Guess the Phosphate level

Just to share my experience
Due to a skimmer malfunction, I got to experience high no3 (50ppm) and high po4 (.14). I must say that the corals color look great, deep, rich, and healthy. The growth has definitely slowed though. I lost some prominent growth tips on a few pieces, and stopped noticing growth at all on a few pieces . Some pieces such as my purple monster never skipped a beat though. I also notice more turf algae on my rocks which i think looks ugly.
Overall, the high levels didn't seem to harm the corals much, but to my SPS eye, the tank is not where I want it to be right now. I am in the process of bringing levels down, I want all my white growth tips back :)
 
All these years, I usually have STN during the summer especially after long summer vacation. However, this year, I have no major issues when I came back from long vacation about a month ago. My no3 has been high about 25ppm and po4 also around 0.1 for at least 6 months. Majority of the corals are growing with white tips. Chalice love this water. Colors are reasonably good. I just hope the tank keep doing like this and don't give me any head ache.
 
Looking at the photos and levels I am just stunned!!! How can you run these levels and not have algae growth? What's the secret sauce? ;-)
 
So far the data from the ATS doesn't look good for the ATS. There appeared to be an initial nitrate drop, but it bounced right back up and any impact on phosphate has been negligible. Now that it is growing and stuff, am going to give it till mid December and testing and we'll see.
 
Are you getting the kind of growth that one would expect from water with high nutrient levels?
Im surprised that it is having such a minimal impact.. I wonder why?
 
High nutrients will grow dark or black slime, unless you have very powerful lights in the scrubber. Especially at these P levels. And dark slime will prevent GHA from attaching, and thus from doing much filtering.
 
My Sps looked their best with high nitrates. I calculated a Redfield ratio for one of your water chemistry samples which = 15. Not bad when everything balances out. It is a great looking tank........................Jim
 
Rich, I stumbled upon this thread a week or so ago. Just finished it today after casually reading a couple pages in each sitting. Love the mindset you have.

Thales said:
New test. There was a water change in between too. Last results below:

Home Display - N/A
09-25-2014 Phosphate (PO4) High 1.96 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
09-25-2014 Nitrate (NO3) Good 19 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L


New AWT results
09-01-2014 Phosphate (PO4) High 2.23 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
09-01-2014 Nitrate (NO3) High 39 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
Click to expand...

Do you remember what the ATS was growing in September? Was is black slime, green algae, or something else? The reason I ask is because as you mention in the next quote, there was an initial nitrate drop according to the tests.

Thales said:
So far the data from the ATS doesn't look good for the ATS. There appeared to be an initial nitrate drop, but it bounced right back up and any impact on phosphate has been negligible. Now that it is growing and stuff, am going to give it till mid December and testing and we'll see.
Click to expand...

...but then it bounces right back up. I agree phosphate differences seem neglibgible.

I wonder if something different started to grow in ~early october, and out competed what was growing before that provided the early nitrate consumption/reduction..? If so, maybe the new species doesn't consume nitrates at such a rate as what colonized your screen before? I'm drawing a hypothesis without much evidence, just thinking out loud.

I have very limited experience with ATS.

Thales said:
The PO4? Hovering around 2.1. Nitrate 80-100. Boom.
Click to expand...

What's the growth like now compared to before on the ATS?

Awesome thread!!! I'm going to go feed now ;)
 
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