Higher Nitrate Tanks and SPS?

labas39

labas39

Active member
I've been seeing threads where people have asked how to raise their nitrates or that people have decided to do it.

Is there some new finding that SPS like tanks with some nitrates? If so, lead me to them.

I've been striving to keep mine nitrate free and at this time, I'm not going against what has been working for me.
 
anarchy

anarchy

Active member
Ideally you want nitrates between 2-5 and should have detectable phos. Not sure on the number but I think it was around .01-.03. Anyways without these 2 then coral pale and don't grow as fast. Both my nitrates and phos are undetectable with elos test kits and my sps are pale.
For example here's my Rainbows in Spain


Now here's battlecorals
 
bryman

bryman

New member
I've become a very effective SPS killer with both biopellets and vodka. The best my SPS ever looked was when I had an algae outbreak and the tank was very dirty. I just lost some nice pieces on my tank comeback because I kept ramping up my vodka dosage without checking nitrate. After about 2 months and up to 3.5ml/day, stuff started dying even though I was watching my Alk, Ca, Mg, religiously. Checked Nitrate and was completely undetectable even with high resolution. I'm sure there's still some PO4 in the tank because I have some film and bubble algae, and my refugium keeps growing. But I am absolutely convinced you have to have some nitrate for SPS to be happy. Just look at Brian's SPS at Reefwise. They look great on a turf scrubber system with no skimmer!
 
madjoe

madjoe

Premium member
Well if i had a test kit id tell u what my nitrates r but i dont can tell u im over stocked with a superskimmer so im sure my tank is not super clean and im getting great colors on my sps . And i can tell u when i was doing more water changes i had less color way less
 
maidia

maidia

Team CR
madjoe said:
Well if i had a test kit id tell u what my nitrates r but i dont can tell u im over stocked with a superskimmer so im sure my tank is not super clean and im getting great colors on my sps . And i can tell u when i was doing more water changes i had less color way less
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I need to stop by get the algae and RD then I can test your nitrate..Need to know :)
 
maidia

maidia

Team CR
anarchy said:
Ideally you want nitrates between 2-5 and should have detectable phos. Not sure on the number but I think it was around .01-.03. Anyways without these 2 then coral pale and don't grow as fast. Both my nitrates and phos are undetectable with elos test kits and my sps are pale.
For example here's my Rainbows in Spain


Now here's battlecorals
Click to expand...
Anarchy, may be your light is too strong? Just guess..:)
 
madjoe

madjoe

Premium member
maidia said:
I need to stop by get the algae and RD then I can test your nitrate..Need to know :)
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If u come bring magnesium test to lol think i have a mag problem right now but corals look good just some tips have weird blisters and look like low mag is usually the issue
 
Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
labas39 said:
I've been seeing threads where people have asked how to raise their nitrates or that people have decided to do it.

Is there some new finding that SPS like tanks with some nitrates? If so, lead me to them.

I've been striving to keep mine nitrate free and at this time, I'm not going against what has been working for me.
Click to expand...
I'm with you. I've always strived to eliminate these nutrient, and I think my colors are pretty darn good. I run biopellets and GFO and usually have undetected PO4 and NO3. I don't have issues with RTN or STN.

I read all of the talk about needing to have nutrients. Could be true for some, but I've got colored up corals and no algae in my tank. I'll continue doing what I've been doing. I feed big and I remove nutrients big. Heavy in and heavy out.
 
jayjerk

jayjerk

Premium member
Sawdonkey said:
I'm with you. I've always strived to eliminate these nutrient, and I think my colors are pretty darn good. I run biopellets and GFO and usually have undetected PO4 and NO3. I don't have issues with RTN or STN.

I read all of the talk about needing to have nutrients. Could be true for some, but I've got colored up corals and no algae in my tank. I'll continue doing what I've been doing. I feed big and I remove nutrients big. Heavy in and heavy out.
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I too believe that's the reason you do well. As I had the same feeding habit. We also had larger systems and large fish. I think guys that have minimal fish are the ones having issues. Or those that pull out but don't put back in.

Just because you kits say zero doesn't actually mean it zero. Fish poop and food decay are necessary imo if you wanna run ulns
 
Siebo

Siebo

Premium member
jayjerk said:
I too believe that's the reason you do well. As I had the same feeding habit. We also had larger systems and large fish. I think guys that have minimal fish are the ones having issues. Or those that pull out but don't put back in.

Just because you kits say zero doesn't actually mean it zero. Fish poop and food decay are necessary imo if you wanna run ulns
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I too think that is why you both had success. Heavy in and heavy out simply put. However, I think that is also a finer line between success and failure. The water volume is a big help in your cases.
 
bryman

bryman

New member
maidia said:
Very good thread by Battlecorals..Adam,


http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-suck-the-acro-fugium-write-up-i-guess-i-finally-finished-this-thing-sort-of.216694/
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Great post! I just came to this very realization after nearly killing my tank several times with ULNS. I've said it many times that my SPS looked best when I had an algae problem, but I don't think I believed it because of all the ULNS hype. Now what Adam says totally makes sense. What Reefwise does with their turf scrubber only systems makes sense. I'll leave my skimmer off until I see some Nitrate in the tests again!
 
K

kody1192

New member
I was just talking to a few people at the swap about this how you don't want your Nit/Phos at 0 all the time but most sps dominant tanks try to keep phos under .10 Didn't discuss nitrates as much but just saw the post about people adding nitrates to the tank and have seen that pop up a few times on forums.
 
SloppyWhenWet

SloppyWhenWet

Member
If people have bad color, i tell them to over feed. Corals will uptake so much. It is a fine line between too little and too much. Adam said it best. I do dose a small amount of vodka, but I never use GFO or biopellets. I have seen so many SPS tanks do horrible with biopellets. I think if you start off using this bacteria you can get away with it, but never suggest it, unless fish only. Large fuge, grow pods, feed just enuff. Easier said then done. Thing is you need equal parts PO4 & NO3, i really think zero comes from everyone wanting no algae. While this is possible, it can take a long time to root out algae and no body wants to wait :p
 
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