Results of higher N03/P04

[Dburr1014]

Very interesting, would you consider that due to you high coral volume that your coral is consuming no3 faster then it’s being added to the tank? or was the tank always running like this? Would you ever consider dosing no3 and see if you get positive results?

I have dosed no3, that why the jagged line in the graph. That was on a doser.

Most likely the coral volume, I agree. I have upped my food intake for the system and added a few more fish.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Every tank is different. Need to FIND YOUR sweet spot. Though, I'm not trying to run it this way, it just happens to run this way.

Just to be fair, the Hanna nitrate HR has a claimed error of +/- 2 ppm, so both the absolute value of nitrate and the ratio to phosphate may not really be outside of "normal" ranges.

 

[RiftRaftReefing]

Ranges over ratios definitely makes a lot of sense, especially with THE everyone’s tank is different theory, seems to be more of a fact when you think about it. Our live stock is all different wich definitely contributes to different ratios but stabling out over time to a desirable ranges. Sorry to high jack the thread this is a topic I’ve been reading about lately so everyone with anecdotal information is more then welcome to chime in!

 

[TWYOUNG]

Hi , so I design, build and maintain reef tanks in Montreal. I've been in this hobby for 35 years. I basically no longer test organics but go with experience and visual cues to ajuster for that. I have heard in the past few years the idea of low N03/P04 is becoming no longer the ideal goal. Well U decided to check one of my best tanks out of curiosity. It measures N03 25ppm and P04 1.0 ppm using the salifert N03 and Hanna ULPhos.
I need to frag the SPS weekly and at the same time corals like hammer and Goniopora are growing great as well.

If I found things to get looking off, I would probably ajust to 15ppm N03 and 0.07 P04. But just goes to show we think we're sure of things for years even and turns out it's just a rumor.
A side note, I'm quite sure in this tank with big predators , without the chaeto fuge, plenty of turbo snails and 4 tangs algae would take over. So keep that in mind, it's a very important factor with these levels.

So you would drop your phosphate from 1.0 to 0.07 ? Did you mean to say you currently test 0.1 rather than 1.0 ?