Additives for Low Nutrient System

Patrick Cox

Patrick Cox

Active member
I am running a 5 month old SPS tank that is fairly low nutrient. My PO4 is 0.02 and my NO3 is 0.2 and I have very little algae in my tank. For awhile it seemed like some of my corals were not as bright and colorful as they were when I first bought them so I am on a slow path to increase my nutrients a bit. I am slowly adding more fish to my tank and I am also feeding Reef Chili or Oyster/Roti Feast 2-3 times per week. I also purchased some KZ Pohl's Xtra that I am dosing daily. My question is whether or not I should look at dosing amino acids, potassium or some other additives. I tested my potassium and it was about 370 and NSW is about 400 I believe. Also, I typically do a 5-10% water change every week or two. So for those of you running low nutrient systems, what additives have you found to improve the health and color or your corals?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Xtra is amino acid and other trace elements.

Test your new water for potassium. If low dose k balance. How are birdsnest or monties doing wth respect to pe ?
 
Allmost said:
Xtra is amino acid and other trace elements.

Test your new water for potassium. If low dose k balance. How are birdsnest or monties doing wth respect to pe ?
Click to expand...

I didn't realize that Xtra already contained amino acids. They don't really say what is in it. So should this supplement be enough on its own, other than K if needed?

Good thought on testing new water. I will do that. My birds nest is very faded. I was suspecting it was the light but not sure. ORA advised that I lower it in the tank for awhile, which I have done. We will see how it goes. I have one Monti that was fading a bit but it is now starting to develop more color. It may be the xtra. I also just purchased two more montis - Danae and Incrassata. so we will see how they do. I have them in lower light.

Unknow said:
Did you notice any green lime algae on sand or live rock after dose xtra or oyster feast?
Click to expand...

No, no slime or algae. I am dosing the recommended amount (1 ml per 25 gallons.)
 
Patrick

I am in the same boat as you. I have a low nutrient tank and my corals are all new so I had to dose something since I don't have any fish in the tank at the moment. I purchased Pohl's Xtra special and Coral Vitalizer. I was dosing everyday but I started to get diatoms on the sand and rocks so I stopped for awhile. The corals did color up very nicely but that could have been due to acclimation or the dosing I'm not sure. The description on Zeovit web page does say to discontinue dosing if you see a brown growth start and that it should go away after a few days. Also Xtra special does have amino acids in it.
 
when K+ is low, birdsnest looses PE and color. orange/pink Monti caps become dull in color. growth slows down in most corals. hysterix might loose tissue from base ...that's how I usually tell K+ concentration.

how stable is KH and CA++ ? to be honest, the feeding you have mentioned should be more than enough in most tanks, [my guess based on seeing friends tanks, could be different in your case] I am suspecting that algae or something else is taking up the additives and the foods you are dosing ? which usually translated to SPS not being in top notch health to take up "food" which in my opinion is cased by shifting KH. or even salinity. I would monitor those for the next coming week to be sure they are stable, before adding more chemicals to the tank.

some pics could help as well ...

A general note about foods, Amino acids darken tissue. Coral vitalizer[or particle foods like Oyster eggs or reef roids] bring out the true color of coral tissue. Xtra is in between both.
 
Allmost said:
when K+ is low, birdsnest looses PE and color. orange/pink Monti caps become dull in color. growth slows down in most corals. hysterix might loose tissue from base ...that's how I usually tell K+ concentration.

how stable is KH and CA++ ? to be honest, the feeding you have mentioned should be more than enough in most tanks, [my guess based on seeing friends tanks, could be different in your case] I am suspecting that algae or something else is taking up the additives and the foods you are dosing ? which usually translated to SPS not being in top notch health to take up "food" which in my opinion is cased by shifting KH. or even salinity. I would monitor those for the next coming week to be sure they are stable, before adding more chemicals to the tank.

some pics could help as well ...

A general note about foods, Amino acids darken tissue. Coral vitalizer[or particle foods like Oyster eggs or reef roids] bring out the true color of coral tissue. Xtra is in between both.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I feel pretty good about my Alk and Ca. And I have pretty good growth and some of my corals look pretty good and others not as good. But I would say that in general, the coloration is not what it was when I first put any particular frag in the tank - at least in varying degrees. But also my corals have only been in my tank for 1-3 months, depending on the coral so it could be just too early as well. Here is a recent photo of my tank. You can see that I have very little algae so I don't really think algae is taking up my nutrients.

2013-05-21%20-%2075G%20SPS%20Aquarium%20-%20%281%29-L.jpg


I guess the main thing I am trying to determine is if there is anything else I should be doing that I am not, or do I just need more time.

Thanks.
 
Looking good :) I would just give the tank more time to mature :)

from what I can see, the corals look very decent as well, I would not worry nor add more additives.

JMO.
 
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