can aquarium water be too perfect for our tanks??

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

what are the chances that the chemical balance in our aquariums is so superior to the actual seawater that our livestock comes from that it may actualy be harmful to certain types of corals ?, i mean we sit around testing and testing and testing till we calibrate our tanks water to the max and even after such amazing lengths we end up puzzled as to why somethings start dying off !!

has this ever happened to anyone?!

 

[yogi]

I just came from a fellow reefers house.
He has high a few levels that are high, but still.
Wow what an amazing tank.
Each tank is different. So that's a tough question.
Maybe one of the pro's can chime in.

 

[rkaragozler]

I have to agree with you, the way I look at our tanks is find a set of parameters that works for your set up, and keep it consistent. Now I know thru research that every part of the ocean has different parameters, you cant compare our water parameters with the water in Bali. Or Bali to Hawaii. Then how about temps the deeper it is the colder it is, same as current. It is possible IMO, that our tanks can be so clean that if we purchase wild caught coral that it can die on us.

 

[Meadowlane]

I would say, acclimation is the key. If we don't acclimate fish and coral the right way, they won't survive. I am not an expert cuz i just started. But I read somewhere that whatever the tank parameters are, as long as the fish gets used to the water, they will thrive. They learn to adapt.

 

[Alex]

"Things that make you go.......HHHMMMMMMMMM." at this point everyone's finger should be by their temple in thought......LMAO.

 

[Alex]

what are the chances that the chemical balance in our aquariums is so superior to the actual seawater that our livestock comes from that it may actualy be harmful to certain types of corals ?, i mean we sit around testing and testing and testing till we calibrate our tanks water to the max and even after such amazing lengths we end up puzzled as to why somethings start dying off !!

has this ever happened to anyone?!

I have no idea what your on but people get arrested for that...:lol_large:lol_large:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:

 

[Xavier613]

It goes hand in hand with the ill effects of running GFo in a reactor. STN on SPS corals etc. Yes ive seen water too clean. A friend of mine spent thousands to get his water to as close to 0 phosphate as he could, You should have seen what happened when he did get it there. He couldnt put food in fast enough lol.

 

[smoq]

When I used to run biopellets, my phosphates were close to 0 and I noticed some of my corals didn't like it so I had to overfeed my fauna to add some phosphates. Running a ULNS system is great environment for SPS, but it's stepping on a thin line at the same time as it is hard to keep balance when there are almost no nutrients in the water.

 

[MIKE NY]

There is a delicate balance between too much nutriants and not enough which drives all of us who keep SPS nuts....finding that sweet spot and maintaining it is the challange in this hobby. So to answer your question yes many SPS will lose color and some may even starve to death without some nutriants.

 

[FaviaFreak]

I absolutely think American reefers try to run our reefs too clean, making it sterile and void of beneficial micro fauna and bacteria that our corals and reef can benefit from

 

[prattreef]

There is a delicate balance between too much nutriants and not enough which drives all of us who keep SPS nuts....finding that sweet spot and maintaining it is the challange in this hobby. So to answer your question yes many SPS will lose color and some may even starve to death without some nutriants.

Very well put. The situation is even more true for LPS which in most instances thrive on fairly nutrient rich water.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

All living things require some amount of nitrate and phosphate in order to live (among other nutrients). If you are testing at "0" in your tank and you still have animals living in it it's safe to say the actual levels are not "0". Some nutrients are necessary and I'm sure we all know people with a tank that tests fairly high and still looks really good, like Mike said, it's a balancing act. No two tanks are ever the same but the great thing about saltwater tanks is they become miniature ecosystems and if you have set them up properly they can do some of the balancing for you as long as you help them out. I think most people run into problems when they get obsessive with the parameters and keep the tank in a constant fluctuation rather than just relax and stop messing with it every few hours.

 

[WilFresco]

I believe that just as any controlled substance as alcohol or in this case phosphate and nitrates, too much can be harmful, I think the key is moderation, I find it very hard to believe that there is absolutely no traces of phosphates or nitrates in the oceans, I think finding the correct amount that works in UR system and keeping it steady would is the key

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

wow so i have not looked at this thread since i started it , but i have read some really interesting posts and i now have really good insight and ideas, thanks to you guys , i have to sit back and thick about which direction i wanna go in, to further increase the beneficial elements of my water.....thanks again guys.

and alex i just did a few lines of h20 with a few tabs of 2 part esv and im feelin crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy lol ,

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Acclimation is definitely key I'm sure many of you have seen me post things like in Paul B's "unorthodox methods" thread among many others. I don't do many water changes, I really don't test my water I run a bare bottom system and when it looks like I have traces of sand I siphon it out and do a small water change. This is usually every few months. I feed very heavy since I mostly have lps so I have a lot of bristle worms but other than that nothing else. All my corals are thriving except for an acan that started to die for no reason but I'm thinking that was bacterial infection maybe from my dremel when fragging? The oceans of the world are filthy..think about it all those fish and creatures in there living,people swimming,pollution from boats, pollution from cars and factories etc that goes into the clouds and comes out in rain. I would love to know what the parameters are in the places our livestock comes from but I am sure they are far from "perfect".

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Hey theres an idea, next time someone goes on a cool vacation to the tropics, take a test kit and see what numbers we get lol !!!