To Much Nutrients

[mkareef]

O.K.

When people say to much nutrients in your tank is why the sps turn brown, are they talking about Phosphates and Nitrates?

[john90009]

usually excess and to high levels of phosphates will decrese the corals color- reefing is alot of things in one its better to start on soft corals than move to lps then go into sps- i learned this- its better to read up on every thing you can get your hands on and learn learn learn. also nitrites nitrates amonia theres alot of things that can be to high or to low that mess with corals colors.

[mkareef]

Thanks,

I reacently took all my LPS, Softies, and Zoa's out of my 210 gallon tank to switch over to SPS only.

[mkareef]

So, when "they" say excess nutrients there saying to much phosphates...

[john90009]

well could be - its usually never one thing that is excess nutientS. Usually when one thing is up other things are up to. Like if the water wasnt from an ro unit- levels will be up just about everywhere this means excess nutrients. hah its so much nutients out there that cause coral colors to change. could be phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, excess decaying materials(fishfood or poop),excess minerals in the water.

[reefinder]

this all means you need to do more reading before reefing. good luck!

[john90009]

yeah dont take it as saying that your not smart enough, but it is just less expensive if you know everything there is to read about and get a feal for everything-

[Marklu]

I am actually curious myself. What would it look like if a coral was exposed elevated phosphates, but not nitrate? Vice versa? Personally from what i've experienced with sps nitrates seems to cause denser populations of zoox (browning) , while p04 seems to cause the color to fade, but not necessarily brown. I've asked this question to many people over the years and nobody could really tell me. Perhaps its to complicated to describe in general terms.

[mkareef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15750949#post15750949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefinder
this all means you need to do more reading before reefing. good luck!


Thank you for your short input. But there is a big difference in Reading, and reading.....and reading some more, and asking a simple question to people that deal with reef aquariums everyday.

Maybe I should have made the question less simple?

[mkareef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15751357#post15751357 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marklu
I am actually curious myself. What would it look like if a coral was exposed elevated phosphates, but not nitrate? Vice versa? Personally from what i've experienced with sps nitrates seems to cause denser populations of zoox (browning) , while p04 seems to cause the color to fade, but not necessarily brown. I've asked this question to many people over the years and nobody could really tell me. Perhaps its to complicated to describe in general terms.

Thank you, that is what I was trying to ask....

[mkareef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15751003#post15751003 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by john90009
yeah dont take it as saying that your not smart enough, but it is just less expensive if you know everything there is to read about and get a feal for everything-

Yeah, learning the hard way is not the fun way!!

[kaskiles]

I believe the nutrients can include organic forms of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P), not just the inorganic Nitrate and Phosphate that our hobby test kits can measure.

That is why you can measure 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate in your tank, and still see algae growing. The organic N and P can be converted and used by photosynthesizing organisms more quickly than we can measure them.

So removing organics by skimming and GAC will help reduce Nitrate and Phosphate by eliminating their organic N and P sources.

[plyle02]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15752221#post15752221 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaskiles
I believe the nutrients can include organic forms of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P), not just the inorganic Nitrate and Phosphate that our hobby test kits can measure.

That is why you can measure 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate in your tank, and still see algae growing. The organic N and P can be converted and used by photosynthesizing organisms more quickly than we can measure them.

So removing organics by skimming and GAC will help reduce Nitrate and Phosphate by eliminating their organic N and P sources.

Well said,
Cut this guy a break, he just wants clarification on what "nutrients" means in a high or low environment... :)

[volcom69]

Skimming will help reduce your nutrients, but you also have to remember that you need alittle nutrients in your tank to keep your corals healthy. If you take the nutrients out you will slowly starve your sps, remember sps can take in nutrients all day/night long in the wild. So the goal is to keep your nutrients down but not down far enough that they will starve.

[reefer31]

I would say yes to the original question :P. Nitrates and phosphates are what we as reef keepers say are nutrients. Simple water change schedule should help in reducing nitrate in a tank along with protein skimmers, deep sand beds and live rock, (bioballs or something like that for a fish only tank). Now with phosphate, its a little harder to get rid of and so that is why we use the binding materials(pads, resins etc) to get rid of it from our tanks.

Phosphorous and nitrogen are great plant fertilizers so I would assume either of them would make the corals darken a bit because of the zooxanthellae algae in the coral tissue. Also phosphates are known to inhibit coral skeletal formation. Also, I have noticed that with sofites/LPS corals, increased nutrients wont necessarily cause browning, but with SPS it does for sure :P.
I hope my simple knowledge of things help, and that I made myself clear :).

[reefer31]

I mean that bioballs will help reduce ammonia to nitrite down to nitrate in a fish tank, not get rid of it. :)

[acrylic_300]

I've been reading about an hour a day for 4 years now. I don't know the answer, sorry.

I remember back in the day it was just called pristine water quality...now it has been coined ulns.

I never could figure out what makes water pristine either.

I can read small print on the opposite end of my 8 foot long tank and the water sparkles like a pure white diamond....it's godly. I have plenty of nutrients though.