Recently somebody told me that Shane @ SBB Corals was keeping his NO3 at 175ppm. 
I thought surely they got some wrong information! Nitrate levels that high probably wouldn’t be too healthy for fish.
Anyway, this kinda got me thinking where most reefers keep their nitrates at for Acropora. Yes, I’ve asked about a million people in the last 5 years, but the nutrient topic never gets old for me. I’ve seen it make and break so many systems it seems to always keep me interested. There’s many people here who grow coral for a living. We have a lot of farmers, hardcore hobbyists with massive collections like Graham, Therman, Thomas, etc… and just people like myself that enjoy the challenge of sticks. I love keeping such beautifully colored animals.
So…let’s get into it. Where do you prefer your NO3? For me Phosphate is a much more important topic, but it seems that NO3 is rarely talked about anymore which is why it would be nice to have a discussion.
In the last 5-10 years we’ve learned so much more about nitrate. When I first started dosing it, I was using the good ol’ “Stump Remover” from Lowe’s and Home Depot. Super pure right! Lol.
The first time I realized how important nitrate was I was having a huge Cyano bloom. NO3 was testing a zero. I had an anemone in the system that was completely deflated on his death bed. I mixed up some Stump Remover and dosed 2ppm into the system. The sick anemone instantly inflated like a balloon and got sucked into a wave-maker. Lightbulb moment. A week or so later the huge Cyano bloom started fading away. It was then that I realized just how important nitrate was and how many of these animals probably needed it to thrive.
Currently, I try to keep my NO3 around 10-20ppm, but I’m ok if it’s in the range of 3-20ppm and try to keep it in ratio with my PO4 level. I used to keep it more on the lower end, but I’ve had a few instances where rapid growth was occurring and both N&P took a dive to depletion. Depending on what’s being fed, bioload, biomass, export methods, system age, etc…this can sometimes be a major problem for one system, but maybe not so much for another. So it seems that everybody has different opinions on nutrients which is great. I do believe that a lot of older systems can easily survive on residuals. Is it better to keep these lower levels? Maybe, but I don’t keep mine that low. I seem to have a little better growth and color with higher nutrients (within reason).
Anyway, I like keeping the NO3 a little higher, but I also try to keep a 50-100:1 ratio with PO4. I’ve keep a straight 100:1 almost dead on for months, but also moved down to a 50:1 for several weeks. Either ratio seems to do well, but I feel like the 100:1 is safer for me. I have noticed a number of benefits from staying at or near these ratios. I won’t go into all the juicy details, but I’ve got a ton of documented data, and have noticed several benefits. The tank definitely does better for me personally, but if you look at guys like Glenn Fong… he does extremely well on the lower end, but is also carbon dosing the system which changes the whole dynamic.
When I’ve let my NO3 get to around 30, 40, etc….I’ve started to notice thicker tissue and slightly darker colors. Obviously, colors changing will be different in every system depending on what’s going on, but here’s just too many variables.
Anyway, I don’t really see a huge benefit (personally) running down lower at 3ppm or up higher at 20ppm. Or at least I can’t really appreciate any difference other than I’m “safer” near the higher end especially if I’m not testing as frequently. I try to keep it from bottoming out, and having a buffer zone is a good way to prevent that.
So yeah…I’d love to hear your experiences and where you keep your levels. It would be nice to have a discussion about the effects of nitrate with certain Acropora. If you have any stories you’d like to share please do. If you have observed anything interesting at different NO3 levels that I may be missing out on…please share! Or maybe which Acro’s like or dislike certain levels more than others. I’m always willing and ready to learn something new.
Cheers!
I thought surely they got some wrong information! Nitrate levels that high probably wouldn’t be too healthy for fish. Anyway, this kinda got me thinking where most reefers keep their nitrates at for Acropora. Yes, I’ve asked about a million people in the last 5 years, but the nutrient topic never gets old for me. I’ve seen it make and break so many systems it seems to always keep me interested. There’s many people here who grow coral for a living. We have a lot of farmers, hardcore hobbyists with massive collections like Graham, Therman, Thomas, etc… and just people like myself that enjoy the challenge of sticks. I love keeping such beautifully colored animals.
So…let’s get into it. Where do you prefer your NO3? For me Phosphate is a much more important topic, but it seems that NO3 is rarely talked about anymore which is why it would be nice to have a discussion.
In the last 5-10 years we’ve learned so much more about nitrate. When I first started dosing it, I was using the good ol’ “Stump Remover” from Lowe’s and Home Depot. Super pure right! Lol.
The first time I realized how important nitrate was I was having a huge Cyano bloom. NO3 was testing a zero. I had an anemone in the system that was completely deflated on his death bed. I mixed up some Stump Remover and dosed 2ppm into the system. The sick anemone instantly inflated like a balloon and got sucked into a wave-maker. Lightbulb moment.
A week or so later the huge Cyano bloom started fading away. It was then that I realized just how important nitrate was and how many of these animals probably needed it to thrive.Currently, I try to keep my NO3 around 10-20ppm, but I’m ok if it’s in the range of 3-20ppm and try to keep it in ratio with my PO4 level. I used to keep it more on the lower end, but I’ve had a few instances where rapid growth was occurring and both N&P took a dive to depletion. Depending on what’s being fed, bioload, biomass, export methods, system age, etc…this can sometimes be a major problem for one system, but maybe not so much for another. So it seems that everybody has different opinions on nutrients which is great. I do believe that a lot of older systems can easily survive on residuals. Is it better to keep these lower levels? Maybe, but I don’t keep mine that low. I seem to have a little better growth and color with higher nutrients (within reason).
Anyway, I like keeping the NO3 a little higher, but I also try to keep a 50-100:1 ratio with PO4. I’ve keep a straight 100:1 almost dead on for months, but also moved down to a 50:1 for several weeks. Either ratio seems to do well, but I feel like the 100:1 is safer for me. I have noticed a number of benefits from staying at or near these ratios. I won’t go into all the juicy details, but I’ve got a ton of documented data, and have noticed several benefits. The tank definitely does better for me personally, but if you look at guys like Glenn Fong… he does extremely well on the lower end, but is also carbon dosing the system which changes the whole dynamic.
When I’ve let my NO3 get to around 30, 40, etc….I’ve started to notice thicker tissue and slightly darker colors. Obviously, colors changing will be different in every system depending on what’s going on, but here’s just too many variables.
Anyway, I don’t really see a huge benefit (personally) running down lower at 3ppm or up higher at 20ppm. Or at least I can’t really appreciate any difference other than I’m “safer” near the higher end especially if I’m not testing as frequently. I try to keep it from bottoming out, and having a buffer zone is a good way to prevent that.
So yeah…I’d love to hear your experiences and where you keep your levels. It would be nice to have a discussion about the effects of nitrate with certain Acropora. If you have any stories you’d like to share please do. If you have observed anything interesting at different NO3 levels that I may be missing out on…please share! Or maybe which Acro’s like or dislike certain levels more than others. I’m always willing and ready to learn something new.
Cheers!
