High phosphate and nitrate but sps seems to be happy

G

gabloo

New member
Hello Everyone,

I am in the situation where I am not sure what to do. My phosphate and nitrate level are pretty high but SPS seems to be happy. Their polys are out and coloring up nicely. I had never seen my corals that happy before. Actually, I could never keep SPS alive. I was planning to run GFO and Vodka dosing to lower down those level but I am afraid I might end up killing them.

In the past, I was running GFO and my phosphate was zero but I couldn't keep my SPS alive. I think it was bleaching. I also made a lot of chances recently, switched to LED, added carbon, started dosing Alk, Cal and Mg heavily and switched to bared bottom.

My tank has been running for about 7 - 8 months now. My setup is 55g display, 30g refugium with chatos, 25 gallon sump and running SWC 160 skimmer. I am also feeding twice a day (chopped shrimp and clams).

Can you guys please give me advice on what to do?

My current water parameter are

Phosphate = .22 ppm
Nitrate = 50 ppm
Salinity = 1.025 "“ 1.026
Magnesium = ~1450
Calcium = ~ 450
Alk = 9.5 "“ 9
temp = 77

Thanks in advance
 
Hi there
IMO sometimes what works for one doesn't work for others in your case if it's working for you at these levels I would definitely stay as you are.[emoji846]


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i would lower those numbers over the course of a month . My current tank i used 250 lbs of someone else old rock, his tank was flithy and i didnt soaking it first. well my nitrates where 75ppm and my phosphates where 2.06. my sps and lps where happy, :) (also on a side note happy isnt a good way to describe the corals)
well i added a lot of cheato and ran gfo, and now my nitrates are 2-5ppm and phosphates are .05. well my monti and millipora grew 1 inch in 12 days, since those numbers have been lowered. phosphates that high will stunt growth. so based things on growth and color not on happiness.
 
Strange, same boat...
went from Nopox to Biopellets and my levels are high Nitrates of 12 and PO4 of .17 and my SPS seem to love the dirty water. Its been like this for 2 months and I'm working to get it lower but Im shock on how well my SPS look
 
How long have the SPS been in the tank?
What types?

There are quite a few that seem to be able to tolerate higher levels just fine (for a while anyways)
 
My biggest concern would be algae/ciano .......there are many types of nasty algae and once they get a start, they can overwhelm a tank.....as long as you've got that under control, you should be ok.
 
mcgyvr said:
How long have the SPS been in the tank?
What types?

There are quite a few that seem to be able to tolerate higher levels just fine (for a while anyways)
Click to expand...

These SPS has only been in my tank for about 2 weeks.

Here are the list of coral that I have in my tank right now.

purple/green pocillopora
Jack o Lantern Peptoseris
Tyree Ponape birdnest
Sunset Monty
Rose Millepora
Reverse Sunset Monty
Yellow Stylophora
Reeftek Starburst
Raspberry Cheesecake
Rainbow Stylophora
Red Planet
Rainbow Monty
Powder Blue Staghorn
Jedi Mind Trick Monty
Orenji Monty
Blue Polyp with Purple rim capricornis
Red Atlantic star cypharstera
electric lime birdsnest
 
I have mostly montipora and zoanthids and my nitrates are about 30-40 ppm and phosphates are as low as .02 to .07 or .08 before a change it out. I don't have any algae problems and things seem fine. Growth might not be as fast but it's hard to tell since my face is always in the way!
 
mcgyvr said:
pfft ...:rolleye1: I've got corals that will "live" for 2 weeks in my toilet bowl..

So you just added all those in the last 2 weeks?
I sure hope not..
Click to expand...

Yes I did :worried: . I had purchased SPS in the past but almost all of the time, the coral will not show any sign of polys extension.
 
mcgyvr said:
pfft ...:rolleye1: I've got corals that will "live" for 2 weeks in my toilet bowl..

So you just added all those in the last 2 weeks?
I sure hope not..
Click to expand...



