Nutrients to ALK Ratio?

[Bear22]

Guys,

My alkalinity seems to be on autopilot at around 9.5dKH with pH usually between 8.2 to 8.4. I'm already using a "low" alkalinity salt mix with TM Pro. I do a weekly water change.

At these levels what NO3 level might be a good target to shoot for? Does PO4 need to be tweaked as well?

TIA

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Guys,

My alkalinity seems to be on autopilot at around 9.5dKH with pH usually between 8.2 to 8.4. I'm already using a "low" alkalinity salt mix with TM Pro. I do a weekly water change.

At these levels what NO3 level might be a good target to shoot for? Does PO4 need to be tweaked as well?

TIA

Following. I didn't think there was a real relationship between these.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Just keep both in a reasonable range.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randy’s-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1087/

 

[exnisstech]

The only thing I've heard can be bad is low nutrients with high alk. Have no idea of ratios. I've never thought of trying to keep N and P at a certain level related to alk.

 

[Poseidon03]

I've always had more success by focusing more on stability in the right range rather than a ratio. Nitrate 10-20ppm phosphate .08-.12. If the test is outside this range, I'll try to slowly correct over the next month.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The only relationship that I am aware of is that if alk (and pH) are high, nutrients should not be too low or there is a risk of burnt tips on some SPS.

One hypothesis is that the skeleton grows faster than tissue can keep up if nutrients are too low.

 

[JonasRoman]

Guys,

My alkalinity seems to be on autopilot at around 9.5dKH with pH usually between 8.2 to 8.4. I'm already using a "low" alkalinity salt mix with TM Pro. I do a weekly water change.

At these levels what NO3 level might be a good target to shoot for? Does PO4 need to be tweaked as well?

TIA

Hi. Nutrients are not connected to alkalinity. Its separate parameters and questions. But one thing to mention, if you have very high alkalinity, that can be stressfull to corals, and such a stress corals stands less if also the nutrients (especially PO4) are very low, like below 0.02.

Alk shall be IMO close to NSW, thus around 7-8 dKH.

Nutrients (thats has nothing to do with alk), is another and huge question, where my opinion is that PO4 should never go below 0.02 as low PO4 is dangerous, but low NO3 is not dangerous, but rather bad if going to high in long term. So my ideal values are (my personal opinion):
KH:7-8 dKH
NO3:0-5 mg/l
PO4: 0.04-0.1 mg/l

Jonas

 

[Bear22]

Hi. Nutrients are not connected to alkalinity. Its separate parameters and questions. But one thing to mention, if you have very high alkalinity, that can be stressfull to corals, and such a stress corals stands less if also the nutrients (especially PO4) are very low, like below 0.02.

Alk shall be IMO close to NSW, thus around 7-8 dKH.

Nutrients (thats has nothing to do with alk), is another and huge question, where my opinion is that PO4 should never go below 0.02 as low PO4 is dangerous, but low NO3 is not dangerous, but rather bad if going to high in long term. So my ideal values are (my personal opinion):
KH:7-8 dKH
NO3:0-5 mg/l
PO4: 0.04-0.1 mg/l

Jonas

The reason I posted this thread is because there are articles outside of R2R on this very topic (nutrient levels to alkalinity levels) and I was curious about it.

Secondly, ask 10 people questions about the proper ALK parameter and you'll get 10 different answers.