should i abandon low nutrient? corals not doing great

L

larryfl1

New member
hey all,

i am having a hell of a time keeping my brains, doughnuts and scolys...my acans just seem to stay the same...no growth..but look ok...

i try feeding target ... they take some food sometimes...

its wacky...my green brain 2 weeks ago was amazing..... absolutely...now its all shriveled up....

my sps have been taking a hit also... stn and stuff on a few...

i am 9dkh, 480 calcium...mg around 1300.... phosphate .07 nitrate 2 (always shows around 2 on the red sea pro test kit..never higher never lower.... also tried new solutions...)

tank is heavily stocked fish.... bio pellets ..fed heavily... led lights pac sun hyperion r2...

i also run gfo or bright well sport po4 to keep phosphates down and have

am i starving the tank? even though feeding like crazy???

should i go back to old fashioned refugium and kill low nutrient??

what to do....
 
It doesn't sound like you're actually running a "low nutrient" system or starving the tank with phosphates and nitrates that high. I've run at 0.03 phosphate and 0 nitrate for years with no problems. However, your levels don't typically affect LPS negatively. The biopellets are where I'd start looking....
 
gfo and bio-pellets but no GAC? Skimmer? how do you export dissolved organic or the chemicals produced by your corals?
 
large skimmer sro 5000xp

the one thing i am lazy with is the carbon...its old and exhausted....

is carbon that important??
 
My lps hated it when I was tryimg vodka dosing but my skimmer isn't big enough for it. They perked back up when I stopped vodka.
 
Whats the depth of the tank and how long have you had ha scollies, brains and acans. Were they put in recently?
 
MechEng99 said:
It doesn't sound like you're actually running a "low nutrient" system or starving the tank with phosphates and nitrates that high. I've run at 0.03 phosphate and 0 nitrate for years with no problems. However, your levels don't typically affect LPS negatively. The biopellets are where I'd start looking....
Click to expand...


how are you maintaining low nutrient?? also what are you dosing to supplement?

what test kit is accurate on the low end of nitrate...my tank in 9 months has always been magically 2 on the nitrates....

maybe its too much light.. and ****ing the lps off especially the scaly and brains??

Larry
 
I don't try to maintain a "low nutrient" system; it just happens naturally. Personally, I don't like the whole LNS/ULNS deal...but that's another discussion (not against it...it's just not for me). I feed only what my aquarium can process back out, run a refugium on a reverse photoperiod, and don't overstock fish. I run a skimmer, GFO, and AC that I routinely clean/replace. K.I.S.S. The more things you mess with are the more things that can go wrong IMO.

Personally, I like the Red Sea test kits...much moreso than Salifert, API, & Elos. Most home test kits for phosphates aren't accurate - what are you using? I'd take some of your water to a LFS for testing (see if they have a phosphate photometer)...just to double check.

I've got almost 1000W of MH + T-5 on my 150g, and my scoly's, acanthophyllias, trachys, etc are all fine (granted, they're in the shadows.) If it was lighting, you'd probably see signs of bleaching...not shrivelling initially. You also wouldn't see STN on SPS. But, I've seen some tanks with weird problems that immediately went away with a switch from LEDs to something else. When did you get LEDs?

Can you post pics? How often are you trying to target feed? What are you doing to target feed (time, encouraging feeding response, type of food, etc)?
 
Last edited:
maybe ill raise the leds a little more off the surface....

things for a while looked great... and the water is 25 inches deep so not shallow???
 
I would definitely say its nutrients. Had the same problem. Had a lot of acans and lps do downhill or bleach on me. Started feeding the tank a lot more and everything responded.
 
...I have had LED's on my tank for a while now and the LPS show zero signs of stress from them. As long as they're properly applied, LED's shouldn't be the issue.

My vote goes to bio-pellets or not changing carbon frequently enough.
 
leds are not a p`roblem by themselves but depending on the kind of leds (I use blue and white) there are certain species that have troubles to adapt to them and some especies never adapt and our colleague is saying he has scolis, acans, brains and cynarina and those are the most sensitive especies to the leds lighting (at least this is my experience). My opinion is that anybody having leds should add a couple of T5 in order to complement the espectrum.
 
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