SPS effect on nutrient levels?

[Mark75]

Do SPS or any coral for that matter reduce nitrate and or phosphate in an aquarium?

For example if you where to set up two identical tanks using identical water with identical bio load one fish only and the other full of huge SPS colonies would you find the tank with SPS had lower nutrient level?

Thanks

 

[Darrell Brady]

I would also like to no that.

 

[jason2459]

Xenia is supposed to be a decent consumer of normally unwanted nutrients. All living organisms AFAIK consume at some level various forms of C, N, and P.

 

[Timfish]

Yes. Corals will remove ammonia directly from the water bypassing (or maybe more accurately internalizing) the nitrogen cycle in the aquarium. They also need phosphates to utilize nitrates:
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/214/16/2749.full

 

[jason2459]

Well it would be the ammonium nitrate for the N source

 

[karimwassef]

funny you should ask... I've been wondering about taking the insane growth of my rhodactis down to my sump and start a mushroom coral filter. They reproduce like crazy, consume anything and everything and encroach on the other corals in the tank. The surface area they cover is massive and when they open up when the light comes on, I can see my pH immediately pick up.

You can see them in this vid - two large rocks on either side of the tank. Like lungs for my reef.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hQNaqlz05fo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[mcginnisandrew]

yes, i would imagine the sps tank would have lower nutrients than the fish only tank considering all corals utilize nitrogen and phosphorous in various forms. I wouldn't rely on sps as an effective control measure for nutrients though because they grow too slowly

 

[AquaTDV]

I recently removed 200+ Zoa and SPS frags from a 60 gallon frag tank that is tied to a 240 DT. Within a week of removing the frags I noticed a sizable increase in the all around aglae growth as well as Xenia growth in the Xenia fuge. I must say I am enjoying the increase in NO3. The corals look amazing!

For perspective, here is a pic of the frag tank before I removed the frags.