Reducing Nitrates, whats too drastic?

[BubbleAlgaeFarmer]

I tested my water today and to my surprise, my nitrates were 30. They have not been that high in ages. For the sake of my lps and sps, what percent water change could i do without hurting my coral?

 

[Dan_P]

I tested my water today and to my surprise, my nitrates were 30. They have not been that high in ages. For the sake of my lps and sps, what percent water change could i do without hurting my coral?

Unless the coral are declining, there is probably no need to quickly lower the nitrate concentration. I have seen the safe range to be 5-50 ppm.

 

[Snowxcross]

What Dan said.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Respect to the other comments but personally I like my nitrates under 10. I very regularly do 25% - 50% water changes, the corals will be fine. Just keep in mind that the larger the water change the more important it is to match alk and temp.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My recommended target range is 5-50 ppm nitrate and some great tanks with SPS have been above that range. I show them here:

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

Figure 1. A very high nutrient system maintained by Richard Ross, with nitrate sometimes above 100 ppm and phosphate above 1 ppm. Details in this link:

 

[BubbleAlgaeFarmer]

Wow, that is a beautiful tank. That is a tank i think i can only dream of having!

FYI, just did a 15 gallon water change. My best estimate is that after rock and everything, my system is roughly 75 to 80 gallons of water including the sump.