New Tank - Balancing Nitrate and Phosphate for SPS

[LunchboLobster]

I'm back in the hobby after a 10 year break. Now have a 120g tank that is 2 months old, it will be primarily a SPS tank. I went with Marco rock for the display tank and have 20lbs of ocean rock from Florida in my sump. I'm hoping the ocean rock will not only seed all the good things, but also get the tank closer to "mature" faster. Talking to LFS's and local hobbyists, I get pretty common guidance that I should "just wait a year, then start adding SPS". I understand patience is key, but can't help it!

So my question is around balancing Nitrate and Phosphate levels while the tank is "new", keeping them low enough to combat significant algae growth but high enough to keep SPS alive and hopefully sustain some level of color. I realize this will be more tricky with a new tank and starting with dry marco rock. But what would be the right levels to aim for? Currently maintaining Phosphate at 0.01-0.03 and Nitrate at 1-3. This has been low enough to keep algae down but the Acro frags I have are losing color, a mix of paling and browning. Anacropora, Digitatas and Montiporas frags have held their color well and already seeing small growth. Any other tips besides stability?

Equipment/System: Skimmer, filter socks, algae turf scrubber, running light GFO, running light carbon, dosing ESV Bionic 2 part to maintain Alk, Cal, Mag, auto water changes (Reef Crystals), high water flow, 2 x Radion XR30.

 

[Science/G]

I would say Nitrates between 5-15 and phosphates between.03- .1 would be better.

 

[CoralBandit99]

What is your alk level? I’ve had good luck with Higher the Alk the higher the nitrates and phosphates

 

[LunchboLobster]

What is your alk level? I’ve had good luck with Higher the Alk the higher the nitrates and phosphates

8ish. What Alk do you run?

 

[CHSUB]

My no3 is undetectable with hobby test kits and po4 above .01 with Hanna, occasionally reading 0. I feed corals directly every other day. I added corals, including SPS, after a month and now are close to 1 year. If corals are pale feed them with reed roids, for example, and they will thank you.

 

[Featherweight]

How many fish and other types of organisms are in the system?

 

[CoralBandit99]

8ish. What Alk do you run?

I use Instant Ocean salt mix in my 180 gallon so I try to stay pretty consistent with what that mixes at which is
Alk: 11
Calcium: 400
Mag: 1350

My Po3 is around .1 and nitrates stay around 15-20

I also only do water changes if I start to see a problem. This system hasn’t had a water change in 8 months

 

[Huskereef]

I swear that the Marco rock sucks up phosphates. I added a few pieces of Marco for some added real estate to a 1.5 year old well established system. I am now dosing phosphate and some nitrate to keep my numbers off zeros. My acropora noticeably lost color. That rock is a pain until its well established. I would add more ocean live rock if I was you, if you want to speed up the process. Or take the Marco out and cycle it in a separate bin until its well established. Just what has worked for me. My acropora have looked the best with po4 closer to 0.1 ppm

 

[slingfox]

If you plan to go hardcore SPS why use an algae turf scrubber? That seems to be more common amongst people focusing on LPS and softies or running a mixed reef. I am sure there are some but I can’t think of any of the notable SPS growers who use an ATS in the various tank tours posted online.

Probably not an issue right now but two XR30 seems very little for a 120 gallon SPS dominant tank.

 

[Huskereef]

If you plan to go hardcore SPS why use an algae turf scrubber? That seems to be more common amongst people focusing on LPS and softies or running a mixed reef. I am sure there are some but I can’t think of any of the notable SPS growers who use an ATS in the various tank tours posted online.

If you have have a huge bio load with big tangs etc. they work well. with a new system I wouldn’t recommend it. They also have proven to remove trace elements. So you will need to keep up with that or do decent water changes often.

 

[Pistondog]

Get herbivores to keep algae in check.
As you've seen keeping nutrients too low may starve corals.
Shoot for 5 to 10 ppm nitrate, 0.1 ppm phosphate.

 

[slingfox]

If you have have a huge bio load with big tangs etc. they work well. with a new system I wouldn’t recommend it. They also have proven to remove trace elements. So you will need to keep up with that or do decent water changes often.

Yes I am sure ATS has its uses but I cannot recall anybody who runs SPS dominant system using an ATS. In fact it seems like many SPS dominant tanks (including the major online SPS vendors) don’t even use a refugium.

 

[LunchboLobster]

How many fish and other types of organisms are in the system?

5 Chromis, 1 purple Tang. Plan on adding more soon.

 

[slingfox]

5 Chromis, 1 purple Tang. Plan on adding more soon.

Definitely no need to run an ATS with that fish load. Maybe run it for very short period of time every day but even that should not be needed provided you don’t overfeed the fish.

 

[LunchboLobster]

If you plan to go hardcore SPS why use an algae turf scrubber? That seems to be more common amongst people focusing on LPS and softies or running a mixed reef. I am sure there are some but I can’t think of any of the notable SPS growers who use an ATS in the various tank tours posted online.

Probably not an issue right now but two XR30 seems very little for a 120 gallon SPS dominant tank.

Running an ATS because the only thing I want more than healthy SPS is avoiding algae outbreaks ha.

Yeah definitely on the lights, I will add some blades (Orphek?) down the line.

 

[slingfox]

Running an ATS because the only thing I want more than healthy SPS is avoiding algae outbreaks ha.

Yeah definitely on the lights, I will add some blades (Orphek?) down the line.

Plenty of folks have zero algae issues without an ATS. If you stick with the SPS dominant plan I predict you will not have an ATS in two years time.

If you are looking for good commentary on SPS dominant systems check out Coral Euphoria (unfortunately Abe stoped posting but his old videos are great) and Frag Garage on YouTube. TSA and WWC also have a lot of tank tours—pay closest attention to the SPS dominant systems.

I recently did a tank reset and am in process of switching from mixed reef to SPS dominant. I hope to model off of people who have the nicest SPS systems.

 

[CoralBandit99]

5 Chromis, 1 purple Tang. Plan on adding more soon.

Do you feed a lot? I don’t see why you would need a skimmer running, an ATS and gfo running with such a light bioload unless you are feeding quite a bit

 

[Huskereef]

Probably not an issue right now but two XR30 seems very little for a 120 gallon SPS dominant tank.

This is not true either. Those lights will work fine.
I grew these from small frags to colonies with an AI hydra 32.

Sps success pertains to high output lighting yes, but more so to your water quality, stability, microbiome, and good alternating indirect water flow.

 

[Huskereef]

Running an ATS because the only thing I want more than healthy SPS is avoiding algae outbreaks ha.

Yeah definitely on the lights, I will add some blades (Orphek?) down the line.

Algae and SPS both thrive off the same conditions. Like someone else mentioned, get a clean up crew and worker fish to take care of the algae, once it starts. It will eventually level itself off.

 

[slingfox]

This is not true either. Those lights will work fine.
I grew these from small frags to colonies with an AI hydra 32.

Sps success pertains to high output lighting yes, but more so to your water quality, stability, microbiome, and good alternating indirect water flow.

Sure two XR30 can grow coral but I predict if OP is still running an SPS dominant tank in two years he will have more lights by then. SPS folks are a special kind of crazy after all!