The Dirty Sps Tank

[jason604]

Since day 1 of starting this hobby(almost 2 yrs) I've always been told in order to keep a successful reef tank, especially a sps dominate tank I would have to keep my nitrates and phosphates at 0. Recently I stumbled across a thread on another forums that there's a lot of ppl experimenting or keeping their tanks long term with nitrates about 5-10ppm with their sps colors deepening to an amazing Pop within as little as a week. They either increase their fish load or feed a ton. Some even dose liquid nitrates to keep their systems that way. And then there's also WWC Corals Flordia that Keeps their 300g display tank at 30-40ppm and it is nth but amazing. There are a few that runs their skimmer on a timer and claims that having nitrates higher also decreased their phosphate levels and was able to put their Gfo reactor offline, but I'm not sure how that works. Always thought nitrates and phosphates run in correlations. Of course you have to monitor every step of the way if you want this to be successful. I think too fast and too much will for sure brown out corals. So the question is. How many of you are running "The dirty sps tank"? For how long? And what are your results?

[jason604]

Crap. Plz move to the reef section sorry

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I find that Purple validas are not bothered too much by high nitrates/phosphates compared to other sps species.

[mihaivapler]

i have a 130 gallon set-up mixt with 50/50 lps and sps and i do exactly like that,i have lots of fish feed them like crazy so they look like pigs,about 4-5 times a day 2 of them with brine and mysis shrimp and another 2-3 of pellets,i think does help having the tank next to my couch),and my nitrates are about 20 ppm and my sps grow like crazy some off them doubled the size in one month...i think this is a good thing,as my fish are fat and healty and the corals love it.all i do is a water chance every two weeks of 20 gallons and a good skimmer..

[jason604]

Hmmmm interesting. Do u happen to have a before and after pic or have u left ur nitrates that high since day 1?

[Myka]

I touched this subject in a recent thread regarding Reef Raft corals (post #27)... http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=109720

I like to keep a measurable amount of nitrate in my tanks, maybe 2-5 ppm. The SPS do have a richer color. Certainly not 30 ppm though - that's quite excessive.

[jason604]

Did u guys have long hair algae problems with higher nitrate? I would rather have pale sps than to have a tank full of algae again. It suffocated so many of my corals.

[Reef Pilot]

Not sure about nitrates, but I think you are OK up to about 5 ppm. But I know with my tank, when P04 is lowest (0.00 readings on my Hanna) is when I get my best SPS growth and color. Of course this does vary by SPS type, as some are definitely more tolerant than others.

Algae also really loves P04, and is hard to eradicate once it takes hold, even when both P04 and N03 are back to zero. The thing with algae is that it traps detritus and will grow in rocks, sand or wherever it can find some nutrients. That's why some manual removal with a toothbrush and turkey basting to keep your rocks clean is necessary. And I think the light spectrum you use will help or hinder algae.

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by jason604

Hmmmm interesting. Do u happen to have a before and after pic or have u left ur nitrates that high since day 1?

No unfortunately I don't take pictures.I tried to keep them as close to zero but it just seems no matter what I try I can't so i keept only softies and lps.after reading in a thread about having success keeping sps in dirtier water I gave a shoot and it worked out perfectly. The results are very good.

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by jason604

Did u guys have long hair algae problems with higher nitrate? I would rather have pale sps than to have a tank full of algae again. It suffocated so many of my corals.

I didn't had any issues with the hair algae.I had some Dino at the beginning when I set up the tank but not is clean.as for hair algae maybe having few tangs they tare care of the lawn)