What nitrate level do you recommend for my tank set up?

[Tinnerito]

Hello everyone! I am just about ready to try at corals again, and my nitrates are currently at 10ppm. It is a 6 gal pico, and I plan to just keep lps, and leathers. (Blastomussa, branching hammer, and toadstool to be specific) I have been given several recommendations, but I want to see which will be just right for me. One thing to consider though is that there is a lot of macroalgae, and this tank is intended to be mostly macro. I have three small fish, and a cleanup crew of shrimp, snails, and hermits. I'd greatly appreciate all poll responses, and if theres anything you want me to know, or what you want to know, leave a reply. Thanks!

 

[BristleWormHater]

You said softies and leathers, but blastomussa and hammers are lps. It'll be a delicate balance in a tank this small, but the macros will certainly help with that.

 

[Formulator]

10 ppm is a great target. With a lot of macro algae you may need to dose it daily as the tank matures. I have a 140g system consisting of a mixed reef DT and a 20g fuge filled with macro algae that needs about 1 ppm dose every day to maintain stability at 10 ppm. Everything is doing very well.

 

[Tinnerito]

You said softies and leathers, but blastomussa and hammers are lps. It'll be a delicate balance in a tank this small, but the macros will certainly help with that.

Oh, I thought softies and lps were the same thing. Sorry, I'll change that

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Oh, I thought softies and lps were the same thing. Sorry, I'll change that

Lps stands for large polyp stony. The stony implies a coral with a calcium carbonate skeleton. :)

 

[Tinnerito]

Lps stands for large polyp stony. The stony implies a coral with a calcium carbonate skeleton. :)

Soft corals don't have skeletons?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Soft corals don't have skeletons?

A few have some thin rods called sclerites in them (such as some leathers), but most have no calcium carbonate skeleton. That's why they are called soft: they can be bent and squished in ways a hard coral cannot.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, no coral needs more than a few ppm of nitrate, and in some tanks no nitrate is needed when other sources of N are higher (ammonia, organics, particulates, etc.).

 

[Formulator]

IMO, no coral needs more than a few ppm of nitrate, and in some tanks no nitrate is needed when other sources of N are higher (ammonia, organics, particulates, etc.).

I agree they don’t need more than a few ppm, but I’ve found 10 ppm to be a good manageable target with room for error on both ends.

 

[Tinnerito]

IMO, no coral needs more than a few ppm of nitrate, and in some tanks no nitrate is needed when other sources of N are higher (ammonia, organics, particulates, etc.).

I was told that leathers are always hungry for nitrate they keep their tanks at 50ppm somehow?! :eek:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was told that leathers are always hungry for nitrate they keep their tanks at 50ppm somehow?! :eek:

I'd be surprised if 50 ppm nitrate was noticeably better than 10 ppm nitrate, and they likely prefer ammonia to nitrate, but many corals also do very well at high nitrate levels. :)

 

[CHSUB]

I would not target no3. I would target coral health and feed my fish. Two a week WC and drip kalk at night with a dosing pump.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Greater than zero for both nitrates and phosphates

 

[sixty_reefer]

Your tank is currently balanced at 10ppm. If everything looking good let it be. Only take action if you see it going to high or to low from the commonly accepted range.