Sps high nutrients myth?

[griff500]

Oh I was just pulling a spectrum out of my head, I'm pretty sure its probably not correct. [emoji6]

I just remember that it is more of a lower kelvin than what we run in our reef tanks but not motivated enough to look it up right now. I'm fragging corals right now for somebody. [emoji4]

Git. A friendly English expression you may or may not be familiar with. I guess that's why I have a certain spectrum during the majority of the day when I'm not there and something else when I'm at home in the evening.

No doubt they are lovely frags. Ship some over here, next-day delivery.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Do they get that? At the depth they are at?

6500 is direct sun sky, some coral are at the top, clams too.

taking into account our viewing pleasure

more of that than most realise.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm fragging corals right now for somebody.

Hey thanks Ty!

 

[FarmerTy]

Git. A friendly English expression you may or may not be familiar with. I guess that's why I have a certain spectrum during the majority of the day when I'm not there and something else when I'm at home in the evening.

No doubt they are lovely frags. Ship some over here, next-day delivery.

Hey thanks Ty!

Check your front door tomorrow morning fellas! [emoji12]

 

[griff500]

6500 is direct sun sky, some coral are at the top, clams too.

Sure. Don't certain wavelengths, such as red, drop off pretty quickly without much water depth being required? I don't think you need to go particularly deep to cut out a lot of those wavelengths?

Like you said, a lot for our viewing pleasure.

Out of curiosity, if you had to rate factors in terms of importance, would you put water quality ahead of or after light?

 

[griff500]

Check your front door tomorrow morning fellas! [emoji12]

A particularly enjoyable bottle of cognac means I will probably skip past morning and go directly to the afternoon. They can leave it with a neighbour though!

 

[iiluisii]

Sure. Don't certain wavelengths, such as red, drop off pretty quickly without much water depth being required? I don't think you need to go particularly deep to cut out a lot of those wavelengths?

Like you said, a lot for our viewing pleasure.

Out of curiosity, if you had to rate factors in terms of importance, would you put water quality ahead of or after light?

I say water quality and lighting go hand and hand. To me the key is a strong nutrient export system strong light and providing aminos and enough food that the corals have the right amount of zooxanthellae algae to develop naturals colors. But again just me.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Don't certain wavelengths, such as red, drop off pretty quickly without much water depth being required?

yes

I don't think you need to go particularly deep to cut out a lot of those wavelengths?

yes, see the photos above, and look past the area lit by the flash.

would you put water quality ahead of or after light?

same

I say water quality and lighting go hand and hand. To me the key is a strong nutrient export system strong light and providing aminos and enough food that the corals have the right amount of zooxanthellae algae to develop naturals colors. But again just me.

+1

 

[griff500]

I say water quality and lighting go hand and hand. To me the key is a strong nutrient export system strong light and providing aminos and enough food that the corals have the right amount of zooxanthellae algae to develop naturals colors. But again just me.

Plenty in, plenty out, lots of light and flow then. Sounds simple.

 

[Frank's Tanks]

I've been telling people for years that nitrates for SPS was not a bad thing. I have always targeted nitrates at 25ppm. Feed heavy and enjoy the benefits of the beauty of your SPS tank! This has NOT been photoshopped!!! This is my 300 gallon tank that has been running 6 years!
www.franks-tanks.com

2nd pic is my 450 SPS tank! This one has been running for a couple years!

 

[Robthorn]

Finally someone that hates coralline algea besides me.
I have run all kinds of halides and t5's and led's and combo's with even vho and have never had a problem growing coralline. Except the fact that I hate coralline algae.

coralline can be many colors including green and bright reddish neon pink according to light.

 

[Frank's Tanks]

Yea I don't like coralline on my glass at all!!!
Love it on rock, etc, but otherwise I don't do corralline!!

 

[Magem]

I don,t like coralline anywhere...

 

[dave57]

Thanks everyone for sharing knowledge and experiences, I hope we all gained something out of this thread.. everyones experiences are worth more than we think. I'm greatful for you guys.

 

[fragit]

@FarmerTy, send me some frags too please. Pick up on Saturday at FedEx depot!

 

[DaveRaz]

This thread answered the question regarding coralline vanishing from my rock work. I've been mystified. Anywhere there is shade or on the tank walls it grows very thick and bright. Any unshaded horizontal surfaces all void of it. I run a bare bottom tank and the coralline was very thick until in added more par and it went away. All this time I thought the stars ate it all. Good stuff.

Regarding coral colors, I strive to get the most color from my corals. My growth is probably slower than most SPS keepers, I would imagine. But I'll take my colors and steady slow growth over the opposite scenario.

This guy was much darker with no3 around 20ppm, since lowering no3 just 8 to 10ppm the white showed up. Perhaps other parameters in play but my numbers are the same, same bulbs and photoperiod and the coral is in the same spot in the reef.

 

[Thales]

No one?

I'd like to know. Also what is your alk at, and the average high PAR at the top of the tank.

Par meter on the way. I may borrow one sooner.

Alk is between 8 and 9.
Nitrate 32 - this is from AquaMedic and I am not sure if they show results in NO3 or NO3-N. It is thought that they use Hach equipment and give results in NO3-N, so if we multiply that result by 4.42 we get NO3 of 110.5
Phosphate 1.46 (it's down a bit), it was 3 at one point.

 

[Thales]

I don't think anybody is guessing because most of us have heard of his tank and the crazy nutrient levels in it. I always considered his an exception to the rule, as there usually is going to be a few in any scenario.

I always accounted for his tank with a theory about acclimation over time. Its like when I was able to keep my ORA Hawkins at 600 par. For being a lower light coral, I slowly acclimated to 600 par over the 6 years I've had it and it was happy there. To me though, its ideal placement is still 350 par where it is now in my tank but I was able to keep it at 600 par. Tell someone with his new frag to put it at 600 par and it'll be the coolest, whitest acro in his collection after it RTNs overnight. Just my thoughts though.

I think my levels were nutty, but now, though high, they align with other tanks levels.
The time idea is interesting, and certainly our tanks are self selecting in terms of corals that 'like' the environment. The high levels started in 2012. The SPS in the recent pic are all only two years old (because I did something stupid after macna 2014). The only thing that changed after that really was the lights (MH - Rediums). Currently some corals make it, some don't but I don't see a difference now than when I was running the tank differently.

 

[childress5tyler]

For some long time reefers have strived to maintain low nutrients levels. Spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on mechanical, chemical and biological filtration in order to provide corals with a balance of nitrates and phosphates. Many have their own equations on what's best for sps corals. Some say 0 nitrates 0 phosphates, others say nitrates at 5 and phosphates at 0.03 for better coloration and growth. I have also heard anything above 0.03 phosphates and 0.5 nitrates will inhibit growth in corals.

After Watching Sanjay talk about his 500 gallon reef tank and how he maintains his 50+ppm nitrates and 0.4 phosphates with little to no algae I was left speechless. It made me think how is it possible that he has many beautiful sps corals with such high nutrient levels with little to no coral browning ...all colorful and thriving, yet we sit here trying to tinker our nutrients to obtain the right balance... often killing our corals because we starve them to death..

Just wondering if you guys have any input on high nutrients and thriving corals like Sanjays.

Does anybody know of the research article that was mentioned regarding high alk levels correlating to high nutrient levels. Really interested in reading/researching this more.

Tyler

 

[tigre44]

I would like to make up an 8 oz solution using the spectracide stump remover. How many teaspoons do you add to make up the solution?