Will SPS be okay in these params?

[Zbutcher]

Hey everyone,

I have had this tank now for about 9 months now alk sits 9-9.3. calcium sits 400-450. Mag sit 1300-1350.

I did an ICP test and there is not anything alarming and Randy holmes-farley said there isn't anything outstanding.

I only use RODI water

I checked my nitrates and phosphate with the Hanna checkers and nitrate is 56 and phosphate is .09.

I have notoriously had STN with all SPS but I'm not sure why and that was why I did an ICP test. So I think at the time it was low nutrients but now I shouldn't have that problem

Do you think SPS would be okay now? Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Lavey29]

Numbers are ok but nitrates to high. You want 10ppm not 50. Also depends on your lighting and flow to succeed. I started SPS at 10 months when I say decent coraline growth on my rocks. Key is stability and making sure you are dosing properly to maintain the stability.

 

[JGT]

Agree nitrates too high. You’d have Issues with LPS let alone SPS. Get them down to 10-15.

 

[Zbutcher]

Agree nitrates too high. You’d have Issues with LPS let alone SPS. Get them down to 10-15.

I'm going to do a big water change. Do you have any other ideas of a good option for bringing it down?

 

[JGT]

Carbon dosing if water changes won’t keep it down.

 

[Lavey29]

I'm going to do a big water change. Do you have any other ideas of a good option for bringing it down?

Feed less, no pellets or flakes just frozen, water changes, chemipure blue in the sump. Dosing PNS probio reduces nitrates naturally also.

 

[Rmckoy]

Your parameters have a pretty wide range . And hoping that’s not how much they’re fluctuating
I agree with nitrates being too high .
ideally you want 5-10 ppm
Phosphates from 0.03 - 0.1
Everything looks great to me . As long as they’re stable

 

[JAC-]

I would make sure you can maintain the lower nitrates for a month or so too before I added the coral.

I had about the same parameters when I first got going a few years back, I switched to frozen and Nori only and it knocked my nitrates down and held them at 4ppm pretty quickly.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

So are all of you telling the OP that acros and sps in general cannot survive in 50 ppm no3?

 

[Rmckoy]

So are all of you telling the OP that acros and sps in general cannot survive in 50 ppm no3?

Nothing is impossible .
thinking back to when all of my corals looked their best . I had higher nitrates
But stability is far more important over any set number

 

[X-37B]

We could use a little more info on your system.
Flow
Lighting
Import/export
Tank size

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

We could use a little more info on your system.
Flow
Lighting
Import/export
Tank size

Exactly

 

[vetteguy53081]

Overall , numbers are good. High readings are already noted and chemipure blue will help with numbers. I would not add potions like noPox to remedy
You for SPS will need to fine tune both lighting and water flow, If there are softies in the tank, you are now or will be at a mixed reef type tank and will need to balance light and flow for needs of both type of coral.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Nothing is impossible .
thinking back to when all of my corals looked their best . I had higher nitrates
But stability is far more important over any set number

@90's reefer beat me to it. Pics of this “stn” would be helpful as well. There is something else going on. 50ppm no3 is not going cause consistent sps death. And stable doesn’t equal success. It’s helpful but it is not a cure all or guarantee

 

[Rmckoy]

@90's reefer beat me to it. Pics of this “stn” would be helpful as well. There is something else going on. 50ppm no3 is not going cause consistent sps death. And stable doesn’t equal success. It’s helpful but it is not a cure all or guarantee

I’ve always thought stn and rtn were signs of fluctuations generally with alk cal , mag . And even temp .
something isn’t right for sure .

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I’ve always thought stn and rtn were signs of fluctuations generally with alk cal , mag . And even temp .
something isn’t right for sure .

Not in my experience
My system is stable but my numbers are very unstable
No stn

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I think 9 months may be a bit too young especially if you started with dry rock. Coralline algae growth is a good indicator if you’re SPS ready.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Nitrates and phosphates might be a bit too high, but the more important question...

What corals have you already successfully grown in the tank? If you have LPS or some non-beginner softies that are growing and spreading than you should be fine even with the high nitrates.

Just start with the easier stuff like montipora or birds nest and see if it grows while you work on a solution to get your nitrates and phosphates in check (refugium if you don't have one would work wonders). If those SPS grow well and you can get your nitrates below 20 and phosphate below 0.1, then you could try the more difficult stuff in the acropora families

 

[ScottB]

I am repeating parts of what has been said already, but with some priority and context:

a) "High" nitrates. This is relative to what those SPS were accustomed to before, which is commonly 5-15. They can easily adjust to higher nitrates if gradually raised, but a quick shift can be stressful IMO.
b) "New" biome. This is a big factor with a dead rock start. Your biome is still a microorganism active battleground, with constantly shifting populations of bacteria, etc. It just makes for a lot of noise that acros don't always tolerate.
c) Ca is a little low.

 

[Zbutcher]

I would make sure you can maintain the lower nitrates for a month or so too before I added the coral.

I had about the same parameters when I first got going a few years back, I switched to frozen and Nori only and it knocked my nitrates down and held them at 4ppm pretty quickly.

Wouldn't frozen also raise nitrates? Sorry I might be ignorant.