Reefer_Madness August 9, 2015 Share August 9, 2015 So I am curious where everyone keeps there Nitrates and Phosphates. I am interested in people's "golden number" for each. Also, say what your primary focus is. Obviously most of us have a couple of straggler corals in our tanks. Personally, I want more colors and am wondering if I am going too low in nutrients. This is not really a thread to ask your opinion of my parameters. hahah. It is a thread to ask what your parameters are. For example: 2 to 3 ppm Nitrates .02 to .03 Phosphates Mainly focus on making my SPS happy, but I have a bunch of Zoas and a couple of Chalice that seem to like the same parameters. I'm still trying to find my sweet spot. People have had luck all over the spectrum. It is interesting looking at the years on the posts I have read. Lots of "Zero" lovers a while back and lots of "who cares" reef keepers as of lately that just focus on a balanced approach. I am mainly interested in taking a snapshot of our club...WAMAS. It is something we don't talk about much. It normally only comes up when there is a problem. 20/20 hindsight is very predictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khh27 August 9, 2015 Share August 9, 2015 (edited) I don't chase #s. But I've also have experienced ultra low nurients and it prevents full color mostly because of a coral doesn't require as much par under UL as it does "Dirty" so people tend to burn coral due to this Edited August 9, 2015 by khh27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmerek2 August 9, 2015 Share August 9, 2015 I run an "undetectable" tank and color is ok. I would rather settle for ok colors right now than hair algae and the cyano that takes place when I try bumping numbers up. When the tank really starts to fill in with SPS I'll try bumping up nutrients again to see what colors they put on. There won't be a lot of room left for the algae and cyano at that point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt LeBaron August 9, 2015 Share August 9, 2015 .02-.04 for phosphate is where I try and keep it. I honestly don't normally measure nitrates unless something has gone terribly wrong in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b August 10, 2015 Share August 10, 2015 Zero! If you like algae then keep higher numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2nhle August 10, 2015 Share August 10, 2015 It is depending on what coral you have. SPS likes very low nutrient. LPS and soft like dirty tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness August 10, 2015 Author Share August 10, 2015 It is depending on what coral you have. SPS likes very low nutrient. LPS and soft like dirty tank. What is "low" to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2nhle August 10, 2015 Share August 10, 2015 SPS close to zero as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixtyFeetUnder August 10, 2015 Share August 10, 2015 This is a good topic. Like you my sps are the focus but when i keep it "too clean" my zoa rocks seem to stand still in growth. And honestly those are two tests I haven't done in a while because everything seems happy which I guess puts me in the "who cares" club of recent. Interested to hear opinions of the more educated and test mine this evening. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness August 10, 2015 Author Share August 10, 2015 I actually am finding that "close to zero" means dull colors. Regularly I find my parameters for phosphates and nitrates at undetectable levels. That is when my SPS corals look the pale and faded. My corals all look the best when I am starting to worry about the nitrates and phosphates. Actually a couple of months ago, the nitrates were at 30 ppm and the SPSs looked awesome!! A couple of them started looking stressed, but the crazy corals like SSC, Hawkins, Barney Acro, etc, looked sweet. The funny thing was my cheep/free montis had the hardest time with the nitrates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness August 10, 2015 Author Share August 10, 2015 This is a good topic. Like you my sps are the focus but when i keep it "too clean" my zoa rocks seem to stand still in growth. And honestly those are two tests I haven't done in a while because everything seems happy which I guess puts me in the "who cares" club of recent. Interested to hear opinions of the more educated and test mine this evening. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk The strange thing is my zoas and palys are growing like crazy with the low nutrients. This is the opposite of what I've heard. I do feed them separately from the display, but they use the same water. Some of these "rules" out there are not really rules. It's just an example of one tanks success and basically one person's opinion of why it is successful. I'm seeing a lot of quiet reefers out thre that don't follow the rules and have amazing tanks. They laugh at the rules. That's really the reason I asked the question. I am curious what the last test showed in people's tank. Let the numbers talk for you. I'm not looking for advice. I've read enough advice. I've taken a lot of it as well with mixed results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b August 10, 2015 Share August 10, 2015 The strange thing is my zoas and palys are growing like crazy with the low nutrients. This is the opposite of what I've heard. I do feed them separately from the display, but they use the same water. Some of these "rules" out there are not really rules. It's just an example of one tanks success and basically one person's opinion of why it is successful. I'm seeing a lot of quiet reefers out thre that don't follow the rules and have amazing tanks. They laugh at the rules. That's really the reason I asked the question. I am curious what the last test showed in people's tank. Let the numbers talk for you. I'm not looking for advice. I've read enough advice. I've taken a lot of it as well with mixed results. Seen the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime August 10, 2015 Share August 10, 2015 I actually am finding that "close to zero" means dull colors. Regularly I find my parameters for phosphates and nitrates at undetectable levels. That is when my SPS corals look the pale and faded. My corals all look the best when I am starting to worry about the nitrates and phosphates. Actually a couple of months ago, the nitrates were at 30 ppm and the SPSs looked awesome!! A couple of them started looking stressed, but the crazy corals like SSC, Hawkins, Barney Acro, etc, looked sweet. The funny thing was my cheep/free montis had the hardest time with the nitrates. I had the fastest growing, brightest acros when I ran my 150 in Two tanks, One room. My phosphates were very high, usually