Low Nutrient Or High Nutrient

[Kleko]

With my tank Ive been trying too keep Sps, Lps, And Softies. Have had no problem with Lps and Softies. I have made mistakes with the sps but other than that they did well. The time I only had the Sps for a few months before I killed them with the Gfo. Em just wondering what I should do in terms of keeping an Lps/Softie or an Sps. If I were to do all three each coral would be the best it could be in terms of colour and growth. The Sps would brown out eventually with the high nutrients, and the Lps wouldn't do well with the low nutrients vis-versa. After doing research i learned about the whole nutrient thing. My thinking could be very wrong. Thats one thing I hate about research with this relatively new hobby there are so may varied thoughts and ideas. Is my thinking correct or incorrect? I would like to keep all three coral types with maximum growth and colouration.
Thanks for the input

 

[unibob]

Feeding is the key I find, you need to be putting in the nutrients for the LPS/Softies and then pulling them out via strong nutrient export for SPS.


I am however no where near close to mastering it lol

 

[Thanh]

Keeping any of the corals species you have mention about  is not hard. Make sure you have stable perimeter Mag/Cal/Alk good flow and strong lighting  t5 should do the trick.

 

[Reef Hero]

I remember your post from before and I think we got off topic.....I did ask you in the thread what your po4 reading was before you did that big GFO change and went to undetectable nutrients and also noticed bag changes in your lps.....so what was your po4 reading before going undetectable? Any other readings would help as well....


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[spyd]

A mixed reef is the most challenging setup there is IMO. For SPS, you should have a low nutrient system. High nitrates and any amounts of PO4 will cause SPS to brown out. I would go so far as to run both GFO, carbon and biopellets. When introducing them though, go SLOW!!! only a quarter of the recommended amountat first and slowly bump up over a number of months, and not all at once.

Once you are running a low nutrient system, then you should be feeding your LPS pr the will receed or not grow at all. Direct feeding is the best method. I use a turkey baster full of mysis and shoot the mysis directly into their mouths at lights out. I feed every 3 days.

Fish are another factor that need to be considered. The more fish, the more nutrients, meaning more pellets, GFO, etc. it's all about finding the balance and that is very tricky with a mixed reef. A good skimmer is essential as well as lighting.

 

[Kleko]

Thanks for you input Unibob I appreciate any little tips. I had not thought about high feeding and pulling it all out for the sps.

Thanh, I have leds, And having recently learned about spectrum, I am no where close to where I should be. I don't have the money to switch to T5's other wise I would consider it. My Ca Ranges from about 390-420 PPm, Alk 7.7-8.3 Dkh, As for magnesium I haven't got the test kit yet. Do you keep Sps/Lps/Softies in our tank together?

 

[nexusnight]

I have a mixed tank and so far am having great success. i feed all my softies directly at least once a week and run the gfo and carbon in one reactor changing it out monthly. good lighting is a must as anyone will say,and a good skimmmer thats +1 to your tank.The only thing that struggles is my zoas. they look great but no significant growth. my brain,goniopra,hammer frogspawn,acans,gsp,duncans,candycanes are definately showing good growth and colour. All my sps pieces have great colour and have really taken off in growth since i started using Fuel from aquavitro.
This is just what working for me and so far  with what I view a great success as my tank and the saltwater reef world is still very new to me also.

 

[Kleko]

MY nitrates read 0, Phosphates read 0, And before the GFO change I didn't test, I had algae growth and recent fish death. So I thought that I would just change the GFO. As I said Ca ranges with the alk between 390-420 with dosing, Alk 7.7 Then dose it back up to 8.0-8.5 Dkh.

 

[spyd]

How often do you change GFO? Should be done approx once a month. Algae growth is a dead give away that there is a PO4 issue. It will read zero because the algae consumes it. What caused the fish deaths though out of curiosity? Disease or water stability?

