Let’s talk dirty water and Sps

[Troylee]

What’s been your experience with high nitrates and po4 while growing Sps? I see everyone is bottomed out any more and dosing no3 and po4 in there tanks vs last time I was in the hobby very few of us were running a ulns… this go around I got a fowlr system and the nitrates were super high! Around 200 and I’ve been doing everything to get them down and they dropped to about 100 and holding steady… tank was heavily fed for the last 10 years from the previous owner. I got tired of fighting them and bought some sticks to see what happens! So far my Sps are coloring up insanely nice! Which goes against everything I stood for last time I was in the hobby lol.. my zoos and lps couldn’t be happier either! What’s been your experience?

 

[Troylee]

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Frags always do good, time will tell and nutrients are not the only piece to the puzzle.

Alkalinity and lighting intensity will alter color and growth in relation to your nutrient level.

 

[Troylee]

Frags always do good, time will tell and nutrients are not the only piece to the puzzle.

Alkalinity and lighting intensity will alter color and growth in relation to your nutrient level.

Of course.. I’m keeping everything stable.. including no3 lol… can’t beat it so join it! Dude had this tank stuffed with bioballs in the overflow and sump, 4 layers of filter floss that hadn’t been changed in god knows how long and miracle mud in the fuge… also had a small skimmer that wasn’t performing.. I got rid of everything and did massive water changes to no avail.. I even started dosing mb7 and vodka to help with a over sized skimmer and it’s just holding.. it’s been a couple weeks since I got the frags and most were brown from being in a poorly lit frag tank off to the side..

 

[pledosophy]

Corals like to eat. They will benefit from available nutrients, more then we can give them.

As my tanks have grown in, keeping levels up has been a challenge. When you have basketball sized colonies, they take up a lot of nutrients. I have never been shy about feeding 4-6 times a day. I have fed in a day what many feed in a week.

BUT

No on high phosphates with sticks for me. Causes the sticks to brown out over time IME.

 

[Troylee]

Corals like to eat. They will benefit from available nutrients, more then we can give them.

As my tanks have grown in, keeping levels up has been a challenge. When you have basketball sized colonies, they take up a lot of nutrients. I have never been shy about feeding 4-6 times a day. I have fed in a day what many feed in a week.

BUT

No on high phosphates with sticks for me. Causes the sticks to brown out over time IME.

I’m not sure where my po4 is.. don’t have a Hannah checked yet..

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

What are your phosphates at?

I really recommend the Hanna checkers for phosphates ulr and the hr nitrates checker just for multiple test and record keeping. I think they work reasonably well.

I run rather low on my systems at less than .10 phosphates usually at .02-.04

And nitrates anywhere from 5-10 usually around 5

I also dose neonitro and Neophos, so I tend to stick to their recommended target values. With close attention this is easy to maintain but easily lost without daily dosing or testing bi weekly.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I’m not sure where my po4 is.. don’t have a Hannah checked yet..

I was a second to late, lol I see your answer

 

[landlubber]

my experience with elevated nutrients and sps (specifically acropora) is 2-fold.
1) when the levels are really high (No3 >25ppm, Po4 >0.15) most corals have either brown/purpled out to where you're not certain if they're progressing or regressing. 2) if the levels were only modestly high (No3 10-15ppm and Po4 0.10-0.15) all of the corals seem to grow green, blue or a combination of both of them.
Its only when corals have months at the right nutrient levels in a very stable environment that you get the proper colors.

 

[ggNoRe]

My experience with very high nutrients is the frags did well first month then slowly start to brown out and retract polyp extension. Around the 3 month mark I start to see STN on some of them. Also had an algae out break. This is at 50 nitrate and .9 phosphates. Of course there are many other variables.

 

[Troylee]

my experience with elevated nutrients and sps (specifically acropora) is 2-fold.
1) when the levels are really high (No3 >25ppm, Po4 >0.15) most corals have either brown/purpled out to where you're not certain if they're progressing or regressing. 2) if the levels were only modestly high (No3 10-15ppm and Po4 0.10-0.15) all of the corals seem to grow green, blue or a combination of both of them.
Its only when corals have months at the right nutrient levels in a very stable environment that you get the proper colors.

My Cali tort is loving it! Even got a pc rainbow that was brown as could be when I got it and now a bright gold color.. I also have a ora pearl berry that was brown but now is turning all purple.. curious if the white and blue will come out, time will tell.

