water parameters for softies

[james ford]

Hello,I currently have a mixed reef and am considering losing the sps and go all softie. my question = are low phosphates and nitrates just as important as in a sps tank? part of the reason to switch is to lower costs like running gfo and also kind of get back to basics(low tech)if you will. any input would be appreciated, Thanks,James.

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

its not as critically important for soft corals depending on what you are considering on keeping. Lots of mushrooms and xenia or antheilia like a small bit of phosphates but most photosynthetic soft corals do best in an sps environment with high light, good water quality and good flow.

 

[cloak]

I've only been keeping sps corals for a little over a year now, but they seem to do just as well as the softies/LPS corals I had in my old 60 gallon tank. (9 years) Same husbandry, it's just that the lighting I have now separates the two.

 

[james ford]

Thank you both. I figured as much but was'nt sure about the nitrates. I have a homemade denitrator but the aqualifter went out ! I suppose I should get it back online because once set-up it really has no ongoing cost.

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

It shouldn't hurt to have it running again, The better the environment that we can give to our corals the better our corals should be doing.

 

[shifty51008]

alot of softer corals come from lagoon type areas and I have found that they do best with a little higher nitrates. after my nitrates were in the 20-40ppm range they grew and looked the best. IMO

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

It all depends on the species of soft coral and where they are naturally collected in the wild. A lot of different sinularia and sacrophytons live in huge clusters in open areas of the reef with good water movement.