 

[Reef Hero]

Too bad you don't have readings from before......
Did you notice major die off of the algae? Sorry for the assumptions in advance but I am going to assume your tank is relatively new to the sps keeping..... If so, then major swings in anything will affect corals.....especially po4.....get your po4 and nitrate as low as possible and run GFO and carbon while changing monthly.....I also strongly suggest something like bio pellets or an ULNS additive to maintain your tanks nutrients properly.....this will provide stability....I experienced many of the same problems you are.....things won't happen overnight but you sound like you are on the right track.....keep feeding regularly and keep those po4 and nitrate readings down as low as you can.....and most important, don't give up!


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[Reef Hero]

MY nitrates read 0, Phosphates read 0, And before the GFO change I didn't test, I had algae growth and recent fish death. So I thought that I would just change the GFO. As I said Ca ranges with the alk between 390-420 with dosing, Alk 7.7 Then dose it back up to 8.0-8.5 Dkh.

How old is your tank? I ask because swinging alk and calcium like that is not the best either but will happen in a newer system or in one where dosing is not kept constant.
The alk swing is my biggest concern.....


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[Kleko]

Fish died because of brooklynosis. MY tank is just over a year. All of my algae did die off after the gfo change. The alk swing is because I haven't found the right amount to dose yet. The alk will stay at 8.0 for over a week, so im having trouble finding the dosage amount. Does anyone in London have cheato? I think that could help with the nitrates and phosphates to keep it consistent. I think I will consider Bio pellets if it does help. Im going to do some research on them right now. Before the Gfo change my levels were likely through the roof. I had two clowns die of brooky and I couldn't find them in the tank so the decomposition of there corpses likely elevated the phosphates, nitrates, ammonia, and so on. Can bio pellets keep nutrients at zero? Phosphates and nitrates too? If so that's some cool stuff.
Thanks

 

[reeffreak]

Alk stays at 8.0 for a week ? What corals do you have ?

 

[Kleko]

a small colony of acans, small colony of favia, monti cap frag, and another small monti frag, sunset milli. I had a small acro colony, small tenius frag they have gone white, but the prostrata acro is starting to come back I think.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I keep sps, lps and even a few softies. 

As unibob said, I keep undetectable nutrients via pellets and gfo, and do target/spot feedings for the lps.  Last night was feeding night, I turned off the pumps, put some pellets in one corner (to distract any fish that woke up and the sniffer on the shrimp).  Then dropped a soup of mysis, micro pellets and reef roids onto the top/mouth whatever of each lps.  Things like candycane closes right away.  Acans really take their time, and chalice...well chalice is the slowest eating coral on the planet.  Once the chalice has got a few globs down I fire up the pumps and go to sleep.  Works well, but if the lps aren't fed they don't grow. 

The other key I find for a low nutrient system is very frequent water changes.  Who knows maybe it's the carbon or something, but the sps really takes off when I'm doing a LOT of water changes. 

I'm still not sure how GFO could kill sps.  Was it regular GFO or was it aluminum oxide based?

 

[Kleko]

I hadn't changed the gfo in a while and when I did I put a little more in for good measure. Could some one explain the good and bad of io pellets, Ive read on RC that some guys have had their system stripped, and corals died.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I run pellets.  As far as I can tell, in a mature system, pellets don't do any harm at all.  I added them cold turkey to the system.  Started with about half a bag and then added the rest of the bag a month later.  Really didn't notice any difference at all for about 4-5 months, then I found that my hanna phosphate checker wouldn't ever read over 0.00. 

 

[Kleko]

Im thinking of going Lps dominate, until a later date. I would much rather have a nice Lps softie tank than a touchy sps. Any tips on Lps dominate??

 

[Salty Cracker]

Im thinking of going Lps dominate, until a later date. I would much rather have a nice Lps softie tank than a touchy sps. Any tips on Lps dominate??

I would remove my gfo and pellets if I was going lps, and then just up my testing.  If my phosphates got too high I'd turn the gfo back on until they were under control. 

I never had trouble growing lps in a dirty system, that's for sure.  An lps tank is always nice because of the movement and the possible colours. 

 

[Kleko]

As I said I would rather have a rocking Lps than not be able to keep nice sps. So we will see. Im sure down the road I will want to try Low nutrient. So just tank the Gfo and Carbon reactors off? anything else?