Nutrients and coral growth (seeking advice)

[Tcox]

Hi all

First before I get to my questions let me tell you about my tank:

Tank and equipment:
60 Cube
AI 26 hydra hd
Octopus 110 space saver skimmer
Chaeto w/ H380
2 Tunze turbelles (1300gph total)
Finnex hmo heaters x2
Tunze ATO/alk
Up and running for just over a year


Water perameters:
SG 1.026
Temp 79
KH 9
Cal 480
Mg 1400
Phos 0
Nitrate 0
RODI water

N and P are salifert kits. Red Sea for the rest

Issues:
1) Slow to zero chaeto growth even with h380, some hair algae and various “snot” algae in fuge
2) Almost no coraline algae growth
3) very slow coral growth, if any
4) zoas melt, cloves fade, LPS maintains but doesn’t grow.

I have been suspicious that my water has been too clean. I have been increasing feeding, and it causes slight cyano blooms and some hair algae. N and P are still undetectable.

I’ve had some coral for about 8 months and I’ve seen very little or no growth.

Can someone help me troubleshoot what could possibly be going wrong?

 

[mcgyvr]

Stop chaeto, stop skimmer.. let nitrates creep up to like 3-5ppm nitrates and .03-.08ppm phosphate
Or look into dosing nitrates and phosphates to achieve the same..

They are needed nutrients.

Just like fertilizer for your lawn.. Too little and it won't grow lush/green.. Too much and you burn it out..

 

[nereefpat]

I have been suspicious that my water has been too clean.

I would guess this is right

let nitrates creep up to like 3-5ppm nitrates

I agree, and I would start with the nitrates first specifically. I would probably does them a couple ppm at a times with sodium/potassium nitrate.

Phosphates: They are undetectable with your salifert kit. But since you aren't running GFO, they probably aren't 0.00. If you could get ahold of a hanna ULR Phosphorous checker, it would confirm or deny this.

I had a recent similar situation where I thought my PO4 were zero (salifert), so I starting dosing them. According to the new hanna checker, they already were closer to 0.05ppm, which is a good place to be.

 

[Tcox]

That would make sense. As I do this should I expect cyano and gha untill it stabilizes so to speak?

 

[nereefpat]

That's why I think you should go easy on the PO4, unless you know it's zero by using the ULR phosphorous checker.

 

[mcgyvr]

I personally do not attribute algae growth to phosphate alone.
I have had systems with undetectable phosphate levels but elevated nitrate levels experiencing GHA issues..
I have also been diving in lagoons,etc... in Florida that have experienced recent hair algae issues with growth longer than your arm and are only that way (only documented water quality change) because of elevated nitrates from farming while their phosphate levels remain low and unchanged..


As to cyano.. I do not believe anyone really understands the real cause,etc... of cyano.. I have had tanks with super elevated nutrient levels never have cyano and I've had tanks with ultra low nutrient levels experience cyano issues.. I do not think it can be attributed to nitrates/phosphates alone or at all really..

 

[nereefpat]

I personally do not attribute algae growth to phosphate alone.
I have had systems with undetectable phosphate levels but elevated nitrate levels experiencing GHA issues..
I have also been diving in lagoons,etc... in Florida that have experienced recent hair algae issues with growth longer than your arm and are only that way (only documented water quality change) because of elevated nitrates from farming while their phosphate levels remain low and unchanged..


As to cyano.. I do not believe anyone really understands the real cause,etc... of cyano.. I have had tanks with super elevated nutrient levels never have cyano and I've had tanks with ultra low nutrient levels experience cyano issues.. I do not think it can be attributed to nitrates/phosphates alone or at all really..

I agree with all of that, ESPECIALLY the cyano part.

I just think it's impossible to call PO4 zero, unless you are using a sensitive colorimeter/spectrophotometer. After a recent ordeal I've had, I decided that the color comparison type PO4 kits aren't sensitive enough.

 

[allendehl]

Stop chaeto, stop skimmer.. let nitrates creep up to like 3-5ppm nitrates and .03-.08ppm phosphate
Or look into dosing nitrates and phosphates to achieve the same..

They are needed nutrients.

Just like fertilizer for your lawn.. Too little and it won't grow lush/green.. Too much and you burn it out..

Oh man, this guy. I just which I had him as my neighbor. :thumbsup:

 

[Ghost25]

I agree with the general consensus by I would recommend simply feeding more instead of just dosing nitrates. Target feed your LPS, broadcast feed some kind of phytoplankton and generally feed more. I like Spectrum pellets, LRS reef frenzy and Reef Chili.

 

[Tcox]

Thank you all for the advice. I’m going to start pushing more pellets and reef chili. I’ll just bare through the cyano and hope it will decrease despite the added nutrients

 

[Tripod1404]

I agree with the general consensus by I would recommend simply feeding more instead of just dosing nitrates. Target feed your LPS, broadcast feed some kind of phytoplankton and generally feed more. I like Spectrum pellets, LRS reef frenzy and Reef Chili.

You can not always raise nitrates by feeding more.

 

[top shelf]

You can not always raise nitrates by feeding more.

I agree with this. I've tried raising mine by feeding more and while I don't see an increase in P or N I do see an increase is gha on my sand.