. What is your maintenance routine and more details about your tank is required?

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

I don't see anything concerning to me in your parameters. How is lighting and flow? Are the corals receding a new thing or they just never took off? Have you added any new livestock that night be bothering the corals?

The parameters to me arent concerning either. My coral have always had ossues in which they grew relatively slow but they werent dying off, now im seeing a lot of recession and retraction.

I have mostly LPS and the ones struggling the most are plates and lobos.
My euphillya are more retracted than usual as well. Strangely my rock flower and Bubble tip nems are absolutely thriving.

Tissue has been receding for the past 2 weeks.

I must say that i did start to dose neonitrate as I was consistently getting reading of 0 on both hanna and salifert. It went from 0 to 20 in about a months timeframe. This is the biggest change that I have made recently which is why i think its the nitrates.

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Im working on getting them down. I figured that these NO3 levels are much higher than ocean values but then again many fantastic tanks with such higher values of NO3. Would you mind looking at my parameters, I updated the post with them. Any recommendations?

I religiously did one water change a week until i started dosing BRS two part. I then went to once a month water changes because i thought water changes werent all that necessary after doing dosing. I must say this is when i started to see recession in coral as well… maybe i need to go back to more frequent water changes, also my skimmer has been going absolutely crazy these past few weeks. The cup gets full in less than 2 days… i have a 60 gallon and another big change i did was starting to dose neonitrate as I was consistently getting reading of 0 on both hanna and salifert. It went from 0 to 20 in about a months timeframe. This is the biggest change that I have made recently which is why i think its the nitrates.

You may be right, i think it may be a hygene issue

 

[CHSUB]

Salifert no3 testing does not have the resolution required to diagnose nitrogen deficiency. Go back to what you were doing before, weekly ~ 10-15% wc, good maintenance, and forget about no3 dosing.

 

[karakurt]

Мне кажется, нитраты тут ни при чем, просто щелочность слишком высока.

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Salifert no3 testing does not have the resolution required to diagnose nitrogen deficiency. Go back to what you were doing before, weekly ~ 10-15% wc, good maintenance, and forget about no3 dosing.

I use Hanna checker for NO3 but i agree im going back to weekly water changes
It may just be the tank is too dirty. I will however try and bring the nitrates down to 5-10 through water changes.

 

[CHSUB]

I use Hanna checker for NO3 but i agree im going back to weekly water changes
It may just be the tank is too dirty. I will however try and bring the nitrates down to 5-10 through water changes.

Yes I also meant to put Hanna HR in the same category; not good enough. I use the Hanna LR. If you used it you would not get a zero reading. GL with your plan.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Care to elaborate a bit more? I was thinking the NO3 wasnt the problem either because of other tanks with much higher values. Can you look at my parameters I updated my post. I cant think of anything else that could be causing this

Sure. Your levels are smack in the middle of my recommended range, and are far less than Richard Ross’ fabulous tank shown in this article:

Randy’s Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges

Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges by Randy Holmes-Farley Almost nothing in the world of reef aquarium chemistry causes as much discussion as selecting and maintaining ranges for nitrate and phosphate. Some aquarists want low targets, some want...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use Hanna checker for NO3 but i agree im going back to weekly water changes
It may just be the tank is too dirty. I will however try and bring the nitrates down to 5-10 through water changes.

I personally recommend looking for other problems.

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

I use Hanna checker for NO3 but i agree im going back to weekly water changes
It may just be the tank is too dirty. I will however try and bring the nitrates down to 5-10 through water changes.

I personally recommend looking for other problems.

So dont drop nitrates? Leave them where they are?
I mean the only other thing i can think of is the lights.
Would you mind looking at the light i have on my tank? I have two of these lights 140 watts on my 60 gallon long AIO dimensions 48 x18x16 inches.

https://a.co/d/0a7HEOmp

 

[CHSUB]

Would you mind looking at the light i have on my tank? I have two of these lights 140 watts on my 60 gallon long AIO dimensions 48 x18x16 inches.

I have the 60w version on my 16 gallon. I think lighting is fine, there is quite a bit of variability on how you can run them but the lights themselves are good.

Here are the results:

 

[Rodolfo Garcia]

Would you mind looking at the light i have on my tank? I have two of these lights 140 watts on my 60 gallon long AIO dimensions 48 x18x16 inches.

Yea it looks like the light is growing out your coral really nicely.
Would you mind sharing what settings you have your light on? Mine is currently manually set to these settings for daylight.

 

[FlameangelLover]

Can high Nitrates cause tissue recession? I have a lobophyllia and a couple plates who are receding and a lot of my coral is not fully stretched out. Can high nitrates cause this? My nitrates are reading at 21ppm on Hanna checker.

Parameters:
Alkalinity 9.5
Calcium 440
Magnesium 1410
PH 8.15
Phosphate 0.09
Nitrate 21 ppm
Salinity 1.025

I have low nitrates and high Po4 can you maybe send 10ppm my way ?