klwheat
New member
Ok, some quick background to start.
My 90 gallon reef has been going strong for a couple of years. The majority of my corals have grown like crazy, and I love the tank. (In fact, planning a big upgrade soon).
However, I have a few corals that just haven't seemed happy. A couple of sps that are showing not great color, poor PE, and my elegance has just never been happy.
Well, I like to read...a lot. So, I've been doing a bunch of research. I hadn't really heard of the term ULNS (ultra low nutrient system) before, but it seems my tank fits that definition. I was concerned that my test kits may have gotten old, because these corals weren't happy, but my parameters are always exactly where I was trying to keep them. Nitrates 0, phos 0, calcium 400-450, alk 7.5-8, mag 1300-1400.
I've occasionally had small algae issues, put some gfo in a reactor, and ended up with cyano instead until I pulled it out. Also, with gfo (always less than 1/2 the recommended amount) my corals did NOT look happy.
So, the more I read (some articles by very reputable sources) the more I discover that perhaps my nitrates are, in fact, too low. I didn't know that was possible, I always thought 0 was the goal.
So, I decided to try to raise my nitrates from 0 to 2-5ppm. I increased my feedings significantly as well as increasing my dosing of amino acids, phyto and coral food (reef roids and reef chili are the ones I've used).
I haven't had any luck increasing my nitrates...but my phos managed to go from 0-0.02 up to 0.16. Enter cyano
Turns out, the bacteria in my system are excellent at processing nitrate, but significantly less efficient at getting rid of phos (yes, I understand why now...lol).
So...how do I increase my nitrates some without increasing phos at the same time.
Enter nitrate dosing (something I NEVER thought I'd do).
Well, here's how my evening went.
Test nitrates - 0 (no surprise)
Dissolve 2tbsp potassium nitrate in 2 cups of water.
Add 10ml nitrate solution.
Recheck nitrate after 1 hour -0 (dang, was hoping for something!)
Add 10ml nitrate solution
Recheck after another hour - still 0
(Seriously?!)
Add 20ml nitrate solution
Recheck after 1 hour - 1ppm!
Finally! I managed to have detectable nitrate in my tank.
So, what does this mean...well, anecdotally, a couple of my sps have more PE than they've had in weeks or longer.
Is this actually attributable to the increased nitrate? Not sure yet. However, the experiment will continue.
I'll keep everyone informed with my testing and results!
My 90 gallon reef has been going strong for a couple of years. The majority of my corals have grown like crazy, and I love the tank. (In fact, planning a big upgrade soon).
However, I have a few corals that just haven't seemed happy. A couple of sps that are showing not great color, poor PE, and my elegance has just never been happy.
Well, I like to read...a lot. So, I've been doing a bunch of research. I hadn't really heard of the term ULNS (ultra low nutrient system) before, but it seems my tank fits that definition. I was concerned that my test kits may have gotten old, because these corals weren't happy, but my parameters are always exactly where I was trying to keep them. Nitrates 0, phos 0, calcium 400-450, alk 7.5-8, mag 1300-1400.
I've occasionally had small algae issues, put some gfo in a reactor, and ended up with cyano instead until I pulled it out. Also, with gfo (always less than 1/2 the recommended amount) my corals did NOT look happy.
So, the more I read (some articles by very reputable sources) the more I discover that perhaps my nitrates are, in fact, too low. I didn't know that was possible, I always thought 0 was the goal.
So, I decided to try to raise my nitrates from 0 to 2-5ppm. I increased my feedings significantly as well as increasing my dosing of amino acids, phyto and coral food (reef roids and reef chili are the ones I've used).
I haven't had any luck increasing my nitrates...but my phos managed to go from 0-0.02 up to 0.16. Enter cyano
Turns out, the bacteria in my system are excellent at processing nitrate, but significantly less efficient at getting rid of phos (yes, I understand why now...lol).
So...how do I increase my nitrates some without increasing phos at the same time.
Enter nitrate dosing (something I NEVER thought I'd do).
Well, here's how my evening went.
Test nitrates - 0 (no surprise)
Dissolve 2tbsp potassium nitrate in 2 cups of water.
Add 10ml nitrate solution.
Recheck nitrate after 1 hour -0 (dang, was hoping for something!)
Add 10ml nitrate solution
Recheck after another hour - still 0
(Seriously?!)
Add 20ml nitrate solution
Recheck after 1 hour - 1ppm!
Finally! I managed to have detectable nitrate in my tank.
So, what does this mean...well, anecdotally, a couple of my sps have more PE than they've had in weeks or longer.
Is this actually attributable to the increased nitrate? Not sure yet. However, the experiment will continue.
I'll keep everyone informed with my testing and results!