Tired of battling ulns

[RedneckReefer68]

Anyone else have the issue of not being able to keep phosphate and nitrates in your tank? Friday after all week of dosing seachem phosphorus and stump remover I had my po4 at .06(Hanna) and nitrate 4(redsea pro kit). Just tested and both zero again. [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]

 

[mpsteve]

Yupp I do. I shut my skimmer down a couple months ago and my sps have colored up

 

[RedneckReefer68]

My skimmer hasn't ran in a few months and the last 2 months tank was neglected to hell with just ato fill ups and fish feeding, which I feel like I'm over feeding. Every time I walk by the tank I throw some flakes in.

 

[mpsteve]

Feed a lot and feed coral every night

 

[tdileo]

Out of curiosity what method(s) are you using for ULNS? Pretty interesting you run skimmerless and still can’t keep NO3 and PO4 with heavy feedings.
Sorry I can’t contribute much to your question beyond what the others have said. Perhaps try dosing amino acids?

 

[RedneckReefer68]

No method really.. Just tank sump and lights with live rock. 12g tank with 2 chromis and a clown tired in to an icecap sump.

 

[dave57]

I believe it’s caused by an imbalance in nutrients and or bacterial population, I had the same issue was dosing 40 ml of neophos daily that’s 0.4 phosphates daily.. for my 100 gallon. after dosing nitrates and phosphates daily for about a week or two it balanced out and now I’m not dosing anything and it’s staying at 5 ppm nitrates 0.06 phosphates..

 

[RedneckReefer68]

I was thinking about setting up a drip system for both lol

 

[dave57]

I first dosed low amounts because I was afraid of it spiking.. but everyday it would drop so I kept dosing multiple times a day until I dumped literally 3-4x the dose in their.. my system took it up like a sponge.. they do say that rock absorbs phosphate but idk.. my corals were starving pale looking.. I was checking my nitrates and phosphates daily sometimes 2-3 times a day until I saw my nitrates and phosphates dropping slower and slower

 

[Mattrg02]

Trust me, upping your feedings will fix it. I also had this “problem” and grew weary of dosing nitrates and phosphates. Once I doubled the fish food, as well as started broadcast feedings of coral food, my nitrates and phosphate are holding steady. This is even with my skimmer going 24/7.

 

[mpsteve]

I use chaeto and an h380 light and I throwout about half a 5g bucket full of chaeto every two weeks.

 

[jda]

The aragonite is probably binding up the phosphate - there is a limit to this and eventually they will go up if you stop water changes or other export like GFO or LC, but this is a very complicated topic that needs a whole new thread. The anoxic bacteria multiplied and brought the NO3 back down again - you will likely never get the N up because of this... this is not the end of the world.

Is there any reason that you want to fight this? I have the exact same thing happening in my tank and the colors and growth are wonderful.

Feeding the fish more constantly lets the corals have something in the water while the nutrient are on their way to being used in other places, but this has to be day after day. If you stop, your levels will go right back down.

BTW - this is just LN, not ULN. ULN are driven lower than what a tank can achieve to equilibrium with vodka, vinegar, GFO, aluminum based PO4 removers, or the like. LN is not dangerous. ULN can be if you are not on top of everything 100%. I would honestly just feed a bit more and not worry about this.

 

[RedneckReefer68]

Is there any reason that you want to fight this? I have the exact same thing happening in my tank and the colors and growth are wonderful.
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The colors are really pale and most of my sps just look unhealthy and no polyp extension. Some the skin looks really" thin" and pale.

 

[jda]

If you are using organic carbon, GFO or Lanthanum Chloride, then you need to stop. If you are not, then this is not a problem - naturally low nutrients do not starve coral. Some of the corals might get a bit more color if you raise the N and P, but others will get less - this is a fine balancing act. If none of them have any color, then it is probably something else - your tank looks pretty new and this can all kinds of issues with SPS until the coralline starts to grow like crazy.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Your parameters are fine why are you chasing numbers? New tanks will have low nutrient then a mature reef but if you overdue it now you'll just risk algaes and having difficult time later bringing them down. I am talking from experience I dosed nitrates 5 months back and chased numbers as others on this forum quote to be a ideal nutrients. Learned the hard way that everyones system has different maturity, livestock, food, lighting, and alk demands so one should pay more attention to keeping all these things in balance as their tank matures.

My nitrates stay <.5 and Phosphates 0.03 but my tank is full off nutrients that are being consumed.. This is with only a bag of carbon, skimming, and refugium.

 

[RedneckReefer68]

Tank isn't new... I'm not chasing numbers in chasing nutrients cause my sps are looking like ****... Pale and thin skin and some are still around the base...I use no filtration but a sock that's gets changed. I have no algea and clean glass maybe one time a week...

 

[RedneckReefer68]

It looks new cause it's sterile as crap for some reason

 

[Ashish Patel]

When did you setup your tank? What is your ALK and photoperiod or average PAR?

 

[rck329]

I seemed to have the same problem on my previous tank (90) - always zero nitrate, minimal phosphate. I downsized to a 40 (for other reasons), but I've been dosing aminos (Fuel then switched to Acropower), and feeding frozen everyday consistently, and colors and health have been much, much better.

I was dosing nitrate on the new setup because it too had zero nitrates, but stopped when I went to aminos. The nitrate has since went back to zero, but colors still seem ok.

If you are going to try aminos, just start slow and build up to the dose.

 

[addo]

I agree with rck329. I i had the same problem, and a daily dose of aminos plus some sps food did it for me. I still have 0 nitrates and ~0.018 PO4 (I was down to 0P and 0 PO4 acording to a triton ICP test I did when my sps strarted to get STN) but the aminos and food seem to make up for the lack in nutrients.