snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
I was reading The Reef Aquarium Vol 1 by Sprung and Delbeek and I came across something that was interesting. I don't have the book in front of me, but I will quote it once I get home or remember to.
It simply stated that in aquariums with large numbers of calcium demanding corals, increased need for calcium and alkalinity is often a sign of high nitrates and phosphates in the water column. The waste (N&P) that builds up in the system feeds these corals and in return can cause instability in calcium and alkalinity.
Now, this makes sense to me... somewhat. I have always heard that in SPS dominated reef tanks you keep your phosphates between 0.05 and 0.03 for best results, and nitrates between 1.0 to 0.03 if possible. Now, upon reading this passage from the book, it seems to me that an increase in nitrate and phosphate isn't such a bad thing - because it feeds these corals a lot of food, so they in turn have to grow a lot faster - this growth causes calcium and alkalinity to drop and become unstable - which causes coral death in some cases.
Could it stand to reason that an aquarist could run a fair amount of food in their system and run a "high" level of nitrate and phosphate in a stony coral dominated aquarium - as well as keep up with the high demand through calcium reactors set at a high drip rate to keep calcium and alkalinity always available in the water column?
I'm kind of arguing that we have been starving our corals and not focusing enough attention on chemistry.
ReefKprZ I hope would agree with me on this - that feeding a tank well and keeping stable parameters would increase growth a lot more than simply starving your corals and trying to feed them minerals instead.
It simply stated that in aquariums with large numbers of calcium demanding corals, increased need for calcium and alkalinity is often a sign of high nitrates and phosphates in the water column. The waste (N&P) that builds up in the system feeds these corals and in return can cause instability in calcium and alkalinity.
Now, this makes sense to me... somewhat. I have always heard that in SPS dominated reef tanks you keep your phosphates between 0.05 and 0.03 for best results, and nitrates between 1.0 to 0.03 if possible. Now, upon reading this passage from the book, it seems to me that an increase in nitrate and phosphate isn't such a bad thing - because it feeds these corals a lot of food, so they in turn have to grow a lot faster - this growth causes calcium and alkalinity to drop and become unstable - which causes coral death in some cases.
Could it stand to reason that an aquarist could run a fair amount of food in their system and run a "high" level of nitrate and phosphate in a stony coral dominated aquarium - as well as keep up with the high demand through calcium reactors set at a high drip rate to keep calcium and alkalinity always available in the water column?
I'm kind of arguing that we have been starving our corals and not focusing enough attention on chemistry.
ReefKprZ I hope would agree with me on this - that feeding a tank well and keeping stable parameters would increase growth a lot more than simply starving your corals and trying to feed them minerals instead.
