Can the amino acids fill a lack of nutrients for the sps in a ULNS?

[bif24701]

What if I said there was a very inexpensive coral food that when you add it you will see dramatic results if the corals are pale and "starving". Not only that but this food adds 0 phosphate to the system! Sounds like a great coral food - I should start selling it, lol

Feed nitrate!


There seems to be a feeing that dosing nitrate is something bad or a terrible "chemikill"!


It's just coral food! I think the dosing part turns people off, but you dose it just like dosing reef nutrition oysterfest or docs egg brew or phyto or anything other food!

This one is just targeted specifically for corals and many people feed their tank with it to increase sps colors - myself included.

[emoji1303]

Me too! And it works!

 

[JamesP]

I agree thats great for helping sustain the zooxanthellae. Ive actually had to dose phosphate before as well as it was limiting my carbon dosing effectiveness with 0 phosphate but still had nitrate. I used this stuff for phosphate.

Zooxanthellae provides about 85% of photosynthetic corals metabolic needs according to some research done by red sea. The other 15% is provided by other sources such as particulate matter, aminos, and marine lipids. So phosphate and nitrate supplementation alone may not be a complete solution.

If you have fish, youre likely feeding them so thats where the other 15% is coming from; particulate matter. If youre a stingy feeder though which seems to be the trend to keep algae at bay, it might not be a bad idea to spot feed as well if running a ulns.

Also marine food sources already contain nitrates and phosphates in the correct proportions that match the redfield ratio which helps prevent nitrate and phosphate imbalances. Likely the reason I had to add phosphate was I was using food that contained terrestrial food sources. I just feed frozen food from marine sources now and I dont need to correct my imbalance with phosphate supplementation.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

No one ever answered the original question Can Aminos supply corals with what they need in a ulns?

 

[JamesP]

Not by themselves with true 0 readings. Bring up your levels to barely detectable and supplement aminos if you feed light.

 

[hart24601]

Depends what part of the ulns is really limiting and that then will depend on the daily inputs. It's hard to generalize these systems.

 

[JamesP]

Nitrate and phosphate feed zooxanthellae which feeds corals 85%. Aminos work on supplying the other 15% or particulates or direct feeding. So that 15% by itself in a true 0 system is not enough.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Amino supplements the other major coral food, nitrate and phosphate. You need potassium for coral to flourish too. Fish poop and unfinished fish foods are the easiest and cheapest method to fertilise your tank.

 

[reeferbuddy215]

My po4 is 0.17 ppm and was 0,33 for a while and my sps frags are coloring up within 2 weeks and already entrusting and I feed my corals and my fish but sometimes I feed my sps frags at night when their polyps are fully extended and the fish are asleep same with my acan lord. But bottom line is idk alot about ULNS but I know from experience u can have an amazing tank with colorful fast growing corals even with higher then recommended levels of phosphates and no3. I also use a protein skimmer.

 

[Rick.45cal]

When i start to add some brown algae start to grow on my sand. Dino or diatom and im afraid to continue.View attachment 507044

If you want to switch from a ULNS to an environment with nutrients, the demands on your clean up crew drastically change and they will need additional help. Dinos and diatoms blooms generally aren't caused by increase in NO3, at least in my experience. Maybe you have some spirulina popping up that a herd of dwarf ceriths would love to consume.

Don't be afraid to add KNO3 or NaNO3, just go slow and find a place where everything is happiest, since you are running such low nutrients I would also pick up something like NeoPhos to add phosphates in tiny amounts to prevent you from ending up in a phosphate bound situation. Increase/diversify your clean up crew and you will likely be good.

 

[Vaughn17]

I agree thats great for helping sustain the zooxanthellae. Ive actually had to dose phosphate before as well as it was limiting my carbon dosing effectiveness with 0 phosphate but still had nitrate. I used this stuff for phosphate.

Zooxanthellae provides about 85% of photosynthetic corals metabolic needs according to some research done by red sea. The other 15% is provided by other sources such as particulate matter, aminos, and marine lipids. So phosphate and nitrate supplementation alone may not be a complete solution.

If you have fish, youre likely feeding them so thats where the other 15% is coming from; particulate matter. If youre a stingy feeder though which seems to be the trend to keep algae at bay, it might not be a bad idea to spot feed as well if running a ulns.

Also marine food sources already contain nitrates and phosphates in the correct proportions that match the redfield ratio which helps prevent nitrate and phosphate imbalances. Likely the reason I had to add phosphate was I was using food that contained terrestrial food sources. I just feed frozen food from marine sources now and I dont need to correct my imbalance with phosphate supplementation.

I dose this product, too. I also dose nitrate, but Sodium nitrate not K as my K levals became too high after 4 months of daily dosing in a 38 g tank.

 

[Vaughn17]

PO4 is tricky because the test level isn't always indicative of the phosphates a tank is consuming, especially if it has a lot of growing sps corals.

 

[reeftilldie]

How old is your tank?
I had the same exact problem. Undetectable nutrients, pale corals which would eventually starve to death.

I fixed this by raising my nitrates between 3-5ppm. Took about 2 months to start seeing corals coloring up and within a few months they all colored up and started to grow significantly.

My advice.... dont dose anything. Just raise nitrates. Feed more. Keep between 8-10 fish and be patient. Give it about 2 months to start seeing good results.

As long as you keep nitrates between 3-5 all the time, your reef will thrive.

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