LOW Nitrate issue - Corals dying

[Mad Marine]

Red Sea Reefer 625 XXL
Triton Method with sump
Versa Dosing Pumps
Deltec 1000 ix Skimmer
MP40
Nero 5
Radion XR30 G5 Pro x2

O Nitrate for a few months.
Corals lost their colour, very poor flesh/polyp expansion, started dying so moved corals to another system.
No issues with H. haddoni (x 3) and H. magnifica (x 1) anemones. Fish doing great.
Hair algae growth. Cheato not growing in sump, looks mushy and very unhealthy.
Dosed potassium nitrate for two months - NO change in nitrate.
Dosed Neo Nitro by Brightwell Aquatics the last two weeks and still no improvement in nitrate level.

Any thoughts or ideas to remedy this unfortunate situation would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[smokenax]

How are you phosphates and fish load.? I would remove any green algae
And chaeto from the system. And ramp up your feeding and fish load if you can.
Some times our systems bacteria work to well.
I had a problem like you and removed all my algae and reduced skimming from wet to dry and it helped.


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[smokenax]

Go slow.


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[taillonjohn]

how is your lightbulb? I have MH and when the bulb gets old I know cause I start getting the symptoms you are describing.

Just an idea..... good luck

 

[Mad Marine]

Smokenax -

FYI, I've been doing this for years but never had this issue!

System established April 20. Stock -
A. percula (wild) x 2
A. triostegus x 3 (small)
P. evansi x 4
Neocirrhites armatus x 1
Gobiodon okinawae x 1
P. enlongatus x 1
G. bellus x 1

I increased feeding a couple of months back but no change. I scrub and siphon out the brown hair algae every week (which seems to be out-competing the cheato).

Anemones doing well and P. evansi try to spawn every night, water chemistry just not right for coral, very frustrating.

Thanks

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Double check your RO unit.

 

[Timfish]

How are you phosphates and fish load.? I would remove any green algae
And chaeto from the system. And ramp up your feeding and fish load if you can.
Some times our systems bacteria work to well.
I had a problem like you and removed all my algae and reduced skimming from wet to dry and it helped.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To reiterate what is your PO4? Are you unning GFO? If youare remove that also.

Low phosphates is more of an issue with corals than low nitrate and an imbalance will cause corals to bleach, make it a lot harder to compete with nuisance algae and worst case scenario kill them.

Here's some videos and some links if you want to dig into it more:

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"
https://youtu.be/ZRIKW-9d2xI

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont
https://youtu.be/DWItFGRQJL4

Forest Rohwer "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R2BMEfQGjU

Changing Seas TV - Mysterious Microbes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7hsp0dENEA

https://therichross.com/skeptical-reefkeeping-ix-test-kits-chasing-numbers-and-phosphate/

https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...reef-corals/AFB1CF4CB68823BD13AD254623FD3C7C#
An Experimental Mesocosm for Longterm Studies of Reef Corals

Phosphate Deficiency:
Nutrient enrichment can increase the susceptibility of reef corals to bleaching:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate1661

Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Symbiotic Algae Reflect the Availability of Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients and Particulate Food to the Reef Coral Holobiont:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2015.00103/full

Phosphate deficiency promotes coral bleaching and is reflected by the ultrastructure of symbiotic dinoflagellates
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17301601?via=ihub

Effects of phosphate on growth and skeletal density in the scleractinian coral Acropora muricata: A controlled experimental approach
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098111004588

High phosphate uptake requirements of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/214/16/2749.full

Phosphorus metabolism of reef organisms with algal symbionts
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.w...98e60zfBEvx5IcIVGhmlpUYmzIJuqUNVm0sG8_0vth6lq

 

[Oldreeferman]

Richard Ross, very entertaining guy to watch & listen to! Bahahaha loved it....

 

[Mad Marine]

Thanks Timfish

 

[Timfish]

Thanks Timfish

You're welcome!