can i add coral with high nitrates?

mattwils71 · 10/31/2014, 08:34 AM

my tank is roughly 4 months old, 20 gallon reef tank.
I've got 7kg of live rock and 35lb of live sand.
my filtration is a hob filter with seachem perigean, phosguard and poly filter,
my live stock is a few hermits and snails 2 occelaris clownfish and a cleaner shrimp

i use Iquatics reef salt and ro di water through my ro di water machine (4 stage
) my tds rating of the water is 4ppm.

i recently lost a yellow head jawfish, might of jumped might of died underneath the sand bed i really don't know but due to overfeeding and possible death my nitrates have stayed at 20-40ppm at the moment they are at 30ppm, i have my old tank that I'm tearing down with all the corals in it (just a few softies and lps).
can i add them with the high nitrates? i have got a small algae bloom on the rocks and glass, its just plain green algae nothing special. I'm about to start dosing red sea algae killer which lowers phosphate and nitrate but thats not until next week. any advice on what i should do?
thanks

MondoBongo · 10/31/2014, 09:28 AM

i would probably replace the RODI filters, and do a large water change on the tank.

the corals will most likely be OK for the short term, but you want to get the nitrates down. softies are usually pretty tough, LPS can very from specimen to specimen, same thing with SPS.

i recently had my nitrates go sky high over the summer, due to being lazy and not doing my normal water changes. they got over 40ppm, and i did lose some corals, but it wasn't over night. two acros, and a frogspawn were victims. i started having some tissue recession in a few chalices, but by that time had stopped being lazy and was able to halt any further damage by getting back on my routine.

it's funny, because a i have some staghorn in my tank that grows like a weed, and two clams. the nitrates got so high that the calcification on them actually stopped. now that things are righted, you can see the clear growth areas again.

i would think twice about dosing something to kill algae. you're probably going to be better off to step up your husbandry regimen and clear up the nitrate issue that way. pouring chemicals in to tanks can have unintended consequences.

mattwils71 · 10/31/2014, 09:42 AM

cheers mate, helpful stuff! i currently do a 3 gallon water change weekly its just over 10% shall i do 20%?? and yeh good idea about the chemicals i will save it tho incase disaster strikes! and my ro di unit is only around 2 months old? is 4ppm not good then ?

Sk8r · 10/31/2014, 10:12 AM

Skip the algae killer. I won't even use it in my pond if I can avoid it. Go for GFO.

mattwils71 · 10/31/2014, 10:46 AM

i use a similar product to gfo called phosguard and yeh its a respected brand tho red sea algae removal

MondoBongo · 10/31/2014, 10:55 AM

i would probably up the water change size to 20 - 25% for the short term, just until you get the nitrates under control. you can go larger if you have the capacity, i've done up to 40% at once (max amount i was able to mix at one time) when i needed to get nitrates under control, but then brought the volume back down.

are you siphoning when you water change? it can be helpful to go around with a piece of rigid airline and siphon off rocks, clean up piles of detritus, etc...

i've also started taking a turkey baster about once a week and blowing off my rocks and some of my known dead spots, so it gets sucked in to the sump, and can be easily cleaned later.

4ppm isn't terrible, but that does depend on what exactly those 4ppm are made up of. usually when i see my RODI around 2 - 5ppm i think about replacing my filters. although generally i get about 4 - 6 months of water production out of a set of filters before the tds starts to climb. i generally make about 60 gallons or so a week. of course, my tds on the way in isn't too bad, generally a shade under 200, so your mileage may vary.

i am a chronic over feeder. i'm OK with this. so i am always battling high nitrates. usually mine run between 7 - 15ppm. i'll never have an ultra-clean, algae free tank, but that's fine by me.

itzonlithai · 10/31/2014, 03:08 PM

The water out of your RODI should be 0 ppm, I'd change the filters to the ones spectra pure or BRS brand. Up the water changes until you can manage the nitrates, better to keep it in check now then later on down the road when everything starts to die.

edinphilly · 10/31/2014, 03:25 PM

I am able to keep my nitrates at 5 or lower with occasional spikes. I have a heavy bioload and feed moderately. I have found corals (i have everything except SPS) that come from "normal" tanks do well, but when I've bought corals from people with ultra low nutrient systems they don't acclimate well to my tank. So I just avoid buying from ULNS tanks.

