Quote:
Originally Posted by crimper
Here is my 2 cents...
Zero nitrates and Zero Phosphates is not good for corals.
The reason why reefers are doing this is they want dosing control on the nutrient levels to attain those pastel (I call it pale) coral coloration. Meaning after stripping their tank, they need to dose those nutrients back on the level that they want them in. You're always chasing numbers.
I almost got a tank crash last Spring break as I went away for a week. My reef suffered a bacterial bloom that stripped my tanks NO3 and my PO4 levels for several days due to carbon source overdosed. When I came back most of my colonies have STN at the bottom.
Running ULNS requires lots of time, testing, tweaking and gazillion patience.... this means $$$$$. I tried running my reef on ULNS and I won't do it again. It feels that I am on the knife edge all the time. The margin of error is very slim. I realized that it is not for me as I can't be away for several days.
I must admit my corals have the best coloration running on ULNS. But I realized this is not for me. If you are after coral growth, that's a different story, most experienced reefers that I know run their nitrate higher than 2ppm to achieve good growth.
|
I agree with absolutely all of this.