 

[Thor2j]

Recent interview with Victor from WWC stated NO3 15-25 and PO4 less then .08 is how they run to make the amazing colors. Only can be achieved with dosing.

 

[ScottB]

What are your phosphates at?

I really recommend the Hanna checkers for phosphates ulr and the hr nitrates checker just for multiple test and record keeping. I think they work reasonably well.

I run rather low on my systems at less than .10 phosphates usually at .02-.04

And nitrates anywhere from 5-10 usually around 5

I also dose neonitro and Neophos, so I tend to stick to their recommended target values. With close attention this is easy to maintain but easily lost without daily dosing or testing bi weekly.

I second BOTH of those Hanna Checkers. Excellent tools.

 

[Troylee]

Recent interview with Victor from WWC stated NO3 15-25 and PO4 less then .08 is how they run to make the amazing colors. Only can be achieved with dosing.

Or over feeding or neglect like this tank had before I got it.. there’s plenty of ways to raise nutrients.. I think people are dosing way too much stuff any more these days chasing numbers to bottom everything out.. it’s crazy how much this hobby has changed in the last 15 years..

 

[ScottB]

Recent interview with Victor from WWC stated NO3 15-25 and PO4 less then .08 is how they run to make the amazing colors. Only can be achieved with dosing.

There does seem to be a definite trend toward higher and higher nutrient levels versus just 5-8 years ago. Tipping into the 20s is a little racy for me personally, but it certainly can work out great in some systems.

 

[92Miata]

Or over feeding or neglect like this tank had before I got it.. there’s plenty of ways to raise nutrients.. I think people are dosing way too much stuff any more these days chasing numbers to bottom everything out.. it’s crazy how much this hobby has changed in the last 15 years..

The common thing I see in the newbie forums is people dosing about a dozen different supplements, usually TM AFR, and not understanding that all these things are conflicting - and just yoyo'ing around parameters. Often multiple sources of carbon, unmeasurable phosphates or nitrates, and under this nonsense idea that they need to drive those things even lower because whatever non-algae archae pest they have is "using them faster than they can test".

Fix is usually getting them to ditch all the crap, dose 2 part, feed heavy, and worry about flow and light. Oh, and not running 12dkh with bottomed out nutrients.

Just so much nonsense from vendor Youtube videos trying to sell bottles.

 

[Troylee]

The common thing I see in the newbie forums is people dosing about a dozen different supplements, usually TM AFR, and not understanding that all these things are conflicting - and just yoyo'ing around parameters. Often multiple sources of carbon, unmeasurable phosphates or nitrates, and under this nonsense idea that they need to drive those things even lower because whatever non-algae archae pest they have is "using them faster than they can test".

Fix is usually getting them to ditch all the crap, dose 2 part, feed heavy, and worry about flow and light. Oh, and not running 12dkh with bottomed out nutrients.

Just so much nonsense from vendor Youtube videos trying to sell bottles.

I agree! My numbers are no where near what I want them or I’m accustomed to but it’s working very well! I’m shocked and just gonna roll with it and see what happens.. if they drop on their own them so be it! I’m not gonna dose everything known to man kind like seems to be the trend today.. I’ve always kept Sps with very minimal effort and had them thrive.. only thing I ever did back in the day and started doing with this mess of a tank I got is mb7 and vodka to bring out more color..

 

[las]

It’s very difficult for me to keep nitrates up. I feed heavy and NO3 is < 1 PPM. Phosphate on the other hand is .15 to .25. I am trying to avoid GFO because I have always felt that my tank looks worse after using it. Regardless if the the PO4 comes down or not

 

[Lavey29]

fairly relevant video to the discussion here...

 

[landlubber]

It’s very difficult for me to keep nitrates up. I feed heavy and NO3 is < 1 PPM. Phosphate on the other hand is .15 to .25. I am trying to avoid GFO because I have always felt that my tank looks worse after using it. Regardless if the the PO4 comes down or not

If possible add another fish. feeding heavy only works if there are enough mouths to consume the food and later turn it into poo. The downside to this is you're likely going to see P04 increase as well.
As for the GFO making your tank look worse... gfo is amazingly efficient and it could be a matter of it pulling P04 so quickly that its upsetting things. Using slightly less might change your luck!