Lol.
That's why I hate things like my corals are doing fine or my corals are happy. 6 moths to a year with growth means your corals are happy. A 1 inch monti frag should be about the size of a dinner plate in one year. That's means your monti is happy
Also I been smoking for 10 years. Must mean smoking is good for me

While I will say don't chase numbers. As a newbie or someone who doesn't have a tank overgrown with corals you should try to set your tank to the acceptable ranges
High phosphate won't kill corals but will stunt there growth so shoot for .05 and under. Nitrates will kill corals over 10ppm for most sps. Now you might be able to get away with it short time. But over time they will die
Alk should be between 8-12. But I shoot for 8
Calcium should be 350-450 but I aim for 400 but never worry as long as alk is in range
Mag should be 1350
As someone who is new to hobby your goal should be to achieve these numbers don't panic and add 250ml of soda ash if your tank is a little off on alk but these are the numbers most people who are much more experienced then you use and succeeded with


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gabloo said:
These SPS has only been in my tank for about 2 weeks.



Here are the list of coral that I have in my tank right now.



purple/green pocillopora

Jack o Lantern Peptoseris

Tyree Ponape birdnest

Sunset Monty

Rose Millepora

Reverse Sunset Monty

Yellow Stylophora

Reeftek Starburst

Raspberry Cheesecake

Rainbow Stylophora

Red Planet

Rainbow Monty

Powder Blue Staghorn

Jedi Mind Trick Monty

Orenji Monty

Blue Polyp with Purple rim capricornis

Red Atlantic star cypharstera

electric lime birdsnest
Click to expand...



Also do not add this many sps corals into a tank at once. Sps corals are very sentence to change and this many in a new tank at once will only add in death to them. Unless your a season vet aka old timer


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I am confused on why you guys say you have to only add a few corals to a tank at a time.

I add lots of corals to my tank at one time. 40 colonies+. Not sure how death will occur but as long as you watch your alk and such it will be fine. Especially with frags. Most corals don't start growing right away since they stress a bit from being relocated, so they won't be taking up large amounts of alk anyways.
 
If you stop overfeeding your nutrients won't go up. You must have big fish or a lot of fish to be feeding chopped clams and shrimp. You will have to watch your corals in the next few months to tell how things are going. Changing nutrients quickly won't help a thing so just do regular waterchanges and feed the appropriate amount and food, things will level out. Unless your filtration is not up to par.
 
Piper27 said:
I am confused on why you guys say you have to only add a few corals to a tank at a time.

I add lots of corals to my tank at one time. 40 colonies+. Not sure how death will occur but as long as you watch your alk and such it will be fine. Especially with frags. Most corals don't start growing right away since they stress a bit from being relocated, so they won't be taking up large amounts of alk anyways.
Click to expand...

ps coral should start growing right away, maybe a week or 2 the most never. i saw growth on my milli in 2 days in 12 days it grew 7 branches. Also i never said it wasnt possible to add many corals at once, just said you need to know what your doing. thats why i said aka season vet. the op isnt experienced in this hobby yet, you might be or you might not be

i currently have a tank that after 6 weeks i added sps and ritteri anemone and also have 38 fish and 3 clams. but i wouldn't recommend my friend who kept a tank for 12 to 18 months to do it.
 
7 branches in 12 days from a new coral, well done!
My point was to explain to the OP that it is possible to add a lot of coral to a tank as long as your monitoring your numbers. Doesnt really matter how much experience you have if your tank is stable and you know what to look for. Seems the OP does, so that's good.
Some corals will grow quick, some take months, depending on a wide range of factors. The OP said the coral looks great so I hope everything continues that way.
I would love to see pics of your 6 week old tank with all that livestock! Please share.

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0d5309687bb3dce323925c6d22f97e1e.jpg
81fffcaddecef073b00b6acb231e36a7.jpg

Maybe not 7 new branches but that's a lot of growth in a week don't you think



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