sudden jump in nitrates.

[MHG]

Your growth and color will probably improve with nitrates in that range. I would leave it but keep it in check...

 

[mos90]

tested phosphate last night also. tested 7 ppb. on hanna

i would like to see how the tank reacts to 20ml of vinegar for a few weeks.

are you saying 4-5ppm nitrate will help with color?

 

[tmz]

Sea water surface levels for NO3 are around 0.2ppm,fyi.
20mil vinegar for 350 gallons is a very small dose and should be very safe.Many users f settle in arund .4 to .7 ml per gallon as a daily dose .

 

[mos90]

i am shooting for .5 i would like to keep them detectable but barely.

i dosed all at once an the ph fell from 8.26 to 8.24. not bad.

 

[mos90]

on another note.

i lowered my photo period back about 1 month ago from 7 hours to 4 hours to help fight the gha. it did help but the i did notice most sps corals starting to loose color. ive slowly been ramping it back up and i think 6 will be the #. plus a few hours extra for the actinics.

 

[tmz]

Initially, vinegar realees H dropping the ph. 20ml all at once for 350 gallons shouldn't and didn't have much effect but a larger dose will.
The acetate that is formed adds OH offsetting th phH decrease over time. So, the net decrease in pH from the dose itself works to zero but the initail drop can be precipitous and a serious concern, so, slow dosing during periods o photosynthesi is recommended for vinegar(acetic acid).
Bacterial activity on tahe organic produces CO2 thugh and this which has a noticeable long term effect on pH. At 400ml vinegar equivalents for 650 gallons ( I use a mix of vodka and vinegar), my pH feel from daily ranges of 8.15 to 8.35 to 8.0 to 8.2 and tha's with 24/7 kalk dosing. I made up for it with a CO2 scrubber eventually.

 

[mos90]

dosing 40ml per day now. i havent checked nitrates, im sure its too early to see any change. i will increase dosage 5ml per week until i see nitrate drop.

 

[mos90]

im a little concerned. i noticed what looks like some tissue recession on my purple nana. its hard to tell and im not sure if it was there before, but i may back off vinegar dosing to 20ml per day.

 

[mos90]

update...vinegar dosing

update...vinegar dosing

still at 40ml per day. keeping and eye on the nana. nitrate is still between 4-5. phos at .03 .

i cant imagine that 40ml in 350gal of water could cause an stn issue in 3 days. must have been there before, watching closely.

 

[Alex T.]

I would not worry about 3-5 on the nitrates but I wouldn't let them go much higher. You can always dose a little vinegar to help drop the nitrates.

I totally agree. My SPS actually do best with nitrates between 5-10. Every time I approach "undetectable" I start getting pale colors. I'd rather feed more than skip maintenance. 5 ppm nitrates is nothing to worry about at all IMHO.

 

[mos90]

im really not worried about it i just want to keep it there. it seems im still having a small HA issue also. it just wont go away.

 

[mos90]

i dropped back down to 20ml. there is definately some recession on my nana. i might have to stop the vinegar if i cant get stn under control.

 

[tmz]

I don't think I've read abut any recession issues with such a small dose before. I certainy haven't experienced them. Each tank is different though and dosingorganic C is not without risk.
I wouldn't worry too much about 5ppm nitrate. I'd watch seriatopora closely as the y seem to react adversely earlier than acropora,ime. FWIW nsw surface values for NO3 are around 0.2ppm. I agree 0 is not desireable.

 

[mos90]

I did a 50g waterchange and lowered vinegar to 10ml per day.

The only other change made was shortening the photo period. But I have slowly been ramping back up to run metal halide to 6 hours a day. I dropped them to 4 help fight gha.

 

[tmz]

It's really hard to figure stn causes. The extra organics could play a role but it's a small amount. I'd probably back off for a while until photo period and other changes ,eg, turf scrubbers are settled in. You may well be able to reduce your nitrates without organic carbon dosing are you still doisng the prodibio?

 

[mos90]

I am still using the prodibio at 1/2 dose and the photo period is close the where I think it needs to be.

I am currently dosing 10ml vinegar. Also I. Am running 3 cups brs carbon and 3 cups brs regular gfo that I switch out bi- weekly.

Phos tested last night at .018 on Hanna and nitrate still around 4-5

I run my actinics for 8 hours And halides on A staggered 6 hour.

 

[mos90]

the STN seems to only be on 1 coral and appears to be under control.

phos is still the same but nitrate looks to be around 3 now. corals are showing much better colors with photo period for the halides at 6 hours rather then 4.

 

[tmz]

I think 4 hours is stresfdull. FWIW , Irun 7 to 7.5 on the halides. Glad it's an isolated condition to one coral.

 

[mos90]

i agree that 4 hours is not long enough.

it is possible that the stn could be related to lower photo period not vinegar