around .4ppm I also was not dosing yet at that stage either, and maintaining with water changes. I've seen some beautiful tanks with undetectable phosphates, and their SPS always looks a little washed out. No scientific evidence here, but this has been my observation. As long as everything is looking good, I try not to chase numbers, but keep them recorded so I can establish a timeline if something were to go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness August 10, 2015 Author Share August 10, 2015 As long as everything is looking good, I try not to chase numbers, but keep them recorded so I can establish a timeline if something were to go wrong. OR if something goes good. That's where I am. I have great "numbers" but I looking for the happy medium between numbers and colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixtyFeetUnder August 15, 2015 Share August 15, 2015 Zero I guess as far as the target. I tested both at zero and can't fathom trying to keep it higher and consistent regardless of the outcome. Just seems easiest to keep it at 0 so that's where I'll stay. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b August 15, 2015 Share August 15, 2015 My nitrates are 40 and I don't have any other test kits but my phosphates are probably off the scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxy August 15, 2015 Share August 15, 2015 Honestly, my nitrates are usually around 10. Always have been around 10. I gave up long ago trying to get it lower and I have a full tank of sps going strong for 4 yrs this October. Haven't tested phosphates lately so I don't really know where they are at currently. Would be interested to see pics of folks tanks at the same time that they post their numbers to get an idea of what is working for folks and the results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness August 15, 2015 Author Share August 15, 2015 I like the responses. It's basically what I have found talking to people over the years. I've never been the guy that has been able to get close to "zero", but I have had great colors. I always thought I could do better and strived for zero. Well, recently my tank has been getting close to zero. All of my corals look happy, but the colors just aren't as bright. They are growing and have great PE, better than when I the high nutrients. Now that I have seen the grass on both sides of the fence, I am going to gradually increase my nutrients a little and find my sweet spot. A lot of what I am finding is different than people's advice. "I've always had success with..." seems to be a pretty common thought process. It doesn't mean it is the only way. Example - My Zoas and Palys are multiplying like rabbits. I have probably 30 different high end types. They seem to like my clean tank, so the dirty tank "rule" is not a rule it is just an example of a success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness August 15, 2015 Author Share August 15, 2015 Honestly, my nitrates are usually around 10. Always have been around 10. I gave up long ago trying to get it lower and I have a full tank of sps going strong for 4 yrs this October. Haven't tested phosphates lately so I don't really know where they are at currently. Would be interested to see pics of folks tanks at the same time that they post their numbers to get an idea of what is working for folks and the results Beautiful tank!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiscici August 15, 2015 Share August 15, 2015 (edited) I used to chase phosphate and nitrate and found it was very difficult and wast of time and money. To me bacteria are the key to an healthier sps tank. I dosed vinegar and found it very easy to control. Nitrates and phosphates will balanced themselves out once the bacteria in the tank stabilized. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited August 15, 2015 by taiscici Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxy August 15, 2015 Share August 15, 2015 Beautiful tank! Agree, bacteria plays a very large role and that is one reason why you hear that it can take a year to establish a tank, partly due to the bacteria levels being established in it. Seems to me there are many factors affecting the color of corals and only looking at one parameter won't get you the results that you want. Yes, nutrient levels are one parameter that matters. But, so does chemistry, currents, lighting, food sources for corals, etc. and maintaining params that aren't fluctuating. Overall husbandry goes a long way on how successful a tank is, beyond nutrient levels. I wouldn't call my nutrient levels successful, by many standards are a little high but I got tired of trying to get them lower and the corals are still growing, so I stopped chasing those numbers and just let the tank be. For colors, I find lighting plays a large role. I get more blue fluorescence from T5HO actinics that give peaks in the 425-475nm range verses actinics that have peaks in the 400-450nm range which give off more green fluorescence in corals. I also find that I get much faster sps skeletal growth on 10k T5HOs then on cooler spectrums. For current, I have a wavemaker that create a back and forth surge and it only runs when the lights are on, not 24/7 (two pumps to sump run 24/7). The acros have had more polyp extension once I added the wave maker, which was a few months back. I've had acros for a year now. I feed my sps corals once a week as well. And this isn't even getting into the chemistry of the tank (water changes and dosing). This is a great thread Ben, would like to hear more from folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer_Madness September 16, 2015 Author Share September 16, 2015 Any more folks want to chime in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling September 16, 2015 Share September 16, 2015 Let me horrify you all... 90 to 100 ppm ! Even water changes of 30 gallons every other week fail to bring it down. As mentioned by others .... no SPS but softies and zoas are thriving... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef September 17, 2015 Share September 17, 2015 I keep my nitrates under 100, that's when my montis/chalices starts freaking out (I test when they start looking mad) And I don't test for phosphates... But I'm sure I'd like them low And this is why this is my first and last reef tank! I'm all about the fish, but I like corals... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sethsolomon September 17, 2015 Share September 17, 2015 Nitrates 5-20 ppm Phosphates 0.05-0.2 ppm I don't track this very often. I normally check this when a coral is looking weird to make sure it didn't bottom out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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