10/31/2014, 08:34 AM	#1
mattwils71 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 177	can i add coral with high nitrates? my tank is roughly 4 months old, 20 gallon reef tank. I've got 7kg of live rock and 35lb of live sand. my filtration is a hob filter with seachem perigean, phosguard and poly filter, my live stock is a few hermits and snails 2 occelaris clownfish and a cleaner shrimp i use Iquatics reef salt and ro di water through my ro di water machine (4 stage ) my tds rating of the water is 4ppm. i recently lost a yellow head jawfish, might of jumped might of died underneath the sand bed i really don't know but due to overfeeding and possible death my nitrates have stayed at 20-40ppm at the moment they are at 30ppm, i have my old tank that I'm tearing down with all the corals in it (just a few softies and lps). can i add them with the high nitrates? i have got a small algae bloom on the rocks and glass, its just plain green algae nothing special. I'm about to start dosing red sea algae killer which lowers phosphate and nitrate but thats not until next week. any advice on what i should do? thanks

10/31/2014, 09:28 AM	#2
MondoBongo Obligate Feeder Obsessed Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 4,061	i would probably replace the RODI filters, and do a large water change on the tank. the corals will most likely be OK for the short term, but you want to get the nitrates down. softies are usually pretty tough, LPS can very from specimen to specimen, same thing with SPS. i recently had my nitrates go sky high over the summer, due to being lazy and not doing my normal water changes. they got over 40ppm, and i did lose some corals, but it wasn't over night. two acros, and a frogspawn were victims. i started having some tissue recession in a few chalices, but by that time had stopped being lazy and was able to halt any further damage by getting back on my routine. it's funny, because a i have some staghorn in my tank that grows like a weed, and two clams. the nitrates got so high that the calcification on them actually stopped. now that things are righted, you can see the clear growth areas again. i would think twice about dosing something to kill algae. you're probably going to be better off to step up your husbandry regimen and clear up the nitrate issue that way. pouring chemicals in to tanks can have unintended consequences. __________________ [Citation Needed] "You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right" - xkcd Current Tank Info: A rectangular shaped money pit.

10/31/2014, 10:12 AM	#4
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Skip the algae killer. I won't even use it in my pond if I can avoid it. Go for GFO. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

10/31/2014, 10:55 AM	#6
MondoBongo Obligate Feeder Obsessed Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 4,061	i would probably up the water change size to 20 - 25% for the short term, just until you get the nitrates under control. you can go larger if you have the capacity, i've done up to 40% at once (max amount i was able to mix at one time) when i needed to get nitrates under control, but then brought the volume back down. are you siphoning when you water change? it can be helpful to go around with a piece of rigid airline and siphon off rocks, clean up piles of detritus, etc... i've also started taking a turkey baster about once a week and blowing off my rocks and some of my known dead spots, so it gets sucked in to the sump, and can be easily cleaned later. 4ppm isn't terrible, but that does depend on what exactly those 4ppm are made up of. usually when i see my RODI around 2 - 5ppm i think about replacing my filters. although generally i get about 4 - 6 months of water production out of a set of filters before the tds starts to climb. i generally make about 60 gallons or so a week. of course, my tds on the way in isn't too bad, generally a shade under 200, so your mileage may vary. i am a chronic over feeder. i'm OK with this. so i am always battling high nitrates. usually mine run between 7 - 15ppm. i'll never have an ultra-clean, algae free tank, but that's fine by me. __________________ [Citation Needed] "You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right" - xkcd Current Tank Info: A rectangular shaped money pit.

10/31/2014, 09:42 AM	#3
mattwils71 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 177	cheers mate, helpful stuff! i currently do a 3 gallon water change weekly its just over 10% shall i do 20%?? and yeh good idea about the chemicals i will save it tho incase disaster strikes! and my ro di unit is only around 2 months old? is 4ppm not good then ?

10/31/2014, 10:46 AM	#5
mattwils71 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 177	i use a similar product to gfo called phosguard and yeh its a respected brand tho red sea algae removal

10/31/2014, 03:08 PM	#7
itzonlithai Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 198	The water out of your RODI should be 0 ppm, I'd change the filters to the ones spectra pure or BRS brand. Up the water changes until you can manage the nitrates, better to keep it in check now then later on down the road when everything starts to die.

10/31/2014, 03:25 PM	#8
edinphilly Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 333	I am able to keep my nitrates at 5 or lower with occasional spikes. I have a heavy bioload and feed moderately. I have found corals (i have everything except SPS) that come from "normal" tanks do well, but when I've bought corals from people with ultra low nutrient systems they don't acclimate well to my tank. So I just avoid buying from ULNS tanks.