losing sps

[maxwell]

Hi Randy ,
Can you offer any advice, a reefer colleague has lost a lot of his sps colonies and after doing an icp test there was nothing out of the ordinary and KH and PH are stable so I advised him to do a N-DOC test which came back showing a very high level of total nitrogen ( 17 to a set level of 0.4) and low P ) .The tank has been running for 2 years with great sps colonies. I recently had sent a N-DOC for my own tank which showed a slightly elevated N in the bar chart and advised me to dose biobase ULN which I have been doing since 9th Jan with no ill effects and my corals are showing great colouration and a noticeable water clarity , I cannot find any information as to whats in the biobase or if adding it to his tank will help balance the nutrients hence reduce the total nitrogen and that the high level of Total nitrogen would be the reason for loss of sps. thanks Bill

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How low is phosphate?

what are the units of that N test?

not a fan of ratios. I focus on actual values.

I dont know what Biobase is.

the tank is new, old?? Corals were ok then not, or never were ok?

 

[maxwell]

1/ The phosphate = 0.05
2/ The N-DOC test says Total NITROGEN = 17.53mg/L
N/NO3 Calculated = 77.48mg/L
3/ Triton make Biobase 1/ 1 for ULNS systems . 2/ 1 for normal nutrient levels
I cannot find anything on whats in it but there is a dosing calculation on the Triton lab website one for full Triton system CORE 7and another for with OTHER method. His N-DOC does not advice him to add biobase but mine did as my results were just showing the in balance in N and P and trying to find whats in it .
4/ The tank is 2 years old and been very stable using alkatronic monitor and doser and Triton Core 7 products , APEX and temp controlled using chiller. It was thriving with lots of sps colonies good colour and growth and he started loosing colonies slowly over the last 2 months and tells me 35 up to now .
5/ He is doing water changes ,lower temp slightly, harvested cheato and regular monitoring but still loosing corals slowly.The icp tests did not show anything that would cause the problem but the N-DOC showing very high Total Nitrogen and low P in the Bar chart as being imbalanced as above results. What else can he do and if the Total Nitrogen the problem for his loss.

 

[Julian@Triton]

Firstly for your tank:
Biobase ULNS is an inorganic nutrient supplement containing N and P while standard Biobase contains N, C and P.
Both products are designed to maintain the ideal nutrient ratio in your aquarium and deliver energy (food) to your system
If your N-DOC test recomendations are to use Biobase ULNS then your nutrient ratio must be fairly close to where it should be and our product should help to keep it there.

Secondly your mate's aquarium:
Please see attached diagram from a recent article published last year titled "Nutrient Availability and Metabolism Affect the Stability of Coral–Symbiodiniaceae Symbioses" by Luke A. Morris ,1,2,3,@ Christian R. Voolstra,4,@ Kate M. Quigley,1,2,@ David G. Bourne,1,2,3 and Line K. Bay1,2,*,@
In this article you can see that high Nitrate and low Phosphate has been shown as a possible cause of bleaching/stress in coral.
We need some more information to help from here:
Does he have a refugium?
Does he add coral foods?
Is he using a Macro element supplementation method that is based on organic carbon?

 

[maxwell]

Julian many thanks for the response , my tank conditions on adding biobase (also infusion) I use a calx reactor Dastaco and to determine the level of biobase using the calculator does not seem right as the effluent from the dastaco is 3L per hour o/p. I am using 1ml every night until my next N-DOC my corals are thriving with good colour and wanted to put both on a doser as the bottles are small I wanted to mix it with either ro or tank water say 1L but told it cannot be mixed. I will find out the other information about the other tank and post later , here's some pics of corals doing well in mine and well pleased with the products

.

 

[maxwell]

Julian , the other tank info
1/ refugium with cheato
2/ coral snow and reef roids weekly
3/ Carbon in a reactor
thanks Bill

 

[vetteguy53081]

Age of tank?
High salinity, low alk and low water flow will be causes as is low nutrients, high Phos.

 

[maxwell]

Age of tank?
High salinity, low alk and low water flow will be causes as is low nutrients, high Phos.

Hi ,tank only 2 years old 1500L , icp tests ok that's why I advised him to do a N-DOC which showed a massive nutrient imbalance high N low P , lots of flow and KH stable uses Alkatronic monitor and doseAtronic .Tank was superb with lots of growing colonies then 2 months ago he started to lose them 35 up to now did 125L water change a few weeks ago before N-DOC test and been doing weekly small changes he,s planning on doing a 125L change at weekend trying to turn it around and doing retests in a few weeks.

 

[JCOLE]

Hi ,tank only 2 years old 1500L , icp tests ok that's why I advised him to do a N-DOC which showed a massive nutrient imbalance high N low P , lots of flow and KH stable uses Alkatronic monitor and doseAtronic .Tank was superb with lots of growing colonies then 2 months ago he started to lose them 35 up to now did 125L water change a few weeks ago before N-DOC test and been doing weekly small changes he,s planning on doing a 125L change at weekend trying to turn it around and doing retests in a few weeks.

Just checking in to see if your buddies tank took a turn for the better?