PO4 and NO3 high enough to piss off corals?

[malawian]

So my PO4 and NO3 are higher than I like, dont get me wrong, and Im going to be changing GFO and carbon and doing a water change. However, my question is whether these levels are high enough to piss off corals. Some corals are pretty unhappy and although these nutrient levels are definitely higher than they should be, they dont seem crazy.

 

NO3= 2 ppm

PO4= .08 ppm

 

thoughts?

 

edit: I should say my reason for asking is that i want to know if I found the problem or I should keep trying to root out the issue. So either people think "oh yea that could totally piss off some SPS and make them brown" or "no I doubt those levels would noticably piss anything off you just may get less growth and coloration in the long run". if its the former, cool, problem solved. If its the latter then I need to pull out my sherlock hat again and try to figure out whats happening.

[seabass]

When you say they are "pissed off", what's going on with them? You mentioned browning of SPS, is that it?

 

You noted the current nutrient levels, but what are they normally? Changes can have as large of an impact as current levels (which by themselves don't seem way out of line). Also, be careful when correcting the phosphate level, as this could also have negative impacts.

 

Has anything else changed? What about your lighting (what type of lights, how old are the bulbs, any changes to: the light cycle, water clarity, light fixture height, etc)?

[malawian]

When you say they are "pissed off", what's going on with them? You mentioned browning of SPS, is that it?

 

You noted the current nutrient levels, but what are they normally? Changes can have as large of an impact as current levels (which by themselves don't seem way out of line). Also, be careful when correcting the phosphate level, as this could also have negative impacts.

 

Has anything else changed? What about your lighting (what type of lights, how old are the bulbs, any changes to: the light cycle, water clarity, light fixture height, etc)?

 

Right, so with the problems Ive had with my lights (busted driver on my blues; replaced it; slowly ramping up my intensity although its still fairly low), that I am almost certain contributed to the problem. Corals had browned a decent bit already just because of that but they have mostly been slowly recovering but some are still a bit browned and at least one has browned slightly more. It seemed to be doing better, especially after the last water change, but then went back down hill a bit.

 

As for where the parameters were, they were considerably lower. Ive maintained much lower nutrient levels than that for some time (undetectable nitrate, so less than .125 ppm, and .02 ppm phosphate on red sea pro kits). Where the rapid increase came from im not positive, my guess is buildup of gunk in a couple of my reactors. So perhaps it was rapid changes. I didnt think about that and I have since cleaned all of the reactors, done a water change and replaced carbon and GFO so those nutrient levels are probably about to flatline just about overnight...

[malawian]

any other thoughts? Anyone experienced something similar?

[Timfish]

No, those levels are not enough to bother corals in my experience. This tank was at .4 ppm PO4 (Elos) and slight trace on nitrate (API, so nominally 1-2 ppm) when this video was taken:

 

GRJ 500

[Nano sapiens]

^^ I have to second this opinion. Due to a over-eager auto feeder I came back from vacation to similar PO4 and 30+ppm nitrate. Other than nuisance algae and some browning of a green A. millepora, the corals were fine

 

Corals are pretty sensitive to light changes, so your issues with the blue lighting is at least a contributing factor. Bringing the numbers slowly down a bit is good, but most important is keeping stability in all areas.

[malawian]

Thanks guys, thats kind of what I figured. Ill have to keep an eye on things and see if I can figure out what else it could be (or if its all just still fighting the effects of being light starved).

 

Im going to put off increasing light intensity for a little bit longer in case stability is what they really need (will be two weeks tomorrow since I last increased the light, I will wait a few more days).