Does ultra low nutrients equal less color and growth?

[deepseadan]

Recently (a few months back) I started getting a little over excited with to many fish in my tank. I started noticing no3 and po4 slowly rising so I donated a few fish back to the fish store. At that time I kicked up the skimming and started using dosing red sea's no3 po4 and got things under control. I also slowed down on feeding. Now I'm pretty sure I have ultra low nutrients including po4 and no3, but my acros and montis have faded a bit in color. Anyone had a similar low nutrient to less color experience like me? Also, I'm leaning towards the possibility that 0 nitrates could be culprit as well.

 

[Allmost]

I can assure you, that 0 no3 is not the "problem"

there are different schoold of thought .... tooo lenghty to explain here, but there is removing N and P from water and feeding corals what we want and what will color them the way we want, and then there is anothe rmethod of keeping some N and some P, and lettting those values decide the color.

when you reach ULNS ..... that means there arent too much N and P in water to brown out corals. at the same time, it means that said coral will need another food source ! you can experiment with different products and observe, I personally love Xtra from Zeovit, and coral vitelizer. Amino aicds are used in ULNS to darken the color of tissue.

I personally prefer the second method [although it does cost more to remove and add ] so my corals can show the true color of their tissue.

remember though, when feeding corals, the nutritions are not that stable, so you need to be consistant with all feedings and .....

HTH,

 

[Bugger]

redseaThe high nutrient induced over-density of the Zooxanthellae population disturbs the natural balance
causing competition between the Zooxanthellae and the coral for the available resources such that
without additional nutrition the coral may become undernourished. Furthermore the increase in
Zooxanthellae population causes the corals to become darker with a deep brown tint that obscures the
natural vivid pigments of the coral. Higher Zooxanthellae population densities within the acceptable
range will however provide the coral with the energy required for accelerated coral growth.
Reducing the algae nutrients in the water will
reduce the Zooxanthellae population to the
level that can only be supported by the algae
nutrients supplied directly by the coral.