SPS seem to be doing well with near-zero nutrients?

[jnbrex]

Params
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0.01
Alk 8.5-9
Cal 400-450
Mag 1350

Background
Conventional wisdom says nutrients are too low and my coral should be starving. However, my SPS all seem to be doing well - good PE, color, consuming alk, visible encrusting growth. The tank has been in this state since I added these frags over the past 1 month. Each of my 10 acros are small frags and I 2 two larger montis.

More Info

• The protein skimmer is pulling out a lot of organics from the water every day.
• There's a minor algae problem, but it's growth has stalled and it's slowly being beaten by the CUC.
• Feeding mysis every day
• Adding a capful of microbacter 7 most days
• Tiny scoop from can of cyclops every other day
• Live phyto every other day
• Reefroids every 2-3 days.

Questions

1. Should I do something like increase feeding or dose N and P, or if the corals seem happy, do nothing?
2. Could this cause the corals to start going downhill in the long term even if they seem to be doing well in the short (1 month) term?

 

[jvb89]

I know personally, I don't like my numbers that low due to me not knowing if I'm riding that line of everything is good to starving the corals. With algae still there and corals doing well seems they are still getting the nutrients needed but could easily head towards starving them of your feeding were to slack off. I would NOT do anything fast. If I did anything for nutrients, it would be to feed the fish a bit more and slowly try to get the nutrients up a bit. Not to mention, the fish will LOVE the extra food.

 

[Om84]

Completely agree with advice above. Why live on that edge when we know you could easily starve your corals. I would not supplement but just gradually feed more to get nitrates and phos up a little and/or put skimmer on a timer so it doesn’t run 24/7.

 

[bobnicaragua]

If your corals are doing well, that’s the goal. If they start looking pale, then you have a problem.

I don’t think you need any major adjustments. Maybe feed a little more or skim a little drier.

 

[Kzang]

Params
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0.01
Alk 8.5-9
Cal 400-450
Mag 1350

Background
Conventional wisdom says nutrients are too low and my coral should be starving. However, my SPS all seem to be doing well - good PE, color, consuming alk, visible encrusting growth. The tank has been in this state since I added these frags over the past 1 month. Each of my 10 acros are small frags and I 2 two larger montis.

More Info

• The protein skimmer is pulling out a lot of organics from the water every day.
• There's a minor algae problem, but it's growth has stalled and it's slowly being beaten by the CUC.
• Feeding mysis every day
• Adding a capful of microbacter 7 most days
• Tiny scoop from can of cyclops every other day
• Live phyto every other day
• Reefroids every 2-3 days.

Questions

1. Should I do something like increase feeding or dose N and P, or if the corals seem happy, do nothing?
2. Could this cause the corals to start going downhill in the long term even if they seem to be doing well in the short (1 month) term?

Could be the microbacter 7 carbon source to feed bacteria which is feeding the corals?

 

[Pod_01]

As mentioned you are on that line where things can be ok or it can go bad real quick. Corals can STN or pest like Dino’s can show up.

So how many fish are there? If you have enough and they are fed well you should be ok.

My preference for NO3 is to be at least 1ppm and PO4 to be at least 0.04 ppm. New tank higher is better.
Based on the values that I seen on this site higher value don't kill corals but the ones below can be problematic.

My preference is to bring these up by feeding the fish.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I don’t chase numbers but I wouldn’t live down there. I keep sps and I’m like 20no3 and .1 to .15 po4. Also a month is a very short time for sps. Good luck.

 

[Uncle99]

Params
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0.01
Alk 8.5-9
Cal 400-450
Mag 1350

Background
Conventional wisdom says nutrients are too low and my coral should be starving. However, my SPS all seem to be doing well - good PE, color, consuming alk, visible encrusting growth. The tank has been in this state since I added these frags over the past 1 month. Each of my 10 acros are small frags and I 2 two larger montis.

More Info

• The protein skimmer is pulling out a lot of organics from the water every day.
• There's a minor algae problem, but it's growth has stalled and it's slowly being beaten by the CUC.
• Feeding mysis every day
• Adding a capful of microbacter 7 most days
• Tiny scoop from can of cyclops every other day
• Live phyto every other day
• Reefroids every 2-3 days.

Questions

1. Should I do something like increase feeding or dose N and P, or if the corals seem happy, do nothing?
2. Could this cause the corals to start going downhill in the long term even if they seem to be doing well in the short (1 month) term?

When things go well, change nothing.

 

[SamMule]

If you insist on keeping residual nutrients that low, I would suggest you increase feeding until they start to trend upwards, and then dial back the feeding until they stabilize.
This will help you balance nutrient import/export.

 

[jnbrex]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to increase feeding to try to get nutrients slightly higher so the tank doesn't crash if I go on vacation for a few days and don't feed.

 

[jackson6745]

You're feeding reef roids and your fish so you're not bottoming out, but you don't have much of a safety net. If you get to no available po4 for the corals they will crap out. For so many years I teetered that fine line of low nutrient in an effort to avoid getting nutrients too high to avoid supposedly slow growth, algae growth, or killing my SPS. When I finally did allow my nutrients to rise, I saw the opposite of my fears. Healthy, glowing, fast growing SPS with awesome polyp extension and clean rocks!

With that said, raising nitrate and phosphate by feeding more or additives (in my experience) is a recipe for an algae bomb to occur. When I raised my nitrate + Phosphate metabolically through more fish additions and perhaps less nutrient transport, the results were all positive. I would keep doing what you're doing if corals are doing well, however, I don't see the point of mb7 additions. Make an effort to get more fish in the system so you are able to keep your nitrates up at least. You could always bump up the po4 a little with reef roids when needed. This would be the safest and most productive way IMO.